Michigan football: Can Cade McNamara get it done?

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh named Cade McNamara the starting quarterback for the Wolverines to start the 2021 season, but can he get it done, or will he be replaced?

In the Wolverines’ six games last season, McNamara appeared in four of those. He threw for 425 yards with a 60.6 completion percentage. Cade only threw five touchdowns and didn’t run for a whole lot of yards, but to be fair, the Wolverines’ offense was pretty bad last season.

Despite the embarrassing 2-4 season out of Michigan last season, McNamara arguably saved the maize and blue from an embarrassing loss to Rutgers. Thanks to Cade, Michigan defeated the Scarlet Knights in triple-overtime.

Can Cade get it done for Michigan Football?

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Michigan’s running backs room is filled with talent, so it is a safe bet that offensive coordinator Josh Gattis will be getting the ball into the likes of Hassan Haskins, Donovan Edwards, and Blake Corum.

With that being a safe assumption, McNamara, the majority of the time, will be asked to make check-down throws. But the biggest concern I have for him is his ability to throw the deep ball.

McNamara doesn’t have outstanding arm strength. So his ability or inability to hit the make the deep throw will determine if he keeps his job.

I believe Cade McNamara can do the job, though. Watching the press conferences from the coaches to tweets by the players, they love him. He is the leader of this team, which played a part in him winning the starting job.

McNamara, when he played last year, was confident and moved the offense down the field. He did a lot of “dinking and dunking,” but that may be all the is necessary this season. Of course, we would like to think he improved over the offseason, though.

Michigan Football’s quarterback room has depth.

Despite my thinking that McNamara will be able to get the job done, he has very little room for error with the depth the Wolverines have.

True freshman J.J. McCarthy is noted as the second-string quarterback, with Texas Tech transfer Alan Bowman slated as the third-string.

When it comes to J.J. McCarthy, the rookie is the “real deal.” He is athletic, smart, and has a strong arm. The only thing holding him back right now is the fact that he is a true freshman and the player in front of him played pretty well last year when given a chance.

I do think we will see McCarthy week one against Western Michigan if the Wolverines grab a big lead.

As for third-string quarterback Alan Bowman, he could see some significant playing time even though it doesn’t look like it right now. Bowman has played in some pretty big college football games going back to his time in Lubbock.

Bowman had a 67% completion percentage throwing for 33 touchdowns in his three seasons at Texas Tech. He also threw for over 5,000 yards in those seasons.

The reason I think Bowman could see the field is if McNamara struggles early. I think Harbaugh would rather go with a quarterback with big-game experience before putting in a true freshman, especially with Washington in week two.

At the end of the day, there seems to be enough talent in the quarterback room for it not to be the problem in Ann Arbor in 2021, but we’ve been down this road before so let’s hope this time is different.