January 1st, 2022 at 1:24 AM ^
Whoever performs better in Spring ball after another off season?
January 1st, 2022 at 1:45 AM ^
how realistic is it to expect both commit to coming back for a QB competition? Not suggesting anything negative against them, just the way of the Portal these days. I would guess it takes some strong recruiting to convince JJ that is the best scenario for him in particular
January 1st, 2022 at 9:02 AM ^
Uh, 100% realistic. Most likely scenario is both guys are back in the spring, there’s a battle and the loser of that battle transfers in mid-April.
If anything, Cade sees the writing on the wall and transfers earlier. JJ is a confident kid and is confident in his abilities. No way he isn’t coming back to fight for his spot that he has a VERY good shot of winning.
Not that Cade isn’t a confident guy or confident in his abilities, but I’d also assume he’s well aware that JJ is more physically gifted and with a full year under his belt now, is much more ready to take the reins. If anyone were to leave before spring, it’d be Cade.
January 2nd, 2022 at 9:22 AM ^
this scenario seems most likely. I love Cade and felt he did a great job leading this team all year and deserved to start all season. But watching JJ it’s obvious the talent he brings and the difference maker he can be by next year. I expect him to win the QB battle
January 1st, 2022 at 11:21 AM ^
Well they did it this year and played in the Semifinals…so probably pretty realistic.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:02 PM ^
You didn't pay attention to last night post-game with JJ and his freshmen teammates watching Georgia celebrate and learning from the pain?
You haven't read of the many pre-dawn practice sessions all season long in Ann Arbor with JJ, Andrel, Donovan, and the other freshmen?
These youngsters are 100 % committed to the future of Michigan Football. JJ ain't going anywhere other than the Michigan Football film room and weight room.
January 2nd, 2022 at 12:24 AM ^
You don’t think JJ will leave if he’s going to be the backup again next year? I don’t care how dedicated you are to a team, when your future is at stake, you have to lookout for yourself. Since he and Cade both have three years of eligibility remaining, I think one of them will leave. Obviously it will be whoever isn’t starting.
Although Cade runs a very efficient offense, the ceiling with JJ is much higher. Harbaugh showed he’s willing to go with the high ceiling guy over the game manager when he started Kaepernick over Alex Smith at San Francisco.
There are plenty of power 5 teams that would love to have Cade or JJ as their starting Quarterback. I’ll be surprised if they are both still on the roster when the 2022 season begins.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:27 AM ^
McCarthy please
January 1st, 2022 at 9:48 AM ^
JJ needs to be the starter. The strength of this offense next year will be the receivers. Plus the defense will take a step back, this offense needs to bomb teams, 40 points a game style offense.
January 1st, 2022 at 10:10 AM ^
With those RB's you think the strength of the team is WR?
January 1st, 2022 at 10:22 AM ^
Yes. Both RB also catch out of the back feild. This team should smash Michigan single season passing records next season.
January 1st, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
Could, if the coaching staff chose to go that way, but that seems pretty unlikely right? Committing to the run seems like the the most likely thing again, and potentially with equally great (or better) results.
If Cade and JJ both stay, and JJ becomes the starter, QB runs could be fully on and that could make the running game even better.
Unless Harbaugh really really shifts his style, it'll be run first - and if it works that's not a problem
January 1st, 2022 at 3:24 PM ^
I agree with JJ running, but if speed in space is a real thing, it should be fully actived next season. If not then stop talking about it.
January 1st, 2022 at 11:01 AM ^
With Ronnie Bell back, the way Edwards catches out of the backfield, Andrel Anthony with another year under his belt and at worst, Luke Schoonmaker as a starting tight end, we will have many receiving options.
January 1st, 2022 at 5:05 PM ^
+100...and with JJ as the QB next year, Blake and Edwards, Bell, Anthony, All...this team is setup to be the most "speed in space" Mich team yet.
JJ has to be the QB next year.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:31 AM ^
It needs to be McCarthy. You can’t play modern college football with a quarterback who is a statue. JJ consistently avoided sacks against THAT Georgia team, gives me confidence that he can do it against anybody. Ceiling is too high and I honestly think his floor might be higher than Cade’s now.
January 1st, 2022 at 2:20 AM ^
Especially a short statue with a horrible release point.
January 1st, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
Yes, Cade’s batted balls have been a major major red flag all season. I love him, and will always remember him fondly, but his ceiling was reached last night
January 1st, 2022 at 10:20 AM ^
They just played a one loss regular season with a "statue" for a qb. It's a reasonable argument that they would have been undefeated if they kept JJ in the sideline vs. MSU. I'm not saying JJ shouldn't be the guy, but if this season showed us anything, it's that leadership and execution matter. Cade was the man this year.
