Seeing all of their snaps strung together was helpful. Thank you.

I liked what I saw out of McCaffery. He locked on his receiver which is a common trait of young QB’s, but he hit the open guys. Made a couple of really nice passes in tight windows. Had a couple of passes where he tried to fire it in. His receivers did not help him on a few of those but they were thrown where the defense couldn’t get them.  I also like that he leaves the pocket up the middle instead of bailing to the sideline like Shea would do. Just need to keep him healthy because he does expose himself to hits.
 

I don’t think there are enough quality snaps to really say what Milton can or can not do. What is very clear is he has the arm strength to make throws many QB’s can’t. That TD to Jackson was a thing of beauty and requires a ton of zip to make it work. 
 

It reminds me a little of when Texas had Major Applewhite and Chris Simms. Applewhite simply won games, but the throws Simms could make allowed for so many different play calls for the receivers. UT made the mistake of trying to play both instead of simply making Applewhite the clear number one and Simms the number two who gets a lot of playing time. I’m sure there will also be comparisons to Henson and Brady as well.

Thanks for putting this together.

Hard to walk away from this without feeling that McCaffrey is significantly more ready for the job. Frankly, now I feel it's less of a competition than I did before. I think most fans believe it's Dylan's job to lose, but the version of Milton that is able to overcome the gap in experience, accuracy and decision making (with his added arm strength) is most exciting.

Also, I know the dude looks like an ostrich, but McCaffrey's running ability (and decision making in the option game) is legit and somehow often overlooked.

having been on the field a few times with both QB's, one item worth mentioning is that milton is a significantly bigger guy.  he looks every bit as much of a thoroughbred as our recently-departed great (though tragically under utilized) receivers.  looking forward to football this fall and to see how these young men progress.  we'll be fine at QB.  

I literally just spilled coffee all over myself by cringing when McCaffrey was decapitated in the Wisconsin game.  That was brutal.  I thought he was looking great up to that point (13:00 minute mark).  He may go with his first read quite a lot, but his decisions are quick, and he doesn't do a lot of dancing around in the pocket.  I feel like he may be an upgrade from Patterson.  His durability may be a concern, as he will definitely need to smarten up and avoid some of those major hits.

Content!! Sweet, glorious content! Thanks for your efforts good sir, great to see it all summarized this way. 

McCaffrey is going to start because that is the conservative decision and that's what our coach does. History suggests that Milton will need to play a bit also. We'll see who plays better in season.

Pros for Milton: he's enormous, has a stronger arm, and appears to be able to handle the physical demands of being a running QB better than McCaffrey.  Yes, I know, the hit he took against Wisconsin was extremely dirty but he's slender compared to Milton.  The best ability is availability and twice McCaffrey has missed time due to injury. Milton is probably not as fast as DMC in a straight line but I believe he is better at making people miss and breaking tackles.  

What I notice from the clips is that McCaffrey either rolls out of the pocket or throws almost directly down field.  It looks like a early Brandon Peters offense to me - very basic.  I don't know if Milton is better able to handle the full playbook, he was in when it was major garbage time.  But he can get the ball anywhere on the field from either hash.  

McCaffrey has the playing time edge and pro pedigree which will certainly help him especially during the 3 month stay at home order.  If there's a season, both guys seem like B- to B+ guys.  Next year is possibly when we see the starter in A territory.  McCaffrey appears to be more accurate than Milton but again his passes aren't far downfield aside from the pass against Nebraska.

I think it's going to be a run heavy offense this year with either guy.  I don't see them being great passers just yet due to arm strength or accuracy.  

Both guys need to be ready to go at a moment's notice.  We've seen too many times when QB1 goes down and QB2 looks woefully unprepared.

McCaffrey Pros:

-Great straight line speed

-Not only displayed good accuracy last season in limited action but also showed noticeable improvement over the previous season in this department. His mechanics and delivery speed were noticeably better as well.

-Has showed excellent accuracy on a couple of 7-on-7 pitch-and-catch type of throws.

McCaffrey Cons:

-Slender build, coupled with lack of elusiveness and poor judgment while scrambling, has contributed to him getting injured a lot in very brief collegiate action. While injuries are more fluky than we like to admit, these issues do not lend much confidence to the idea he'll be able to hold up for a full season, particularly if Michigan continues to ask their quarterbacks to pull the ball on several keepers per game.

