Hot Take: We don’t need a transfer portal QB

Submitted by Speed_in_Space on January 15th, 2024 at 11:49 AM

Been thinking this through and wondering where we’re getting this need for a transfer portal QB stuff. 

Jadyn Davis threw for 3,370 yards with 43 TD and 9 INT while completing 70.8% of his passes in 2023. Completed 72.5% of his passes for 3,425 yards with 43 TD and 6 INT.

I get there’s a significant learning curve in college football but it’s not like we ask our QBs to throw 40 times a game because Michigan is a run first team which shouldn’t change if we have Mullings, Hall, Cabana, and Edwards. Why couldn’t we ease Davis into the offense and give him easy throws underneath to our athletes like Morgan and Edwards? His skill set is accuracy, extending plays, and play action pass. We can absolutely work with that, especially if we have another great offensive line.

MGoBoard
Football

RibbleMcDibble

January 15th, 2024 at 12:11 PM ^

The options I see:

Potentially one of Dillon Gabriel/Dante Moore in the spring. Whoever loses out on that battle may want to transfer, especially if its Gabriel. 

Will Rogers, though not super excited about him.

and that's kind of it unless you want to go the smaller school route. 

Is it possible to get a Cam Ward or Brock Vandagriff to reconsider now that JJ has declared for the draft? not sure how that works. 

 

Joined: 10/24/2023

MGoPoints: 7773

Leaders And Best

January 15th, 2024 at 12:15 PM ^

If the coaches put out feelers that the QB job is open at Michigan, I think you will see some names you did not expect jump in the post-spring portal. I think it is hard for any transfer QB right now because the coaching situation is still uncertain and can't blame any of them for not wanting to commit before knowing who is going to be coaching them. Will Rogers already got burned once at Washington.

Joined: 09/09/2009

MGoPoints: 22529

mitchewr

January 15th, 2024 at 12:34 PM ^

And herein lies the problem. There aren't any more good QBs to take in the portal and if we're being honest, even if we started going after the good ones earlier we still likely wouldn't have landed them because most good QBs want to actually throw the ball. JJ was special in that he didn't care. Very difficult to convince top tier QBs to come play in an offense where they hardly do anything.

Joined: 08/29/2016

MGoPoints: 13775

Leaders And Best

January 15th, 2024 at 12:45 PM ^

McCarthy was one of the most visible players on the team, named team MVP, and probably made the most NIL next to maybe Blake Corum. Won a National Championship and Rose Bowl Game MVP. Was a borderline Heisman candidate for most of the season and named Big Ten QB of the Year. Remains to be seen where he will be drafted but should probably do OK. Hardly do anything? Those things aren't appealing to anyone out there?

Joined: 09/09/2009

MGoPoints: 22529

Leaders And Best

January 15th, 2024 at 12:18 PM ^

The point of "pure" meaning that most assumed there was a high probability that he would switch positions. Maybe not the best word choice, but I think the point is clear. Villari and Kendrick Bell, and possibly even Orji were always seen as multi-tool players that Harbaugh likes that often switch positions once on campus. And Villari, guess what, ended up switching to TE at Syracuse and only got play QB at the end of the season because injuries and transfers depleted the QB position.

JJ McCarthy and Jayden Denegal were the only two scholarship QBs recruited over the last 4 years that were only going to play QB. That is not enough for most FBS schools, let alone one that wants to contend next year.

Joined: 09/09/2009

MGoPoints: 22529

KBLOW

January 15th, 2024 at 12:22 PM ^

I love his character, leadership, and team-first ethic, but Edwards is returning for a reason: he's simply not good enough yet to be an every down back.

His retuning will not keep us from throwing a lot unless he had a very dramatic improvement. If anything, his generally poor vision, inability to read blocks quickly and cut-outside soon enough, and ease at which he is tackled/tripped will force the Michigan offense into more passing situations if he's the every down back. 

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 22692

brad

January 15th, 2024 at 4:17 PM ^

Hopefully the coaching staff will self scout the Rose Bowl and remember the lethality of throwing to the backs.  In that case, Edwards could fill a lot of the missing receiving role in 2024.  Not all of it, but a lot of it.  Otherwise, I agree that he may not be the every down back we all want him to be.  He's not a power house like Haskins or Mullings and he doesn't have the Mike Hart/Blake Corum backfield presence to avoid one defender in a phone booth and get the play going.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 15831

Leaders And Best

January 15th, 2024 at 12:06 PM ^

It's not overlooking him. It's that the QB room is light because we didn't recruit a QB in 2020 or 2023. The number of live snaps they have taken is probably less than 50 total. You can't go into a season with a roster that can contend for championships with that. It is a disservice to the rest of the team especially with the the new transfer rules.

The backup QB always sounds great until you throw him into the fire. Saying he is big, "poised," and can run and throw is baseline characteristics and qualities of most scholarship QBs. Also how do you know he is poised? He hasn't played one meaningful snap under pressure to date for Michigan.

Joined: 09/09/2009

MGoPoints: 22529

rice4114

January 15th, 2024 at 1:03 PM ^

None of the top ten teams in the final CFP rankings would be rolling out these QBs. Orji is interesting the rest should be deeeeep bench. If these guys were good passers there were tons of snaps in the first half of the season to work them out. We didnt pass for several reasons but 1 being these guys arent playoff QBs. This is a lot like the endless jabbering of how Youssef Khayat was going to blow up in basketball. JJ took a long time to ramp up to play against teams like what we have coming up. There is no JJ and there isnt enough ramp up time. Need an impactful QB to transfer in.

Joined: 08/26/2010

MGoPoints: 47575

NewBlue7977

January 15th, 2024 at 12:10 PM ^

Very excited to see Hall bruise defenders.  Definitely has the Corum pounding on the ground running style to him.  I hope Cabana has the explosive running that he displayed in his high school film.  Obviously the running game next year will consist of Thunder and Lightning (Mullings and Edward's), but having Hall and a developed Cabana would give this offense a huge advantage, especially with little experience at quarterback, and little depth at wide receiver. 

Joined: 04/25/2018

MGoPoints: 3342

VamosAzul

January 15th, 2024 at 12:12 PM ^

I - with no rational reason whatsoever - hope Orji takes the helm. I just love the idea of a 6’3” 230lb highly mobile QB assuming he also can throw! 

Joined: 11/05/2010

MGoPoints: 1292