January 1st, 2022 at 10:56 AM ^
You don't understand football
January 1st, 2022 at 11:19 AM ^
Wasn’t Cade in the injury tent both times JJ came in?
January 1st, 2022 at 11:49 AM ^
I don't understand the whole notion of an "injury tent." Where does this come from ? It was a gloomy/grey day in East Lansing, which would make it even darker inside a "tent."
January 1st, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
We have these cool things called “lights”
January 1st, 2022 at 12:28 PM ^
Stetson was no statue if you actually like, paid attention to the game.
Edit: sorry I thought you were referring to us playing against Bennett. So somewhat agree with what you say, but I think it’s clear, barring an elite elite pass protecting line, a guy like Cade is Uber limited against the best and fastest defenses in college football, but he is still a winner. Maybe he get way better at post snap reads and reaction time, but I, and most other here seem to see the obvious; that JJ has more of what it takes now from an athletic and pure giftedness standpoint to be really good in college right now, not after years of learning how to make reads post snap.
January 1st, 2022 at 11:20 AM ^
I wouldn’t classify Cade as a statue. This isn’t Pre Rodriguez Michigan.
January 1st, 2022 at 2:19 PM ^
If you go back and watch Cade's HS film, he was anything but a statue. He had many outstanding runs. I'm still baffled why there weren't more keeps from him when he had an obvious running lane. There must have been some direction from the coaches that he wasn't allowed to run.
January 1st, 2022 at 4:11 PM ^
Cade had a great third and long for a first down last night - and didn’t slide. Tough call on who will win in the Spring.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:33 AM ^
Let’s just hope they both stay so there is some depth.
January 1st, 2022 at 10:20 AM ^
Best answer. JJ took big hits last night on purpose instead of avoiding. If he plays that style an injury is inevitable. Handing the keys to Danny V for an extended period would be a disaster.
January 1st, 2022 at 10:20 AM ^
Best answer. JJ took big hits last night on purpose instead of avoiding. If he plays that style an injury is inevitable. Handing the keys to Danny V for an extended period would be a disaster.
January 1st, 2022 at 11:32 AM ^
If you lose one and one gets hurt you could be looking at a 5 loss season. It can happen in a blink.
People underestimate the finer points of playing QB. Getting the offense in the right play, reading the defense, making quick decisions.
Cade McNamara is not any part of the reason we lost that game last night. He is a damn good QB and proven leader. People seem way to quick to discard a 3rd Team All Big Ten QB with three years of eligibility.
JJ has a bigger arm and better feet. He is also known to be a great leader with great work ethic.
I’m not sure who the better QB will be moving forward and I’m not so sure any of us sitting on our couch knows right now.
losing one of them could be a disaster. Nobody knows this better than Harbaugh. His broken arm in 1984 led to a Michigan full of NFL talent going 6-6.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:34 AM ^
We won’t have any real access to that info. Harbaugh has shown that he isn’t the type to be afraid to make a QB change, but he isn’t going to just hand it over, either. He benched Alex Smith, but Kaep took it from Smith b/c he was clearly outperforming him in practice. JJ could win it, I hope he wins it, but there’s a LOT of growth that needs to happen. He needs to improve his touch, learn how to scramble smarter, be able to think the game better, etc…he’s clearly the most important player of Michigan’s immediate future. If he pans out, he could catapult this program.
January 1st, 2022 at 11:30 AM ^
Smith got Wally Pipp'd. Smith got hurt and couldn't play. Kaepernick got the starts and Smith never got the job back.
January 1st, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
That’s not entirely true. The only QB that harbaugh benched was Milton. He has his favorites and is fiercely loyal to them.
2017: Speight was awful. Harbaugh stuck with him, even when it wasn’t in the best interest of the team. Peters was probably the best qb on that roster, but speight was his guy. It was so bad that people on this board were like ‘I hope that he’s okay, but I’m glad O’Korn is the starter now.’ o’korn saved us in that Purdue game. I know there will be some revisionist qualifications, but speight was not good that year and harbaugh stuck with him.
neither speight nor O’Korn had the respect of the locker room and Delano Hill flat out said that they would’ve won the title I’m 2016 with Rudock.
2019: pretty much the same thing with shea. He had a solid 2018, but was legitimately aweful in 2019. One zone read keep through like the first 8 games. That may have been on Gattis. He had no accuracy on the deep ball. It was infuriating. Again, he didn’t have the respect of the locker room. Gattis called him out. The player’s made a point of not voting him as the captain and harbaugh anointed him as an alternate to the ire of the team.
again, revisionist history may come into play, but there was a decent chunk of the locker room that felt like Joe and Dylan out worked and out played shea that summer.
Saban isn’t afraid to pull the string Jim is. JJ should’ve started the second half. cade was objectively ill equipped and it showed.
January 2nd, 2022 at 5:52 AM ^
We would have won the title in 2016 if Delano Hill could keep his hands off a receiver on a terrible pass that bailed them out on third and long.