-Lack of arm strength and lack of downfield passing attempts do not bode well for him being able to stretch the field.

-I was not impressed with his decision making or his pocket presence

I am much more optimistic about Milton. While his mechanics are still going to be a work in progress considering the terrible habits he developed in high school, I was pleasantly surprised by his accuracy. It's obviously an extremely small sample size but still. His decision making as a passer was horrific but again, the sample size is microscopic and he wasn't put in positions to succeed against Ohio State and Wisconsin. While slower in a straight line, Milton is the better running threat due to his superior elusiveness and his muscular build. He also displayed deft decision making as a ball carrier on multiple occasions, which could hint at improved decision making as a passer down the road. He also was more willing to stand in the pocket than McCaffrey. And then of course, there is the arm strength and the fact that he is a year behind, which means he might have more untapped potential.

There's a chance Milton is simply too raw as a passer and decision maker to be a viable starting quarterback at Michigan. But my hope is that he continues to make significant gains to the point that Harbaugh gives him the job. There's no question in my mind who has the greater upside between these two players. And if Milton hasn't gained the coaching staff's confidence, then maybe McNamara will get a shot.

Watching that video actually made me want McCaffrey to start substantially more. He's pretty accurate, has absolute wheels, and seems in control. Milton has a cannon, but isn't quite as fast and the only really "wow" moment was his TD to Sainristil. I'm guessing McCaffrey will be the starter, but if Milton wins the job, I think that is very good news on how he's progressed

Are you sure thats every McCaffrey snap and not a highlight tape? I mean wow after watching that I am hyped up for him to start. His running is great, even the short ones hes always falling forward and making something happened. Only took a handful of sacks from being too slow to process. He looked on in a lot of those games. And even his incompletions were still mostly the right idea. Didnt help that he was playing with backups usually, like Oliver Martin, Ambry Thomas, Wangler, VanSumeran, etc. 

From that it seems McCaffrey is perfect for speed in space, his read options looked natural and anytime he had to roll out and throw on the move it was a well thrown ball.

One thing that is missing is the read option when he gives to the rb, that would help to see if he is making the correct read most of the time. It sure seemed like it thought with the yards he was able to pick up on the ground.

Thanks for doing that and sharing your thoughts.  This is the first comparison I've seen by analyzing their snaps rather than just "feelings" talk.  I think they are both capable and both currently flawed.  When people look at Milton they see big risk, big reward.  Lots of guys that Milton reminds you of struggled early in their careers due to inaccuracy and eventually turned out like superstars...Cam Newton, Vince Young, Terrelle Pryor, etc.  This is why I think people see Milton as our best chance to win a championship.  But, I think McCaffrey for simply being older, is likely to get the start and is just as capable of leading the team just as well as Milton.  I think Gattis will have a lot of fun with McCaffrey with short easy throws, RPOs, and draws.  Nico is our best WR, but think of having Bell, Jackson, & Sainristill on the field with Eubanks, Evans & McCaffrey.  That is a lot of speed in space to keep track of that could all be runners or pass catchers.

The next thing I’m going to say will probably be very unpopular, but if both guys are truly neck and neck going into the season, I would actually prefer for us to rotate both guys.

I can see JH doing that in pre-conference play, but by the time conference games come around you really want this figured out.  It would be great to have packages for each and plan some time for each, but if both guys keep playing all season I think the offense has trouble staying in a rhythm.  

 Basically no one knows if either guy is "the guy".  Whoever is less of a turnover threat will win the job. If one of them can't rise up and take command this season, the fans will be crossing their fingers for JJ McCarthy not to be a bust.

Unfortunately, probably only one of these guys will finish his college career at UM.

But on the positive side, I look at the previous season's QB contenders of Speight/Peters/O'Korn/Patterson vs. Milton/McCaffrey/McNamara/McCarthy and one would think a quality QB could likely come from the latter group.

Kudos for posting the video.

McCaffrey--I was impressed with the improvement in his ability to get to his 2nd read from the 2019 Wisconsin game going forward. He was 1 read and run for his life prior to that. He's clearly improved, but doesn't seem like he will be better than Patterson. Probably a quicker processor, but still will scramble as opposed to sitting in the pocket. He's a good runner, but runs in a way that almost guarantees he will get hurt--high and awkward.

