On where he sees himself right now with Michigan

Just in a great spot. I feel like every year, every spring, fall, whatever, the different period of the year I just feel like I've elevated myself every single time. Coming in, no name for myself, nothing at all, just in a spot now that I'm super excited about and in a position where all my goals are in front of me. Of course, I have to be patient. JJ is our guy and me and him are really close and we have a really tight relationship. Coach Campbell coming in made a huge difference. I'm super excited to see where I can take my game.

On the goals he has for himself now

I said when I came in here, I want to be the starting quarterback at Michigan. I think I have the talent and the ability to do that. Of course, things that happened in my high school career didn't go exactly how I wanted them to. Probably the exact opposite in a lot of ways I wanted them to. Just being able to stay patient and my goals haven't changed. Being the starting quarterback here, play at a high level, lead this team to do great things and hopefully do stuff at the next level as well. Those things haven't changed, there were times in high school where I didn't think that it would happen and I didn't think those opportunities would present themselves. I've said this a million times, I'm just very blessed. The opportunities that I have gotten since being at Michigan and for the opportunity to come to Michigan, I'm just super grateful and try not to forget that every day when I'm coming in here.

On the life lessons he's learned have helped him

I think perspective is the main word. Just grateful for the opportunity to get up every morning and do something that I love to do. I love football. I love football, I love this place I love Michigan, I love this school. All those things, being super grateful and knowing that this isn't an opportunity granted to everyone. On top of that, the opportunity to come back and do the things I love to do after some of the things I went through, seeing how lucky I got. Even when I go back for checkups and stuff like that, it just reminds me every time that I am super lucky. Not everyone is granted the same opportunity that I am after what I went through. That's always in my head. Always thinking about it, it's something I never forget when I interact with kids or reached out to by parents with kids who have been diagnosed and stuff like that. It just reminds me every single time. Every single day, I'm super blessed and this opportunity doesn't come up very often. Just trying to make the most of it because it's a blast.

On how he manages competition and keeping the camaraderie as a teammate

I think it starts with being unselfish and knowing that everyone has a role. Coach Campbell does a really good job with this, he's super clear with, listen, everyone is going to have a role on this team and the guy who is out on the field is the product, is the sum, of the work that everyone in the work has put in. Everyone working out, me and JJ pushing each other in the workouts to Alex Orji is a freak athlete, we're trying to catch up to him in the weight room. He makes us better. Learning from every guy. Even when Cade was here, learning from him and JJ learning from him. Me learning from Cade and JJ, all those guys. From the start, since I've been here, I think JJ has done a great job even last year and his freshman year with all the stuff that went on there and all the drama. Through it all, those guys were super team-first about it and it kind of set the precedent of where we're at now. There's going to be competition, there's going to be a starter, a backup and a three and a four. You may not be super happy with where you're at but you're going to support the other guy and give him every opportunity to be successful. What's good for the quarterback room is good for the team. What's good for the team is good for everyone else around it. It's just a fun thing to be apart of.

On Kirk Campbell

He's been awesome. I think the big thing for him is playing on time, playing in rhythm. Being super clear and disciplined with your eyes. You can't see all 11 guys at once, that's just the fact of it. You have to be super disciplined with where you're putting your eyes pre-snap, post-snap. How you're seeing things. He's just really cleared that picture up for all of us. JJ, me, Jack, Orji, all of us. Just made a huge difference. I think you're going to see it even more as we get into the season and start seeing—our defense has a lot of interesting stuff and other defenses will too. We'll be as prepared as ever to push the ball down the field because I know that's a big goal of ours this year.

On how things changed after 2022 spring game

I think it just proved to me that I can do this. Going through high school, I didn't play a ton of football and going through what I went through, then COVID and that stuff, I was telling people, even when I was getting recruited, I remember telling Coach Casula who isn't here anymore, I can play at this level. He agreed, he was like, I know you can do it and my quarterback coaches at home were saying, yeah, I believe. I see it every day when you're out here throwing, you can spin the rock and you can do these things. I really haven't done it. When you get here, it's a whirlwind trying to figure things out. Figure out how to tie your shoes. Freshman year I'm on scout team. That was such a good experience for me. Me and Peyton O'Leary just playing buddy ball and figuring out how to go against Hutch and that defense. That proved to me a little bit that I can do it. Spring ball, getting a chance to work with the offense and compete for that three spot at the time. Then getting into the spring game where it's actually football, I'm getting hit. Being like, OK, I can do this. This past season, getting playing time and being in that role as a two behind JJ. Only proving myself even more that I can do this. I think it snowballs. Just proving to myself every single day that I belong here and I can have a role. Someday, I can be the guy. It's exciting.

On how exciting to see his Peyton O'Leary have moments like he's felt

It puts the biggest smile on my face. I'm so happy for that dude. We both came in as walk-ons, chip on our shoulder. Felt like COVID, whatever, got in our way. Of course, he was a big-time lacrosse player, everyone knows that. We both came in and he like DM'd me when I committed and he was like, you want to be roommates? He seems like a cool guy, sure. Now we're like best friends. We've been working behind the scenes trying to prove that we belong here. As a walk-on, it's not easy. You have to prove every single day that nothing is given, you have to prove everything. I'm just super happy for him that all the work he's been putting in—it's not a surprise to me that he did that. I'm sure a lot of guys echoed that in the media and stuff. He's been doing it every single day. It's awesome.

