alan bowman

The transfer churn rolls along as Michigan has landed its Alan Bowman replacement in Indiana reserve QB Jack Tuttle:

Once upon a time, Tuttle was a high level QB recruit. He was a 4* and in the top 200 nationally, hailing from Mission Hills HS in San Marcos, CA. Tuttle enrolled at Utah and did not see the field as a true freshman, sitting behind starting QB Tyler Huntley. He opted to transfer from the Utes after just one season, picking Indiana and Tom Allen. Tuttle sat behind Peyton Ramsey and Michael Penix Jr. in 2019, attempting only 11 passes that season. Ramsey transferred to Northwestern after the season ended, so Tuttle became the primary backup to Penix, a role that got you some playing time because of Penix's well documented injury problems.

Penix bit the dust against Maryland in 2020, so Tuttle came in to finish the year, closing it out against the Terps and then quarterbacking IU to a gritty win over Wisconsin. He came up short in the Outback Bowl against Ole Miss, but Tuttle was playing with a separated shoulder. Over those games in 2020 Tuttle was 44/72 (61.1%) for 5.0 Y/A, 2 TD to 1 INT. The 2021 season was a similar story, with Penix starting the year then getting injured, forcing Tuttle to step up, before injury whacked Tuttle again. Penix was hurt against Penn State, so Tuttle got the start against MSU, a game that Indiana nearly won. He then started against OSU, led the Hoosiers for a TD on their opening drive and then got hurt again, leading to IU starting Donaven McCulley, a true freshman ATH (now WR), at QB against Michigan. Tuttle returned a month later to play a little against Rutgers but was terrible and after that, his season was officially over. His statline that season was much uglier, 45/87 (51.7%) for 4.9 Y/A, 2 TD to 5 INT. 

Tuttle entered 2022 hoping to be Indiana's starter, but he was beaten out in training camp by Missouri transfer Connor Bazelak. Tuttle got a chance to start against PSU in November and was doing pretty well, 9/12 for 82 yards and a TD but he was sacked four times (remember IU's OL?) and the last of those sacks broke him. Boom, injured again. In total, he exits his Indiana career with a statline of 57.1% completion, 5.0 Y/A, 5 TD to 6 INT. He is not a mobile QB, 79 career rushing yards on 50 attempts. 14 of those carries are sacks, but his career long rush is just 15 yards. 

Tuttle comes to Michigan with one year remaining of eligibility (five years in college, 2018 redshirt used but 2020 COVID-shirt still usable), and is more or less just a body to have on the depth chart. With Cade McNamara exiting, Michigan is a bit thin at QB. JJ McCarthy will be the 2023 starter, Davis Warren is in line to be the backup, but after that there is Jayden Denegal and Alex Orji, both of which were project QBs and are just one year in, and then recruit Kendrick Bell, also a project who may not even stick at QB. Michigan needed another player with at least a little bit of NCAA experience and Tuttle fits that. You don't want him to ever see the field, but if he does, maybe he could be okay if you gave him an ounce of protection for once in his career? I suppose that's a long way of saying I don't think this adding Tuttle is a major difference from what Alan Bowman was this season. 

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Michigan has once again lost one of its podcasting athletes. Quarterback Alan Bowman announced he's in the portal, with a year of eligibility remaining.

It bites that he can't stick around for the Playoff but teams are making their decisions now, so it's important for guys looking to find a place to play next year to be on the market sooner rather than later. UPDATE: Bowman will be with Michigan through the end of the season, while letting teams know he's available.

Bowman transferred to Michigan in 2021 after making 16 starts at Texas Tech. At the time, he was expected to compete with Cade McNamara and JJ McCarthy for the starting job. A starter for TTU in 2018 under Kliff Kingsbury's Air Raid, Bowman lost most of his 2019 season to injury, earning a medical redshirt, and then lost his starting job in 2020. If you're wondering how a guy who committed to Kliff Kingsbury (in June 2017!) still has eligibility, well:

2018: Fr/Fr
2019: Medshirt/So
2020: COVID/Jr
2021: So/Sr
2022: Jr/5th
2023: Sr/6th

Told ya it was gonna get weird.

As a Michigan media person, Bowman earned a lot of fans, specifically for producing a refreshingly frank podcast with fellow backup (and fellow transfer out) Dan Villari last year.

