Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh won’t say the starting quarterback job is Brandon Peters’ to lose, confirming again it’s “likely” Peters starts Saturday against Minnesota.
Harbaugh, speaking on the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket Wednesday, repeated much of what he said at his Monday presser, saying Peters acquitted himself well, completed balls, moved the chains and the offense scored touchdowns.
He made no apologies for waiting to put Peters in the starting lineup.
“I think they said the same about some other positions, even John O’Korn a few weeks back [when redshirt junior Wilton Speight was still starting],” he said. “It’s just the process of being in a ballgame. It’s a meritocracy for our team. Those positions are earned … they’re not given, and they’re not given by default. They have to be earned.
“You have to beat somebody out. It’s not the easiest thing to do at quarterback because there’s only one ball and one quarterback plays at a time. That being said, we felt it was time for Brandon to be in the game and [be] given a chance to earn that job. I thought he acquitted himself very well, as we said. The best players play and it’s by merit, by talent, effort. I would say that about every position.”
Asked whether it was Peters’ job to lose, Harbaugh still wouldn’t bite.
“I’m not making any statements like that,” he said. “We’re going back this week of practice and want him to put a stamp, an exclamation mark on the job he did Saturday, put an exclamation mark on that in practice. He will play — and it’s very likely he will start the game — because I believe he will put an exclamation on that in practice this week.
“We started [when he was] a freshman, talked to a few professionals on campus and then just finally said, ‘You’ve got to be a lot louder here. You’ve got to be real loud. This is how loud it’s going to be.’ He had a big inflection point during training camp where, ‘That’s good — now, let’s get a little better.’
“It’s been a process. I think he’s really at a good level, cadence-wise, etc. Communication is key in football, and he did well Saturday. Let’s come back and put an exclamation on it in practice this week and look forward to the ballgame Saturday.”
NOTES
• Harbaugh, when asked how happy he was with the program in year three, said he liked the work ethic most.
“They grind,” he said. “We’ve been at this now nine weeks going on 10 of the football season, and then there’s another five weeks of August training camp. It’s end of July to January. That’s a hard, tough road for a football player. It’s daily, it’s hourly, it’s weekly, it’s monthly. For them to work, it requires having a passion to want to be good and have a love for the game of football, and I see that.
“I appreciate that in our ball club. It’s a grind of prep. Your preparation during the week, every single day, the practice every single day, the training, the field study, and I like that about our football team — that they grind and they work at it. There are some improvements to make, and we want to make them daily. That’s where we are.”
• Harbaugh said the offensive line played “extremely well” against Rutgers.
“Not just blocking two people and getting on a man, but blocking through them, creating inches, creating feet, sometimes even yards where the holes were easy to find and easy to run through,” he said. “Backs got up on the second level and made some people miss and had some long runs and a lot of yards in the running game. I thought the schemes were good and our offensive line played well.”
The fullbacks, too, he added.
“[Fifth-year senior] Henry Poggi, [fifth-year senior] Khalid Hill … [freshman] Ben Mason had some great blocks. My favorite was Ben Mason on [junior] Karan Higdon’s 10-yard touchdown run. He blocked his man at the 8-yard line and then blocked him all the way to the end zone. Ben Mason scored with his man, and then Karan scored right in behind him.
“The tight ends did extremely well. [Sophomore] Sean McKeon had a good day, two really contested, tough catches and then another catch, and blocked well. The wide receivers got into the game. The offensive line, fullbacks, the tight ends had a good day.”
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