Michigan Football: Cade McNamara’s Stability ‘Has Carried’ U-M

Michigan is 6-0 under first-year starting quarterback Cade McNamara, who has been a workhorse all offseason. While the redshirt frosh hasn’t been perfect, quarterback coach Matt Weiss insists he’s been everything they hoped and more.

McNamara hasn’t put up gaudy passing numbers, but he hasn’t really been asked to. What he has done is protect the ball, engineer scoring drives (even plenty that started inside his own 10-yard line, including two against Nebraska), checked into the right plays … oh, and WON.

“I think we saw exactly what we thought we were going to get,” Weiss told host Jon Jansen on the Inside Michigan radio show Monday night. “We saw what he did in practice throughout the spring, throughout training camp … he doesn’t make mistakes, which at the quarterback position, when you have a guy that plays like that, you can win a lot of games.

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“More than not making mistakes, he makes the plays that are there, makes the right read, does the right thing. That stability has really been the consistency that carried our team, and our offense, to a lot of success throughout the first part of the year so far.”

Seventeen of Michigan’s 31 plays of 20-plus yards have come through the air, yet many believe McNamara hasn’t proven he’s been able to stretch the field. Weiss isn’t among them.

U-M is No. 9 nationally, in fact, in passing plays over 50 yards, the caveat being that two of them have come on touchdown passes from freshman quarterback J.J. McCarthy to transfer Daylen Baldwin.

“[Cade] has shown the ability to do that. The 87-yard pass he completed is in the top something in Michigan history, and they’ve been playing here for a long time,” Weiss continued. “Look up plays or passes over 50 yards, and I’m sure we’d be up there with the best in college football.

“We’re kind of like a take your shot when you can type of offense, have given him the opportunity to do that. He’s done a great job; been tremendous. I don’t think he’s missed anything deep.”

Only a few, including one to Baldwin at Nebraska. He worked hard during the bye week on that aspect of his game, and he given how he works at every aspect of his game, Weiss has no doubt his quarterback will improve there, too.

“J.J. would tell you he’s learned a ton from watching Cade,” Weiss continued. “The things Cade does preparation wise … he’s as good as I think there is. He really wants to be good, works really hard at it, studies tape. He’s on top of the protections, on top of the checks, audibles, everything we’re doing in the game plan. He’s just absolutely dialed [in].”

McCarthy, too, puts in the hours and has been ‘really impressive,’ too, Weiss said in the limited amount he’s played. He’s primarily running the ball when he enters the game, but he knows the entire playbook.

“He has the benefit right now of playing in a limited role, where he’s not going to see as many looks, not going to be in as many situations,” Weiss said. “If we needed him to do those things and he had to be the starter, him having played in that role and gotten that experience so far this year gives us complete confidence he’s ready to do that.

“He’s done exactly what we’ve asked him to do. We’ve asked him to do quarterback driven runs … all the reads have been right on, and he’s taken care of the football. He’s played on the road in hostile environments, played in pressure situations. It’s one more thing defenses have to worry about. They have to watch our tape and say, ‘hey, are we gap sound on these quarterback runs that these guys can do?’”

He’s proven he can throw the ball, too, obviously, and chances are we’ll get to see more of that in the second half of the schedule. Weiss challenged them during the bye week to prepare as though they needed their flaws fixed immediately, and he was pleased with the response.

“The challenge I posed to them — when we’re two years from now, imagine the type of player you’re going to be and think about that. What’s going to be different between now and then?” he said. “And then, challenge yourself to address those things.

“If you say to yourself, ‘I’m going to be more accurate on this type of pass,’ let’s do work to do that now. If you said, ‘understand protection better and adjust protection, every time,’ let’s focus on that.”

After all, he said, it’s the games down the stretch everyone remembers. A six-game win streak to start the season is outstanding, but there’s more on the table. He’s confident his signal callers can get it if they continue down the same path they’ve been following.

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