On how much of an advantage it is to have a relationship like he does with O'Leary

It's everything. Just the trust that you have in that guy next to you. That whole group that I'm with out there. Normally, most of the twos that I'm out there with. That's a group that I'm already working with every single day. That trust is there with all 11 guys. Maybe even more so with Peyton because our relationship and all the work we put in together but it's there with all 11 guys and I think it's there with the twos, it's there with the ones. Me and Peyton are just trying to keep up with JJ and CJ, that's kind of like the relationship and the way that it is, that's kind of like how we look at it. It only helps us and we learn from stuff that they're doing and we try to emulate it. It's just a lot of fun.

On what the best thing he does as a QB and one thing he's working on this offseason

One thing is just being smart with the football, making good decisions, playing on time, playing quick. Not taking sacks, keeping us ahead of the chains, something Coach Harbaugh talks about a lot. A completion could be one yard, could be two yards but you're not going backward. Second and seven, third and two compared to third and eight, that's a big difference. That's what playing quarterback is. First downs turn into scores, scores turns into wins. That's something he preaches and that's something I do really well and will continue to do. Of course, I love to push the ball down the field, I want to cut it loose. That's something I'm not going to stop doing and Coach Campbell has just opened up the door for me to do even more. That's really exciting. Something I'm trying to work on, just playing off-schedule. That's something that JJ does really well that I am trying to learn from him as much as I can. When the play breaks down and it's not always there, just being able to navigate that and be and athlete and make plays. Make smart plays is something I'm going to continue to try to do. Like I said, JJ does a really good job at it and he's maybe one of the best in the country at it. That's something I'm trying to take from his game to mine.

On whether he can understand how special it is to know nothing but championships at U-M

I don't know if I know that perspective and don't know if I know however many years of, as some people call it, painful Michigan fandom. A lot of years of pain and not beating Ohio State as guy who wasn't really a Michigan fan before I came here. I don't think I can fully understand that but I do know that the standards have been set here from that team that took 2020 and turned it into a Big Ten championship in 2021. Those standards are not going anywhere and they're going to be here, hopefully, long after we're gone and the foundation that's been set, there is no straying from that anymore. It only makes it so much more—winning is fun and losing sucks. We're doing everything we can to replicate and take ourselves to the next level this year.

On how much pressure there is to continue winning

It's definitely there and I think it's maybe a good pressure, in a sense, because we're trying to replicate it. Like I said, the standard that's been set has been really high and we're not going to let that stop and let that go anywhere. There's no more pressure on the outside than what we put on ourselves. I think that's kind of the biggest thing that we know—I'm not going to say it's a habit of winning Big Ten championships, the habit is coming in every day and work. That habit is still there and I think that habit is only going to transform and become wins and then, hopefully, a Big Ten win and, hopefully, a national championship.

On how long it takes to grasp Michigan's rivalry games for someone outside of area

Just one year, maybe even less. When I walked in and saw 'What are you doing to beat Ohio State today?' plastered around the facility on the TVs and the big screens and stuff, I was like, oh, this is not UCLA-USC which is a rivalry that I grew up with. This is another level. Losing to Michigan State my freshman year, that was just heartbreaking. Then beating them this year. Also, my girlfriend's whole family went to Michigan State so that was like—that gave me even more understanding of it. The Ohio State one speaks for itself. Going down to Columbus this year and feeling that, feeling the weight of it and how much it means to everyone in Michigan. Even when we traveled around the state on our trip, that, more than anything, gave me a sense of the fans and how incredible they are and also how big those two games are to them and how important those are. Every person was like, gotta beat Ohio State again, gotta beat Ohio State again. Come on, we gotta beat Michigan State again, I've been hearing about it all year. Gotta beat Michigan State. When you realize that, you're playing for something bigger than just what's in this building.

On whether he ever thought he'd live in a world where USC and UCLA will join the Big Ten

Absolutely not. Both of my parents went to UCLA so they're super excited about it. A lot of my friends go to USC and they're really excited about. USC is a top program and UCLA is always up and down—I've been a fan of them since I was a kid but they're kind of on the upswing right now. I'm praying we get to travel out there for one of them. Seems like we should be able to and that would be a pretty surreal moment. It sucked missing out on the national championship in Southern California. Being able to, hopefully, get to a game out there in my time here, hopefully, playing a major role on that team at that point would be a pretty full circle moment.

On how much it will impact recruiting

We already recruit nationally but I think it's just the presence there and playing games there. Even if kids are on visits to those schools and Michigan is playing them and we're beating them, hopefully, by a lot, I think that's only going to help and only going to establish us that much more. I know growing up in Southern California, yeah, I understood there was a rivalry, Michigan and Ohio State, there's these big-time schools somewhere up in the northern part of the country but I really didn't understand how big it really is and that Michigan is the winningest program of all time. I really didn't understand those things. Just having that presence there in a place where I know there's a ton of talent that we can tap into. We've already tapped into some of it but even more is just going to be that much more fun and can make Michigan that much better of a team.

On what it would mean to play in the Rose Bowl

That is probably—of course winning a national championship and doing all of those things is the number one goal for me and being at Michigan. The Rose Bowl is right up there. Me and my dad used to go all the time. We'd scalp tickets and go to those games. The way that stadium is and the atmosphere, just the tradition of it, the history. To me, when I think of college football, I really think about the Rose Bowl and watching all the different games, the parade and all that. It makes me smile thinking about it. That would be an incredible moment.

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