As a Michigan quarterback, however, he never got higher than third on the depth chart, as McNamara seized the QB1 job last season, with McCarthy his up-and-coming backup. Even with McCarthy starting now and Cade in Iowa, Bowman wasn't likely to see the field, getting passed by 2020 walk-on Davis Warren (who had freshman eligibility this year) last spring. True freshman Alex Orji also assumed a role as wildcat back this season. Michigan doesn't have any more QBs coming in but seems comfortable moving forward with McCarthy and Warren for the foreseeable future, so Bowman wasn't likely to see the field again.

Team Blue defeated Team Maize down at the Big House today in Michigan Football's 2022 Spring Game by a final score of 20-12. It was a day filled with refereeing quirks (including flags thrown by Jim Harbaugh), extravagant celebrations, and plenty of little-known walk ons. An exhibition game doesn't merit a detailed recap like we'd do for a regular season game, since the flow and narrative of the game is not important, but I felt it would still be good to put a post up on the site so all of you can rant in the comments. I presume Seth or Brian will have more detailed takes after a proper re-watch during the week, but this piece will give you a few quick kneejerk takes and observations about what we just witnessed: 

[Patrick Barron]

OFFENSE

Davis Warren has a cannon for an arm. Today we got a sizable glimpse at walk-on backup QB Davis Warren, who has been battling Alan Bowman for the QB3 designation in spring practice. What stood out the most about Warren was his huge arm, zipping the ball down the field and attempting several deep balls, two of which connected (one to Donovan Edwards and one to Amorion Walker). Warren has more raw talent than your typical walk-on due to his unique story, and that seemed apparent today. 

Alex Orji is Joe Milton 2.0. You could say the same about Orji in terms of arm strength, but his accuracy was rough. Orji went 1/7 for 9 yards, and most of his throws were way overthrown, rifled over a receiver's head or 10 yards too deep. However, his muscular build was apparent, rushing seven times for 35 yards, including one 23 yard keeper. Team Maize dialed up a couple designed Orji keepers in short yardage situations, so if you're looking for who will fill the VillariCat role this season, it looks like Orji. 

Michigan's skill position players are all good at throwing. With the memory of Donovan Edwards' bomb in the B1G Championship Game still fresh in the mind, Team Blue dialed up two different double pass plays and both worked. Darrius Clemons and Erick All both delivered accurate balls that were completed for 21 and 31 yards, respectively. At this point you have to wonder how many of Michigan's skill position guys can throw the football accurately. 

Darrius Clemons hype is real! Michigan's true freshman receiver answered some of the hype he's been getting in spring ball by emerging as Team Blue's favorite receiver. He made three catches for 52 yards, and the most memorable (by far) was a diving 35-yard TD catch. Clemons toasted Joshua Luther down the seam and Alan Bowman overthrew the pass. Clemons laid out and hauled it in, leading to a selfie celebration in the end zone. Kid looks good. 

A nice game for Tavierre Dunlap. The Wolverines have an open competition for the burly back role behind Corum and Edwards, and Dunlap is currently the favorite. Today's performance was a nice showing from the RS freshman in his pursuit of that job. Dunlap rushed 18 times for 73 yards and a TD, looking confident running the ball. He did drop a screen pass, but he likely won't be asked to do that much when the season gets started. 

[Patrick Barron]

DEFENSE

Lots of blitzes. You weren't supposed to hit the QB as part of the rules, but that didn't stop the defenses from getting pressure. Both teams dialed up plenty of blitzes and a lot of them got home. You never show anything schematic in an exhibition game, so there's not much to read into it, but I found it a rather interesting development. 

So far, so good for Mike Sainrstil, The Corner. Sainristil didn't pop up much at his new defensive position, but he did memorably get a PBU on Andrel Anthony and looked comfortable doing it. We also saw Sainristil on offense on one occasion too, suggesting that he may feature on both sides of the ball this fall.

Flashes from Mason Graham. The true freshman DT has been getting some spring buzz and he featured in a few moments, including when he drew a holding call on new center Victor Oluwatimi. Graham showed good burst off the line of scrimmage and it seems like the hype that he could see playing time this fall might have some legs. 

A solid showing from German Green. The brother of Gemon has seldom seen time away from special teams in his Michigan tenure, and that figures to stay the same this fall, but he did show up in the secondary today. Green broke up a couple passes and I felt it was still worth it to shout him out. 

The first look at Will Johnson. I didn't notice the 5* true freshman CB all that much today, but he held his own in the end zone against a route run by Cornelius Johnson. That's not the easiest assignment for a young player, but Johnson did fine. That's about all I can say after first watch.