Published Jul 30, 2020
Ranking Every Starting Quarterback Jim Harbaugh Has Had At Michigan
Austin Fox  •  Maize&BlueReview
Staff Writer

There have been plenty of ups and downs for the Michigan Wolverines' starting football quarterbacks during Jim Harbaugh's five years in Ann Arbor, with the 2015, 2016 and 2018 campaigns primarily making up the highlights and the 2017 and 2019 seasons serving as the lowlights.

Below is a look at all five quarterbacks who have started a game in Ann Arbor during the Harbaugh tenure, ranked in order of how they performed during their time in the winged helmet.

Advertisement

5. John O'Korn (2015-17)

The numbers weren't pretty for John O'Korn at Michigan, who started six games as a Wolverine in relief of the injured Wilton Speight — one in 2016 and five in 2017. After transferring in from Houston following the 2014 season, O'Korn battled Speight for the club's starting quarterback job heading into 2016, but finished runner-up.

He appeared in eight games and threw just 34 passes as a backup in 2016, connecting on 59 percent of his throws for 173 yards with two touchdowns and no picks. O'Korn's numbers weren't pretty in his lone start of the year, however, when he filled in for an injured Speight in Michigan's 20-10 win over Indiana on Nov. 19; he completed just seven of his 16 passes for 59 yards with no touchdowns.

The Huntingdon, Pa., native was once again thrust back into a prominent role the following year in U-M's Sept. 23 victory at Purdue when Speight went down with injury. O'Korn proceeded to start the 2017 Michigan State, Indiana, Penn State, Rutgers and Ohio State contests that year, struggling mightily while leading the Maize and Blue to just a 2-3 record in those starts.

He completed 54 percent of his passes on the year for 973 yards, two touchdowns and six picks, as the Wolverines stumbled to an 8-5 record with poor quarterback play being one of the primary reasons why.

Click the image to sign up for TheWolverine.com, free for 60 days!

4. Brandon Peters (2016-18)

Brandon Peters came to Michigan as a highly-touted four-star, top-160 quarterback out of high school, and was thought by many to be a surefire future starter in Harbaugh's offense.

He redshirted as a freshman in 2016 and saw his first extensive action in relief of O'Korn the following year in Michigan's 35-14 triumph over Rutgers on Oct. 28. Peters proceeded to start four of the club's next five games (missed the Ohio State loss with injury) and showed plenty of promise in the Minnesota, Maryland and Wisconsin outings (zero picks during that span), but followed it up by putting on a dreadful performance in Michigan's Outback Bowl loss to South Carolina (20-for-44 with no touchdowns and two picks).

The Avon, Ind., native clearly fell out of favor with the coaching staff as a redshirt sophomore during the 2018 campaign, attempting just two passes while only appearing in five games as the third-string signal-caller behind Shea Patterson and Dylan McCaffrey.

Peters then took a grad transfer route to Illinois, where he completed 55.3 percent of his passes for 1,884 yards with 18 touchdowns and eight picks as a redshirt junior in 2019. He is strongly expected to re-earn the Fighting Illini's starting quarterback job once again as a fifth-year senior in 2020.

Peters never lived up to the hype during his time in Ann Arbor, finishing his Wolverine tenure with just 680 passing yards, a 53 completion percentage, four touchdowns and three picks in 10 appearances.

3. Wilton Speight (2014-17)

Speight made a strong case for the No. 2 entry on this list, but we ultimately slotted him in at No. 3. Arriving at Michigan as an unheralded three-star quarterback from Richmond, Va., under Brady Hoke, Speight went on to become a productive starter during his time as a Wolverine.

He redshirted as a freshman in 2014 and served as Jake Rudock's backup in 2015, completing nine of his 25 passes for 73 yards with a touchdown and a pick that year. He then surprisingly (at least to some) beat out O'Korn for the starting job as a redshirt sophomore in 2016, and went on to enjoy a stellar campaign.

Speight completed 62 percent of his passes for 2,538 yards, 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 2016, earning All-Big Ten third-team honors from both the coaches and media as a result.

He was expected to pick up right where he left off as a redshirt junior in 2017 but instead regressed, connecting on just 54 percent of his attempts with three scores and two picks through Michigan's first four games.

Speight then suffered three broken vertebrae in his back in U-M's Sept. 23 win at Purdue, and was lost for the season. He transferred to UCLA and played his fifth-year senior season there in 2018, connecting on 60.6 percent of his attempts for 1,527 yards, six touchdowns and six interceptions in an injury-riddled seven-game season.

2. Shea Patterson (2018-19)

Shea Patterson transferred to Michigan after spending his first two collegiate seasons at Ole Miss, and was allowed to play right away as a junior for the Wolverines in 2018. He was expected to be somewhat of a savior for a U-M quarterback spot that had struggled mightily in 2017, and served that role quite well in 2018.

Patterson helped lead the Maize and Blue to a 10-1 start and the verge of a College Football Playoff appearance, before a Nov. 24 loss at Ohio State ruined those dreams. His first season in Ann Arbor was nevertheless a successful one, as the Shreveport, La., native completed 65 percent of his passes for 2,600 yards with 22 touchdowns and seven picks.

Expectations were sky-high for Patterson and the Michigan offense heading into his senior campaign of 2019, but both parties got off to a rough start as U-M stumbled to an early 5-2 record through its first seven games.

Patterson then played arguably the best ball of his collegiate career in a three-game November span against Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State, averaging 351.6 passing yards per outing and throwing a combined 10 touchdown passes and only two picks during that stretch.

He closed out his U-M career on a down note, though, once again turning in an inconsistent performance in the Citrus Bowl loss to Alabama (17-for-37 for 233 yards with one score and two interceptions), which basically summed his senior year up in a nutshell.

There was plenty of good and bad for Patterson during his two years in Ann Arbor, though his lasting legacy seems to center around the fact that he regressed from his junior to senior year and that he was never able to lead U-M to a Big Ten championship or a College Football Playoff appearance.

1. Jake Rudock (2015)

Jake Rudock only spent one year in Ann Arbor after transferring in from Iowa, but the way he progressed in 2015 to turn into a phenomenal signal-caller is why he grabs the top spot on this list.

Rudock had an underwhelming first two months of the season as a fifth-year senior, but was clicking on all cylinders by the time November rolled around. He threw for 337 yards in a Nov. 7 win over Rutgers, single-handedly led Michigan to victory at Indiana the following week by tossing six touchdowns and 440 yards, and then helped the Wolverines grab a 28-16 victory in a hostile Penn State environment on Nov. 21 by throwing for 256 yards and two scores.

The 41-7 annihilation of Florida in the Citrus Bowl was perhaps Rudock's best performance of the year, though, with the fifth-year senior connecting on 64.5 percent of his passes against the Gators for 278 yards, three touchdowns and no picks.

The Weston, Fla., native concluded his one season in Ann Arbor with a 64 completion percentage, 3,017 yards, 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions. An afterthought at Iowa, Rudock developed into one of the conference's best quarterbacks by the end of the 2015 season, which was a testament to Harbaugh's development and coaching abilities.

The U-M head man is often praised for the outstanding work he did with past quarterbacks such as Andrew Luck at Stanford and Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick with the San Francisco 49ers, but Rudock deserves to be put into that same category as well thanks to immense progression during his one year as a Wolverine.

---

• Talk about this article inside The Fort

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine

• Sign up for our newsletter, The Wolverine Now

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett

• Like us on Facebook