The Michigan Wolverines have a glaring need at the quarterback position, and three guys are currently battling for the starting job: junior Shane Morris, redshirt freshman Wilton Speight, and true freshman Alex Malzone (who enrolled early) are competing for the job this spring, but they’ll be joined by four-star freshman Zach Gentry in the summer.
Passing game coordinator Jedd Fisch, who served as the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars last season, broke down what he's see from the quarterbacks in spring practice, and started by praising Morris:
"Shane took more reps last year I would guess because he was the No. 2 quarterback. He played the year before also so he's had more practice reps than Wilt has but Wilt makes a lot of nice throws and is a good-sized kid. Shane has a very strong arm, which everyone knows. He spins it well. He just has to understand that that's not the most important thing. If you have a really strong arm, you have a really strong arm, that's what you have. Now it's a matter of, 'What can you do with it? How do you utilize it?' His skill set, his arm strength is tremendous and he's very comfortable as a quarterback. So that's fun to watch him in the huddle. He has very good command of what we're asking him to do."
Morris figures to have a leg up on the rest of the competition, but Fisch praised Malzone on how quickly he's picking up the offense.
"Alex should be a senior in high school right now. He has a lot going on and he has handled it unbelievably well. He's unbelievable in terms of his ability to not let things bother him, to be consistent, and to jump right back in, and play the game … if a play doesn't go right, he's right back in there for the next one. Short-term memory is phenomenal for a quarterback."
Fisch was a little more critical of Speight, but noted his amazing physical tools.
"Wilton is a very large man. He's a big guy and he can see everything. He's a pretty good athlete and throws the ball well. But he doesn't seem to have had a ton of experience."
While those three are competing right now, Fisch said they job won't be decided until Gentry gets his shot.
"When he gets here, then we have to see how much he really knows. We have to see how much he can handle. We don't have a great feel for how much he can process; we haven't been in the meeting room with him. He doesn't have our offense. When he arrives on campus in June, he has to come in and dig, and dig into that playbook, and then when we see him, it will be a matter of how much between June and August when we're not with him that he can pick up from the other guys to be somewhat ready to compete with the other guys."
Follow our Michigan Wolverines team page for all the latest Michigan football news and rumors!
Back to the Michigan Wolverines Newsfeed