donovan edwards

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]

Last season was the final word on a uniquely American pastime, a maximalized rugby/soccer offshoot that began with a spring 1879 trial of Walter Camp's new rules, and concluded with its final championship last January.

Stipulating that Michigan is the final victor of college football's remarkable 144-year year run, like any good MMRPG reaching the end of original content doesn't mean we have to stop playing.* The winners of the first and last games of the mainline series not only plan on continuing to compete in the endgame, but are actively preparing to do so right this very moment. Let's see what's happening. But first the ground rules.

How spring lies: The vast majority of spring chatter is pablum. Established starters get praised for their leadership, focus, and offseason workout regimens. Obvious new ones get compared to the guys they're stepping in for. Coach pressers spin vagarities then name some dudes. Insider information is often more precise, but also usually planted.

How spring truths: Typical things that stand out as positives are players that every practice observer feels they need to mention (e.g. Sainristil), surprisingly short position battles (same), and young depth guys who don't need to get hypes but are brought up anyways (Loveland in '22). Typically negative heuristics are position changes, getting named after a younger player at one's position, battles that go on longer than they should, and when the questions they're answering aren't the more pressing ones we're asking (conversely if we're worried about backups and they talk about the starter it's a good thing).

Thus the format where we start with expectations, and measure what we're hearing against those.

Quick note on paywalled info. There is some, noted with ($). If I'm sharing it anyways it means there's either a lot more for subscribers at the link, or the info therein is so old it's already well percolated through social media and by that point it's better to credit the original source than pretend it doesn't exist.

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* [That only happens once the corporate overlords who bought the IP stack so many subscription fees, microtransactions, shortsighted DLCs, and too-disruptive in-game ads into the thing that the critical mass of people who were hanging onto the diluted product for nostalgia finally let go.]

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Quarterback

Oh Denegal is having a bad week, is he?

The question we're asking is: Who's the quarterback?

But they're acting like it's: That.

What are we hearing? No thought of portal, Jadyn Davis has INTANGIBLES, and Orji is seizing the job because nobody can throw well enough at this point to make up for what Orji can do with his legs.

With Tuttle "working through something" the official channels are making every candidate equal. Tyler Morris:

Each one has their own thing that they're good at, I would say," Morris explained. "I wouldn't necessarily say there was one that's caught my eye, but there's been days where one might stand out for the day and then the next one -- the next practice, another guy. … Alex, obviously he can move. Davis just getting the ball to people. Jayden Denegal, he made some good throws. Jadyn Davis, I mean, he's made some great throws too."

Mason Graham seemed to confirm some insider notes I've gotten that Orji's running ability is standing out from a group that's been struggling to throw it to their own guys.

"I mean they’re all doing a good job — but Alex Orji can make plays with his legs ... You don’t know what he’s doing, even when he doesn’t have the ball because he’s a weapon. … when there’s somebody back there that can just run at any given time and you’ve gotta chase him down, it’s in the back of your mind throughout the game."

Brian Jean-Mary also noted that while he's been impressed by the ground game, the offense is "finding its footing." That is a nicer way of saying the first practices with pads have resembled an Iowa spring game via both Sam and Josh Henschke ($):

Wink’s pressures and blitzes “handled” the offense thoroughly. As for quarterbacks, we’re told that a lot of interceptions were thrown this week and there were some inconsistencies from all quarterbacks. … the offense needs time to get rhythm and gel, a lot of early pressure by Wink doesn’t necessarily allow that but it’s good practice.

When we do hear about a play in the passing game it's not coming from the pocket, which there's one guy who's likely to still be standing when not in it. Josaiah Stewart on Orji:

He can escape the pocket, but believe it or not, he can throw," he said. "People might not believe that, social media or whatnot, say he can't throw, but he can throw. I've seen him throw dots down the field, and it's worse when you just almost get there and he gets the ball off, and it's a touchdown. He's great at doing that. He's great at escaping and getting the ball downfield."

On their podcast (video) Henschke shared that his insiders think Orji is #1, Davis Warren #2, not far behind is Jadyn Davis, who is your presumptive starter in 2025, and then Denegal, who didn't have that great of a week. Jadyn "continues to stack good days."

What it means?

Orji hasn't grasped the offense but he's probably going to have to lead it, because his legs are a bona fide Big Ten-caliber weapon, and none of the other QBs' skills rise to that yet. Denegal shouldn't be written off for one bad week but it sounds like it was quite the bad week. Jadyn Davis chatter is meaningful for the future.

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[After THE JUMP: Focused on becoming the best on and off the field.]

Matt Demorest, Realtor and Lender and I have brought back our (sometimes-)weekly video short. The purpose of these is to show you something on film that you as a fan will be able to pick up on when you see it in the future. Or to just show you what people are talking about.

This time, even though we already did a Neck Sharpies on it, Matt wanted to get further into what happened on the two Donovan Edwards runs, so we zoomed in on the thing Washington was doing, which was to have the DTs be the read instead of the MLB. Of course, they also screwed it up. If you're in the housing market, Matt's the guy.

There is nothing after the jump because it's video content.