First-year Michigan football quarterbacks coach Ben McDaniels couldn’t have stepped into a much better situation. He’s inherited a senior quarterback in Shea Patterson who threw for 2,600 yards and is now in an offense perfectly suited for his talents, and the guys behind him could start at a number of schools.
Redshirt sophomore Dylan McCaffrey and redshirt frosh Joe Milton will both be on the field at some point in their careers, and McDaniels said he’d defer to head coach Jim Harbaugh on how to use his stable of quarterbacks. For now, though, it seems clear Patterson is a pretty obvious No. 1 headed toward the Aug. 31 opener with Middle Tennessee State.
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“I think we started right where we left off in spring. Spring was really productive, and I think we’ve started training camp that way,” McDaniels said.
Harbaugh praised Patterson’s play in the early going, calling him “clean.”
“We talk about that in the quarterback room … clean mentally,” he said. “We’re not going to complete every ball. That’s not realistic for the most part. We’re going to try and hope to do that on every play, but as important is, ‘were you clean mentally on that snap?’ Was your thought process clean? Did you anticipate well; did you see the defense clean? I think he’s in a good place that way right now.
“… I think he’s trying to do what I’m asking him to do. We spend a lot of time trying to grow mentally, talking about the defense, understanding coverage, understanding how that dictates our ability to anticipate where the ball can or should go once we have the ball in our hand.”
A lot of that is dictated on what happens after the ball is snapped now that the Wolverines are running a heavy RPO (run/pass option) offense. It’s been right up Patterson’s alley, while McCaffrey, Milton and even freshman Cade McNamara have the tools and smarts to run it.
All of his quarterbacks are good, natural throwers, and all are athletic enough to do what’s required in new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis’ offense.
“Both of those things are required somehow in the system,” McDaniels continued. “I think there’s a quarterback room that fits who we are right now in a great way, and from a skillset standpoint a lot of similarity amongst the players. And yes, the system, the offense, the building fits who we have in our quarterback room.
“Ultimately in the passing game, really any system, your ability to understand the defense, understand the ideas of the defense that can provide you information before you have the ball in your hand, before the ball is snapped, all of that contributes to your ability to play successfully after the ball is snapped. Any time we’re calling a pass, that’s not dissimilar to most any building anywhere in America … that they have to understand defense, coverages and where the ball needs to go.”
All of his quarterbacks have been somewhat successful at it, McDaniels added, and McCaffrey has executed extremely well at times. Patterson, though, seems to have elevated his game, primed for a huge senior season.
“I think he’s very comfortable,” McDaniels said. “I think the focus was teaching him the system, getting him to play within the system at a very high level. He did that. He has done that up to this point, so I would imagine he would say he’s comfortable and I’m happy about that.
“My focus was whatever the call is within a system, it’s my job to help him execute it the best way he can. I think that was more my focus than seeing his take on viewing a different offense. But I think he’s very comfortable in the system and playing clean right now.”
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