Michigan will bring in five-star quarterback Shea Patterson this fall with the hope he’ll be immediately eligible. Head coach Jim Harbaugh sat all of his quarterbacks down and told them there were no guarantees for any of them but one – they’d all get a chance to compete.
True freshman Joe Milton will join redshirt sophomore-to-be Peters and redshirt frosh-to-be Dylan McCaffrey in the competition next year, and while most believe it’s Patterson’s job to lose, they’ll all get their shot.
“If I put my mind inside Brandon Peters' mind, my mindset would be, 'I'm the starting quarterback, and nobody's going to take this job away from me,’” Harbaugh said on his radio show last week.
Peters had his ups and downs this year and missed the Ohio State game due to a concussion, but he’s got plenty of physical talent. He’ll start the Outback Bowl Monday with a chance to solidify his hold on the job … at least for now.
“I don't really care," Peters said of Patterson’s pledge. "It's going to happen. At the NFL level, the college level, you're going to bring guys in. That's just how things happen.
"You can't really get into your emotions too much … that's going to bring you down. You just have to worry about what you can do, just stay in the position that you want to be in. You've just got to work, can't let anything affect you.”
Peters admitted he was a bit rusty upon his return to practice, but he has complete confidence he can be ‘the man.’ He admitted earlier this fall he didn’t respond well after he found out he wouldn’t be the starter, but picked it up after redshirt junior Wilton Speight went down.
“I would love to be the guy," Peters said. "I really think I can lead this team, help them win games in the future, ultimately win a Big Ten title.”
As for competition … he welcomes it.
“Everything has changed so much from when I got here," he said. "When I first got here, it was Shane [Morris] and Wilton, John [O’Korn] and Alex [Malzone]. All those guys are going to be gone now.
“From the original group of guys, it's me and Michael Sessa who's a walk-on, and then Dylan McCaffrey, of course. It’s going to be totally different. I'm going to be one of the oldest guys in the room now.”
With that comes the responsibility to take it to the next level, something he’s working toward every day.
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