2024 spring game

Team Maize defeated Team Blue by a score of 17-7 at today's 2024 edition of the Michigan Football spring game. A game that was preceded by the championship ring ceremony and had numerous departed heroes strolling the sideline, the focus on the field was instead on a number of young players trying to make a name for themselves. As in past years, I'm not going to give a play-by-play recap for an exhibition game, but instead will give you a batch of instant reaction takes on what we witnessed: 

Offense

Alex Orji's potential... and areas for improvement. Orji quarterbacked the first drive for Team Blue, as well as the last, with  intermittent snaps in between. In that time we saw some good and some bad from Orji. He varied his touch on throws that showed a decent understanding of quarterbacking, but was mostly throwing checkdown passes. The final drive in particular saw the defense back off (Team Maize had a 10 point lead), ceding the underneath routes and Orji was efficient in connecting on those. But that's what you'd expect any QB at this level to be able to do, so I'm not putting much stock in that. 

However, there were more tantalizing moments. Orji delivered a pass to Max Bredeson with good zip and then sensed pressure before scrambling for a touchdown on the first drive. He also seemed to have another touchdown scramble on the last drive, but it was overturned on a questionable "sack" (the referees blew the play dead in rather dubious fashion). The athleticism and the ability to hit the easy stuff was on display but there were concerning moments. He put a ball behind Tyler Morris on the first drive and forced a laser into double coverage looking for Zack Marshall on the last drive. Orji also showed good pocket presence on a different snap a couple drives earlier, dancing in the pocket and eventually finding an open receiver on 3rd & 5... but he way overthrew his target. I'm not sure if the accuracy and reads are completely where they need to be, but Orji wasn't a total wreck and gave us enough reasons to believe he could plausibly be the QB in 2024. It didn't answer all the questions at the QB position, but there was enough on display to believe Orji could be a successful QB at some point in the future (whether that is in '24 or '25). 

Takes on the other QBs. Davis Warren was the starting QB for Team Maize and just like prior seasons, Warren looked pretty damn good. His arm talent is 100% there, which was most on display on a bomb to Kendrick Bell for a TD: 

🔔🔔🔔

📺 @CFBONFOX pic.twitter.com/G1jgyJAwmO

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) April 20, 2024

There were several other strikes that Warren uncorked and he may well have been the most impressive QB today. However, it does feel a little difficult to take all of it seriously because Warren has looked terrific in spring games prior too, which hasn't necessarily translated to regulation games. 

Jayden Denegal was a bit of a disappointment in this one I felt. His drives for Team Maize had some moments, but ultimately left a lot to be desired. Yes he did hit a bomb to Fred Moore, but he also threw a wretched interception to DJ Waller (which was punched out and recovered as a fumble), threw a ball that was batted at the line, fumbled a snap that killed the two minute drill in the second quarter, and had a couple other iffy looking throws on the fourth drive. Based on the feel of this game, it would appear that Orji and Warren are the main two in-house contenders for the starting QB this fall. 

Jadyn Davis didn't play a ton, as expected. He threw a nice ball down the sideline for Peyton O'Leary that was PBU'd which showed off his arm talent, but he did appear to miss a wide open receiver on that very play. That was Davis' most notable moment during a short afternoon and based on today I would expect him to redshirt this fall (nothin' wrong with that). 

[AFTER THE JUMP: more takes]

The reigning National Champions of college football, the Michigan Wolverines, play their nationally-televised spring game tomorrow. It will begin at noon EST and will be broadcast on Fox, just as Ohio State's was a week ago. As always, the spring game is a first glimpse of the upcoming season's team, a small "pulling back the curtain" moment of sorts that offers small clues into the progress of spring practice and the depth chart. The score outcome of the game is irrelevant so for this preview we've got seven storylines to watch for tomorrow, as we've detailed each of the last two spring games: 

1.) Do we have a viable QB?

Far and away the #1 storyline going into the spring game is the question that has dominated offseason discussions since the moment JJ McCarthy put his name in the NFL Draft in mid-January... who is Michigan's quarterback in 2024? We probably won't get the decisive answer in the spring game, but we'll get a much better idea of what's going on based on how the respective QBs perform. The clubhouse leader at this point in time seems to be Alex Orji, but reports of his spring practice have been somewhat up and down. We've seldom seen Orji throw the ball in his time at Michigan, so that alone will be of much interest. How does his accuracy look? Can he avoid the "big mistake" throw? 

Beyond that, the other QBs are a jumble. Jack Tuttle has been out this spring, but Jayden Denegal, Davis Warren, and true freshman Jadyn Davis will be on display. Denegal seemed to get off to a slow start to spring but may have improved recently, though the sense is that Orji is still ahead. Warren has been a spring game staple for a couple seasons now but his flashes in this event haven't really translated to regulation game garbage time action. As for Davis, it doesn't seem like he will be the starter in 2024 due to his age/lack of experience (for good reason), but this will be our first chance to see the prized recruit in action. 

The performance of the QBs will inevitably elicit hot takes because that's the way it goes, but the biggest focus should be on whether any of the candidates seem like viable B1G starters. If they don't, then Michigan should go to the portal and look to find an acceptable option. In other words, if Alex Orji wants to be The Guy for Michigan this season, a strong, confident performance in the spring game would go a long way to calming our nerves and shoring things up with the coaching staff. 

[Patrick Barron]

2.) The wide receiver situation 

Another point of conversation in spring practice is the status of the receiver room. Cristian Dixon hit the portal this week (though he may have been playing defense recently), continuing an offseason of attrition at the WR and TE positions. Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson declared for the NFL Draft, while Dixon, Eamon Dennis, Karmello English, and Darrius Clemons hit the portal at the WR position. When you factor in the previous offseason's exit of Andrel Anthony to the portal, there's nothing left at the position from the 2021 recruiting class or earlier. 

That means the WR room is pretty thin, Semaj Morgan and Tyler Morris being somewhat known commodities as the starters and then Fred Moore the next in line. Peyton O'Leary is still hanging around, but after that... *crickets* before you get into the true freshmen. The problems here are two-fold, unproven starters (Morris and Morgan are still pretty green) and a complete lack of depth. Michigan is almost certainly going to look in the portal for WR help after spring practice, given that they were looking aggressively in the winter portal (just didn't land anyone), but there's a big difference between going into the portal looking for a star and looking for depth. They'll definitely go into the portal for the latter, but if Morgan and Morris have good showings and Moore balls out in the spring game, maybe you feel more like there's a need to shore up depth rather than a plug-and-play starter. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Five more storylines]