Milton--Really too few reps to judge. Much better instinct for staying in the pocket (than McCaffrey) from what I saw in 2019. Also looks like he just hucks it up at some times. Better athlete than I remember from his limited reps. 

Neither of these guys is an All-Conference QB in 2020 barring dramatic improvement. They can beat the dregs of the schedule and be competitive against the middle-tier squads. Can they beat good and great teams without help--great defense or lack of need for a pass game? Not based on this film, although they could obviously be better in 2020.

My only prediction is that Michigan will start at least 2 QBs in the 2020 season (provided they play one). I think McCaffrey will start Game 1--seems like a guy the coaches would like (unlike Patterson) because he does what he's asked to do. I also think he will get hurt and miss significant time during the season as well.

Milton's arm is so much stronger than DM's that if Milton improves his decision making then he wins the job.  But the thing about DM is that he is such a fierce competitor and strong leader, that he likely does better in grueling practice settings.  Meaning he leads the first team offense to more yards, more TDs with significantly fewer mistakes.  

I would not be opposed to sharing the job if both are really that equal, like a 1A and 1B type scenario.  Milton definitely needs way more game reps to improve his decisions under live bullets against good defensive teams like Wisconsin.  Plus, with Covid lingering to knock out any starter from a positive test ... playing both may be important insurance.

Thanks for this analysis.  

McCaffrey versus Nebraska in 2018 showed incredible promise.  The throw to Ronnie Bell was a thing of beauty.  McCaffrey in 2019 was meh.  I didn't see anything that truly stood out and made you think that he could be a big time quarterback.  If he could run 12+ times a game, it would add to his value, but he is simply too fragile and skinny to take that much beating over a 12+ game schedule.

Milton - I agree he is an unknown.  Specifically, his decision making.  Knowns: big body, durable, strong arm, high potential.  Unknown - consistency and decision making.

Overall, I don't know how we will start the season, but I think Milton will be the quarterback that finishes the season.

McNamara - I hope he brings some competition.  I like his highlights and decision making and drive.

DMAC should have been our starter last year. And would have taken over if not hurt vs. Wisconsin. It's gonna be a pleasure to see our QB make proper reads and direct the offense with confidence and leadership qualities. Stay healthy DMAC !!

Late to the party but regarding arm strength:

From what I've seen, it has near-zero value on downfield passes.  Any decently fit fellow can throw the ball 30 yards downfield with less than an hour of coaching, and the number of passes that fly farther than that are too rare to worry about.  On the other hand, if the WR has a step of separation on a post route, there is no humanly possible, physically catchable throw that gets there before the defender can react to it.  Downfield passing is more about A) knowing where to throw it, and B) having the accuracy to put it there.  Some of the most devastating downfield throws that burned Michigan were moonballs that dropped into the WR's hands like they were a basket.  The lasers are more likely to get jumped.

Where arm strength comes in handy are those quick throws that exploit defensive conflicts or catch them off-guard -- bubble screens, or a TE breaking out of a block to run a route through a zone.  When the responsible defender has multiple jobs and/or is reacting to something else, the ball getting there first is a great opportunity for YAC -- especially on screens where the ball will fly a good 20-30 yards horizontally and never cross the LoS.  Even then, arm strength is secondary to timing.  In these cases the receiver often finishes the route (if he moves at all) and turns to the ball -- going another step in any direction but upfield only gets them closer to the coverage -- so if the ball's not out on time it's asking to get picked off.  And extra 10-20mph of zip won't make up for half a second of indecision.

TL,DR; Milton's arm strength opens up the playbook, but not downfield.  Incidentally it's a great asset for SpeeeeedIiiinnnnSpaaaace stuff, but it won't make up for bad reads or crappy timing, either.  Fortunately, neither seem to be inherent weaknesses for Milton.

And for the love of pants, don't bail out of a clean pocket!

Nice thread.   First and foremost, we are lacking a significant sample size to evaluate these 2 against each other and what we do have is mostly garbage-time play which doesn't tell us a whole lot.   Both have shown flashes.    The head-hunting in that Wisconsin game royally pisses me off.   That drive was the first time in the game that we had done anything on offense and I had heard rumors that prior to the concussion, the coaches were going to have DMac finish the game.   Would he have wrested the starting job from Patterson from there?   Impossible to know.   I will say this, when he came in after clearing protocol he didn't look the same - kind of like how Speight looked after his injury against Iowa in 2016.