Ranking Michigan’s First-Year Starting Quarterbacks Of This Century

After two years of Shea Patterson manning the quarterback position for Michigan football, the Wolverines will turn to a first-year starting quarterback to lead the offense. The spot will be battled for in preseason practices, with redshirt junior Dylan McCaffrey and redshirt sophomore Joe Milton considered the favorites, while redshirt freshman Cade McNamara is also in the mix.

How whoever wins the starting signal-caller job will perform remains to be seen (assuming there's a season). What we have seen, however, is how other first-year starters behind center have fared. Here, we rank and break down each first-year starter this century (since 2000). These rankings are based on a review of each quarterback's overall performance during that season, which includes individual statistics, impact on winning, etc.

To qualify for this set of rankings, a U-M quarterback must have began the majority of the team's games for the first time in his career. Additionally, players such as Jake Rudock and the aforementioned Patterson are not named, since they were each full-time starters at their previous schools before transferring to U-M.

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He made appearances in every game as a freshman in 2009, but backed up classmate Tate Forcier and only attempted 31 passes (he did run for 351 yards and five touchdowns on 69 carries).

In his first-year as head coach Rich Rodriguez's full-time starting quarterback, Robinson completed 182 of 291 passes (62.5 percent) for 2,570 yards, 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Even though he had success through the air, it was Robinson's legs that made him one of college football's most dangerous players. That season, he ran 256 times for 1702 yards (6.5 per carry) and 14 touchdowns.

The Wolverines finished the 2010 season with a 7-6 record and a loss to Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl, but Robinson was a shining star in an otherwise disappointing campaign (besides, who could forget his 502 yards of total offense and game-winning touchdown run at Notre Dame?).