The Michigan Wolverines havea big hole at the quarterback position, and five guys are all fighting to earn the starting job on opening night. Here's a breakdown of where the battle stands with just a month left until the season starts:
Shane Morris (Jr.)
Morris has by far the most game experience of any of Michigan's QB options. Unfortunately, the former four-star recruit hasn't exactly lit it up for the Wolverines so far - in 8 games (only three where he saw extended minutes), Morris has completed 49% of his passes for no touchdowns and five interceptions. It's important to remember that on several occasions, injuries forced Michigan to throw Morris into the deep end before he was ready.
He's the current favorite because of his experience, but he'll have to show coaches how far he's come if he doesn't want his past mistakes to count against him.
Jake Rudock (Sr.)
Rudock is a known commodity from his time as Iowa's starting quarterback, and is more of a game-manager. He isn't going to take many risks and will take care of the football, which would be a breathe of fresh air for a Michigan team that's really struggled with turnovers. He's currently neck-and-neck with Morris for the job.
Wilton Speight (R Fr.)
Speight is a three-star behemoth who managed not to burn his redshirt last season despite all of Michigan's injuries. 6'6 but surprisingly mobile, Speight has an interesting collection of pros - size, mobility, athleticism - and cons - arm strength, technique, the fact that he was recruited by Al Borges.
It's hard to get a read on where Speight is relative to Morris right now, but he stood out in several practices last fall and coaches spoke highly of his potential. Definitely not the favorite, but someone to keep a very close eye on once spring practices get rolling.
Zach Gentry (Fr.)
Gentry has a great arm and size (6'7", 230 lbs), but will probably redshirt to give him time to adjust to the speed of the college game and work on his mechanics. He might have the highest upside of any of the players currently on the roster, but Harbaugh wants to bring him along slowly.
Alex Malzone (Fr.)
Malzone enrolled early, so he won't be starting from scratch next fall...and there are plenty of folks who've seen him play who think he has a higher ceiling than Morris and Speight. A four-star pro-style QB from Bloomfield Hills, MI (Brother Rice), Malzone is accurate, makes great reads, and he's surprisingly quick on his feet.
While it's unlikely that Malzone does enough to unseat Morris or Rudock, Jim Harbaugh isn't going to keep him on the bench if he thinks he'll give Michigan a better chance to win games. He has a better chance than Gentry of being on the roster and not redshirting this season because of his early enrollment, but don't be surprised if he sits out this season as well.
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