With so many players returning last season, there wasn't much question about the starters heading into fall camp for Michigan Football.

More competition is occurring this season, and it starts with the quarterback.

This one has been well-documented throughout the offseason. While Kirk Campbell continues to include five quarterbacks in the battle talk, this race is likely down to Alex Orji, Jack Tuttle and Davis Warren.

Throughout the offseason, Orji's athletic ability and upside have led to the belief that he is the leader and will eventually win the starting job. His single pass attempt in two seasons and previous accuracy struggles in high school bring the concern he can throw the ball efficiently enough with few turnovers to execute at the level Michigan wants.

Many view Tuttle, entering his seventh season of college football, as the safer option. While he did have great stats in mop-up duty for Michigan last season, his previous limited starting experience at Indiana was far from stellar. Now healthy after recovering this spring, Tuttle has had a strong summer by all accounts and is pushing to be the starter.

Warren is seen as an outside shot, but after a strong spring and with his technically sound mechanics, he should not be counted out.

PREDICTION: Too close to call. I would probably go with Orji today, but this decision will be made based on everything that happens in fall camp.

One of the few battles from last season returns in 2024 with the departure of Josh Wallace.

Who starts opposite Will Johnson?

DJ Waller transferred out after the spring, with many seeing that as a sign Jyaire Hill's strong spring had put him in the driver's seat for the starting CB2 spot. Based on Sherrone Moore's comments during Big Ten Media days, that still appears to be the case.

Incoming transfers Aamir Hill and Ricky Johnson are competing behind and with Hill. Each brings more experience, especially Hall, an FCS All-American at Albany.

PREDICTION: Jyaire Hill

Michigan will have five new starters along the offensive line in 2024, but they aren't lacking experience. Myles Hinton, who started last season at right tackle before suffering an injury, will start at left tackle. Northwestern transfer Josh Priebe and veteran Giovanni El-Hadi will start at guard, with the expectation that Priebe will be at left.

We have known about the battle at right tackle between former top 100 recruit Andrew Gentry and Jeff Persi since spring. Persi has one career start at left tackle, while Gentry played every position along the offensive line last year.

A somewhat surprising development is a battle at center between Greg Crippen and Raheem Anderson. Not because Anderson isn't seen as a talented option, but we heard a lot about Crippen pushing Drake Nugent last year after getting a lot of reps with the ones while Nugent was injured. And it sounded like Crippen was the expected starter this spring.

PREDICTION: RT Andrew Gentry C=too close to call

We know this could be the year of Donovan Edwards. Kalel Mullings, the former LB converted to RB, has looked strong in limited action and got a shout-out from Sherrone Moore during Big Ten Media Days. There is an expectation that the third back this year could get some serious run.

Ben Hall was the star of last year's Maize vs. Blue Spring Game and looked good at the start of the season before a foot injury dampened his season. He will compete with veteran Tavierre Dunlap, who has gotten some shout-outs from coaches this offseason.

Hall and Dunlap are both bigger, more physical runners who can potentially be spells or carve out roles in short yardage. In my opinion, the player to watch is incoming freshman Jordan Marshall.

Moore recently said what people like us have been saying about Marshall, that he compares to Blake Corum. No one is saying Marshall will immediately be on par with arguably the best running back in Michigan history. Still, his running style of smooth lateral movements and quick cuts echoes Corum. He has strong vision and fights for extra yards. He might be too good to keep off the field.

PREDICTION: Jordan Marshall

The wide receiver room in Ann Arbor is filled with talent and potential but not a ton of past production. WR3 and WR4 from last season, Tyler Morris and Semaj Morgan are WR1 and WR2 this season. Not only that, they appear to be in their own tier as fall camp begins.

Fred Moore is the closest to being in that tier with Morris and Morgan and should be heavily used in early rotations. We've been penciling him into the X role, but we'll have to see how he is used.

Incoming transfer CJ Charleston has the most experience of the group. Last season, he posted 33 receptions for 503 yards and 4 touchdowns at Youngstown State. He is similar to Morris and Morgan in that he can be used in multiple spots on the field and does well on short routes, in the flat, and screens behind the line of scrimmage.

When it comes to bigger body outside receivers, Michigan has Peyton O'Leary, Amorion Walker, and Kendrick Bell. O'Leary has been hyped in multiple offseasons and has a case to see action this year. Walker is back at WR, and back at Michigan after spending the spring in Ole Miss. He was part of the WR class with Morris that Jim Harbaugh called "freak show". Bell, the younger brother of Ronnie Bell, had a strong spring and is fighting for reps.

PREDICTION: Moore and Charleston

It is has been a roller coaster ride this offseason for the safety position.

Both Makari Paige and Rod Moore elected to return to Ann Arbor instead of pursuing the NFL, only for Moore to suffer an ACL injury in the spring. Quinten Johnson originally declared for the NFL Draft but due to an injury couldn't take part in the pre-draft process and has returned to Michigan. Keon Sabb transferred out to Alabama, and Jaden Mangham and Wesley Walker transferred in.

Paige is assumed to start at the free safety position once again, but you can expect Johnson to rotate there and play alongside Paige at times. Walker brings a physical element to his game, and while he doesn't give up much yards after the catch, his coverage saw a lot of receptions allowed last season. Mangham was the best defender in a bad secondary at Michigan State last season. He had 4 interceptions but did allow some big plays.

Zeke Berry has been getting looks at nickel but he needs to factor into the equation as well, potentially rotating with safeties or getting different looks if Wink goes with 6DB formations. A sleeper pick to have a rise similar to Sabb is Brandyn Hillman. He has a game very similar to Sabb and will be fighting to get a bigger role throughout the year.

All the safeties will play, and we may not have clear starters. The game could be game-dependent, like it was at times last year, drive-dependent, or even formation-dependent with many rotations. I think Mangham, in the long term, will take on a bigger role and potentially start next to Paige, but coming out of camp, I'm taking the veterans as starters.

PREDICTION: Paige and Johnson

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