Ranking the quarterbacks Michigan football will face in 2022

Throughout the offseason, TMBR is ranking the position groups Michigan football will face in 2022. Beginning with quarterbacks, we'll rank each position group on both sides of the ball and special teams.

Before we begin, here's Michigan's 2022 schedule for reference.

Week 1: vs. Colorado State

Week 2: vs. Hawaii

Week 3: vs. UCONN

Week 4: vs. Maryland (HC)

Week 5: at Iowa

Week 6: at Indiana

Week 7: vs. Penn State

Week 8: vs. Michigan State

Week 9: at Rutgers

Week 10: vs. Nebraska

Week 11: vs. Illinois

Week 12: at Ohio State

Folks, it's UCONN, one of the worst programs in college football, who went 1-11 last season with its only win coming against an FCS opponent.

Shockingly, the Huskies' quarterback room has some upside to it. Ta'Quan Roberson transferred in from Penn State. Roberson only attempted 28 passes in Happy Valley, but he moves well with his legs with designed quarterback runs and extending plays outside of the pocket.

New head coach Jim Mora brought in a talented freshman quarterback in Zion Turner, a three-star dual-threat quarterback out of St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.). LSU, Miami, and Texas A&M offered him as a recruit.

UCONN returns both of its starters from last season, Tyler Phommachanh and Steven Krajewski, so the race is wide open. Phommachanh is recovering from an injury.

It looked like a battle between Krajewski and Roberson for the top spot with Phommachanh injured during spring ball.

The Huskies' strong suit offensively is its wide receiving core, so accuracy and experience might win out here.

Regardless, it's an unsettled and high-ish ceiling, extremely low floor quarterback room.

Hawaii, like UCONN, is going through a complete rebuild as a program under new head coach Tommy Chang.

Brayden Schager took the first reps during the program's spring game and looks like he'll be the starter. Schager had an impressive spring game that started with touchdowns on each drive. He also showed his arm off with a 40-yard throw in the bread basket.

Still, a Michigan defense is far different than a spring game mix of Hawaii's defensive roster.

A race that has a clear No. 1 is enough for me to rank Hawaii ahead of UCONN.

The Rams, you guessed it, have a new head coach, too, in Jay Norvell.

Along with Norvell, the program added Nevada transfer Clay Millen to its quarterback room this offseason. A redshirt freshman, Millen was immediately considered the top guy upon transferring. The spring game confirmed that as he was the only quarterback in a safety jersey.

Millen has more raw talent than any quarterback from the non-conference schedule.

Former Rutgers quarterback Artur Sitkowski split time with former Michigan quarterback Brandon Peters last season for the Illini. He would quickly make Illinois a 9th or worse option on this list. However, Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito is in the room now and expected to take over.

DeVito ranked in the top 10 all-time at Syracuse in completion percentage (7th, 58.6), passer rating (8th, 128.1), passing yards per game (7th, 144.9), touchdown passes (7th, 27), completions (9th, 305) and passing yards (10th, 3,478).

He gives Illinois its best shot at having something to work with under center.

Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla return for another battle of the ages in Iowa's quarterback room.

They combined for 175 yards and an interception in the Big Ten Championship game against Michigan.

Their playstyle matches the methodical, downhill style the Hawkeyes always play under Kirk Ferentz. But against defenses like the Wolverines, where you can't run the ball at will and rely on moving the chains with zero big-play ability, it won't work.

So the lack of getting an immediate fix for this quarterback situation makes the Hawkeyes more of a 9B than 8. Still, we'll rank them here given Iowa's success under Petras last season compared to Illinois'.

Michael Penix, Jr. is gone, and Jack Tuttle, Donaven McCulley, and Connor Bazelak remain.

Indiana quarterbacks threw 15 interceptions in 12 games last season without Penix, who went down with an injury, so the expectations are, uh, low.

Bazelak, a Missouri transfer, passed for over 2,500 yards last season but had 11 interceptions to 16 touchdowns.

All three of these guys are prone to making mistakes, and this race is wide open. Bazelak has a decent enough ceiling to be excited about with legitimate big-play ability.

I think Bazelak will be the guy when it's all said and done, and he gives the Hoosiers a better chance on offense than Petras gives Iowa.

