Michigan’s quarterback competition has come down to two, and it’s not the pair many were expecting.
Redshirt junior incumbent Wilton Speight was always thought to be one … his experience alone gave him the edge. He struggled in a loss at Iowa, but he played through injury at Ohio State (a shoulder injury much worse than many knew, and one that required surgery in the offseason) and became a leader. He threw for 2,500-plus yards and 18 scores against only seven interceptions, though two of those picks came in the finale at Ohio State.
No. 2? Not redshirt frosh Brandon Peters, as many expected, but fifth-year senior John O’Korn, who said last week he was playing some of the best football of his life. He credited new passing game coordinator Pep Hamilton for helping get his confidence back, and he seemed relaxed and ready if his number was called.
At this point, however, Speight is the guy, and he’s also reportedly playing great football in his second year. Keep in mind, he was a hair away from leading the Wolverines to a Big Ten championship game appearance in his first year as a starter, and there’s no reason to believe he can’t improve and help the Wolverines get over the hump.
Don't give up on Peters, either. He continues to make strides.
But how good can Speight be? We tackle that in today’s roundtable:
Chris Balas: Speight has already exceeded all expectations (at least from this guy, who brilliantly predicted he’d never play another meaningful snap at Michigan after his redshirt freshman season). He’s become a leader, put in the time to improve and has his teammates’ respect for his toughness and enthusiasm.
Speight doesn’t throw the prettiest ball, and he doesn’t have the biggest arm. He has a great feel for the game, though, and is far ahead in his understanding of the offense, a guy who watches a ton of film. For all the crap he got for last year’s showing in the Orange Bowl loss to Florida State, the offense would have been much worse had he not improvised on some plays in the first half. As Bo Schembechler said after the 1987 Rose Bowl loss to Arizona State, ‘you want to blame someone? Blame the offensive line. I think they stunk’ (or something like that).
Michigan’s leader was a third-team All-Big Ten selection last year. He’ll be second or first team this year, even with a new crop of receivers.
Brandon Brown: As a redshirt junior with a year of starting experience under his belt, Wilton Speight needs to have a significantly better season than last year. It became pretty clear last fall that he had a better grasp of the offense compared to the other quarterbacks, and that seems to be the case again. With that being said, he needs to put up some better numbers.
Last year he completed 61.6 percent of his passes for 2,538 yards and 18 touchdowns against just seven interceptions. I think it’s entirely reasonable that he get to the 65 percent completion mark and eclipses 3,000 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2017. The interception number shouldn’t go up either. He obviously lost a lot of his receiving production in Jehu Chesson, Amara Darboh and Jake Butt, but he might’ve replaced those guys with even more talented athletes.
If the offensive line gives him ample time in the pocket, Speight should put up bigger and better numbers while getting Michigan to another double-digit win total.
Austin Fox: Although Speight has received plenty of criticism since his performance in this past April’s spring game, it would still be very surprising if he didn’t once again wind up earning the starting quarterback job.
By all accounts, John O’Korn is giving Speight a run for his money at the position, but it’s still safe to assume that Speight will beat him out.
With a year under his belt as Michigan’s starter, expect Speight to build on what he accomplished last season. Although last year’s top targets — Jehu Chesson, Amara Darboh and Jake Butt — have all graduated, Speight should have more weapons to work with in 2017.
As a result, expect him to surpass last year’s total of 18 touchdown passes, along with potentially his 2,538 passing yards.
Speight was an all-Big Ten third-team quarterback last year, and could potentially move up to second-team, although it would be tough to overtake Ohio State fifth-year senior J.T. Barrett as the best signal-caller in the conference.
Again, the quarterback battle will be an ongoing competition up until the opening game — and all season, for that matter, just as every position will be — but fully expect Speight to be the man for the job.
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