Michigan Football: Another QB Battle Shaping up this Spring

Six candidates will be battling this Spring for the Michigan football team’s starting quarterback job for the 2016 season.

When new Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh decided on the 2015 starting quarterback, there was no doubt Jake Rudock was number one by far.

And despite tossing three interceptions in the season-opening loss to Utah, Rudock always had the support of Harbaugh.

A graduate transfer from the Iowa Hawkeyes, Rudock ended up leading the Wolverines to a 9-3 record, including last week’s 41-7 Citrus Bowl win over Florida.

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Another QB battle

With Rudock gone, the Michigan Wolverines will once again have a battle for the 2016 starting quarterback’s job.

“The more good ones you have, the better,” Harbaugh said.

Between the two returning quarterbacks with any experience, Shane Morris (eight games played) and Wilton Speight have completed just 52 passes between them.

Morris (6-3, 209), who lost the competition to Rudock last season, ended up redshirting and is expected to return in hopes of winning the starting job.

Speight leads comeback

Speight was the only signal caller with any reps other than Rudock and may be next in line. A 6-6, 235 lb. strong-armed redshirt sophomore, Speight has plenty of raw talent to compete. He capitalized on a rare opportunity to lead the Wolverines to a win over Minnesota.

Speight was forced to come off the bench when Rudock was injured and then hit Jehu Chesson with a 12-yard scoring strike with just under five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Next, he found Amara Darboh with a two-point conversion pass, giving Michigan the 29-26 winning margin.

But neither Morris nor Speight has the job locked.

Transfer John O’Korn (6-4, 220) won the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year as a Houston Cougar freshman. He threw for 4,068 yards between 2013 and 2014 while accounting for 34 touchdowns against 18 interceptions. Like Rudock, O’Korn lost his starting job midway through the 2014 season and decided to transfer.

Moving to tight end?

Zack Gentry, a 6-7, 230 lb. redshirt freshman candidate was seen working out at tight end during bowl game practices. The position switch may just be an experiment, so it’s too early to tell. Incidentally, rivals.com rated him the nation’s No. 4 pro style quarterback prospect in the 2015 class.

Another player to watch is early-enrollee Brandon Peters, a 6-4, 209 lb. 4-star recruit from Avon High School (Indiana). Peters will be playing in the prestigious U.S. Army All-American Bowl (Jan. 9, NBC, 1 pm ET).

Since he’s arriving in Ann Arbor early, he’ll be a part of spring practice, so don’t count him out.

Then there is Alex Malzone (6-2, 218), a redshirt freshman from Farmington Hills (MI) Brother Rice. Malzone was a 2015 Spring Game starter, but also redshirted last season.

So that’s six candidates thus far. Harbaugh isn’t expected to land another quarterback recruit before National Signing Day (Feb. 3), but if there is another grad-transfer like Rudock available, the number could increase to seven.

Michigan Football: Another QB Battle Shaping up this Spring

By Joel Greer | Jan 5, 2016

Six candidates will be battling this Spring for the Michigan football team’s starting quarterback job for the 2016 season.

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