Noah Vedral totaled over 1,800 yards with an even seven touchdowns and interceptions.

He's got real consistency issues and must polish that if Rutgers has any chance at competing in all of its conference games.

Incoming freshman Gavin Wimsatt is the No. 2 and will challenge Vedral immediately. Still, Vedral is talented and showed some stuff last season for the Scarlet Knights.

We know Rutgers is ascending under head coach Greg Schiano and the quarterback play should be at the forefront.

Whether it's Vedral or Wimsatt, each guy has big-play abilities with encouraging ceilings,

Wimsatt, a four-star recruit, has potential up there with any Rutgers quarterback in well over a decade.

If Vedral isn't ascending, they should look to him and ride it out for the next three seasons.

Adrian Martinez is finally gone -- wait, just kidding, he transferred to Kansas State.

So, the Huskers lost their above-average starter from last season but replaced him with a Texas transfer in Casey Thompson, who should've carved out a nice career in Austin, but Quinn Ewers transferred in after a short stay in Columbus.

Thompson passed for over 2,000 yards with a 63.2-percent completion percentage with 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

The struggle here is he doesn't have a weapon like Texas wideout Xavier Worthy, who I'm sure you're all happy I found room to mention.

If Thompson can find firepower in his weapons, this offense will have the guy under center that can push the needle for the program.

Sean Clifford is back again, and he could finish as high as second on this list when he is healthy. Heck, he passed for 3,107 yards last season, but Clifford's impact was minimized when injured.

Moreover, Michigan's defense showed an ability to limit him last season, holding him to just over 200 yards passing on a monstrous 43 attempts.

Against other defenses, Clifford will be much better than he is against Michigan's defense, which is more athletic and versatile now under Jesse Minter -- and was under Mike Macdonald -- than ever before.

Clifford lost his favorite target to the NFL in Jahan Datson. While he has enough talent to be an excellent college quarterback, his ceiling is limited at this point of his career, and Michigan's defensive game plan should keep him from being a game-breaker.

Payton Thorne wasn't the story of Michigan State's 2021 win over Michigan, but he showed he's a national talent with over 3,200 yards and 27 touchdowns to 10 interceptions.

Still, without Kenneth Walker's historic 5-touchdown day, Thorne was an afterthought with under 200 yards passing, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions.

Thorne's raw arm talent returning with a season under his belt suggests he'll leap in 2022. But the elephant in the room is, can he do it without Walker? And can he limit that interception rate while producing even better numbers?

I've been on the Taulia Tagovailoa train, and if Maryland can get its offensive line to protect him consistently, Tagovailoa might be a problem for Michigan on Homecoming.

Tagovailoa totaled over 3,800 yards to go along with 26 touchdowns. His 11 interceptions aren't good, but he regularly was forced into desperation plays and outside of the pocket.

He has as much raw talent as any quarterback in the conference, minus the guy who's atop this list. Taulia, brother of the Dolphins' Tua, passed for over 350 yards against Michigan State & Penn State in consecutive weeks last season. Somehow, Michigan found a way to hold him under 200.

He's more than a college quarterback when it comes to his skill-set. He's making pre-snap reads with deadeye accuracy in the pocket or on-the-run and arm talent that will inevitably get him a contract.

So again, we continue to think about it like this: Michigan was exceptional at limiting good quarterback play last season. Much of that success is due to the ferocious edge play from Aidan Hutchinson & David Ojabo, who are both gone.

If Tagovailoa gets time in the pocket in Ann Arbor, we could have a ball game.

Because, of course, C.J. Stroud is unequivocally the best quarterback in the Big Ten heading into the 2022 season.

4,435 yards, 44 touchdowns, and six interceptions. Stroud is in a class of his own in this conference.

Along with Alabama's Bryce Young, Stroud is a Heisman finalist returning this fall with a chance to end up in New York City again. Young won it, but Stroud is a clear top contender to ensure he doesn't win a second.

Stroud is the first Buckeye quarterback to lose to Michigan since Braxton Miller in 2011. Yet, he might have the highest NFL ceiling of all the quarterbacks before him. Justin Fields is in Chicago with high expectations, but Stroud's arm is absurd, and with the weapons he has, that arm gets to do whatever it wants.

Need I say more? We all know this is unarguable.

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