Also Peters was a joke and never better than anyone here.
January 1st, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
I agree. The thing we have to recognize is that there will be growing pains if/when the switch is made. JJ played a lot this year, but usually not in normal situations. He is going to have to learn to read defenses and apply the touch. Rarely does that come immediately.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:38 AM ^
It will be JJ. Cade has been great. He balled out vs our biggest rivals and is undefeated as a starter vs OSU.
With all that said, JJ has “it”. It no longer is a “this recruit is the next big thing.” JJ has shown enough to see and know he is the next great one here. What our offense can do next year with the skill positions consisting of JJ, Corum, Edwards, Bell, Johnson, Wilson, Sainristil, Anthony, Henning, All, & Schoonmaker, is just at another level.
If I had to bet, I would say this team makes the playoff next yea, with the strength of the team being the offense.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:48 AM ^
Let’s be real, Cade had probably two good throws against Osu but be threw a terrible pick in the red zone and that game was all Haskins and the o line. JJ may scramble a bit more than Michigan fans are used to, but he has the athleticism and talent to do it without making a huge mistake. The MSU game is kinda a wash too when you factor in that they were the worst pass d in the country and he still threw the game losing pick. Cade’s floor isn’t high enough to justify sitting JJ. If Cade looked like Bennett did tonight as the “safe” option, then I’d understand, but he didn’t. And the defense is gonna likely take a step back next year and will need more points scored in the big games
January 1st, 2022 at 2:32 AM ^
"game losing pick". Really? After McCarthy fumbled while we were still in the driver's seat? And after the refs screwed us on a previous 4th down?
If Cade had played the whole game against MSU, the McCarthy fumble wouldn't have happened and we'd have played Cincinnati today and quite possibly be going on to the championship game.
Still, I think Harbaugh has done the right thing by playing 2 QBs. Obviously our coaches see that JJ is good!
I feel a lot better with 2 game ready QBs, given past seasons that have fallen apart when our QB1 got injured. Keep 'em both happy if at all possible...
January 1st, 2022 at 3:42 AM ^
1) Harbaugh confirmed that that fumble was on Corum, not McCarthy. It was supposed to be a handoff, Corum had the play wrong. It's not fair to pin that on McCarthy.
2) Of course, it's not fair to pin the MSU loss on Cade's INT -- there was a minute left, and he had no choice but to throw it up. The throw wasn't even a bad decision, the INT was just a great play by their DB who anticipated the throw and came off his man
3) It's not realistic to keep the 2 QB balancing act going much longer, especially when the current backup has obvious potential to be a 1st rounder. If Cade were a junior (for eligibility purposes), then *maybe* you could keep McCarthy as the backup another year before handing over the reins. But with Cade having two years of eligibility left (and no realistic shot of leaving early for the draft), McCarthy wouldn't start until his senior year. He's not going to wait that long, so you have to choose between the two.
4) The choice should probably be McCarthy. Cade has been great this year -- accurate throws, great pre-snap reads, few sacks. Without his poise and leadership, this team doesn't win the Big Ten. There's a strong argument that he's still, at this moment, better than McCarthy, and maybe still will be when next season starts. But the choice needs to be based on who is going to be better in the middle and end of the season -- against OSU and, hopefully, in the Big Ten Championship and the CFP. McCarthy's ceiling is so much higher, and, if given the starting role, he'll be playing better in late 2022 and beyond than Cade would be.
January 1st, 2022 at 11:02 AM ^
Wow ??
January 1st, 2022 at 11:03 AM ^
You are like molasses in January.
January 1st, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
UM was playing GA regardless of record. if UM was undefeated and #1 seed, the committee would have made GA the #4 seed. that is obvious.
January 1st, 2022 at 7:18 AM ^
I agree with everything except the defense is going to take a step back. Everyone said that when Wormley left, then it was Taco, then it was Rashan and Winovich, then it was Uche and Paye and now it’s Ojabo and Hutch. Next year will be this team 2.0.
January 1st, 2022 at 7:45 AM ^
Some aspects of the defense will improve and others will inevitably regress.
Improve: Corners, DTs, Linebackers
Regress: Edge, Nickelback, Safeties (probably not a lot tho)
Hopefully the places we get better offset the losses.
January 1st, 2022 at 10:09 AM ^
I also think Macdonald has both the room and the mentality to grow as a coordinator. As others have stated, the offense should be very good which should give the defense time to grow. Will Johnson in particular will probably get a shot and will likely have some freshman mistakes early, but by November, hopefully he will have ironed those out.
January 1st, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
Need a improved play from LBs and DBs, because those were the guys GA was picking on. If the pass rush can’t get home, then coverage has to hold.
January 1st, 2022 at 9:57 AM ^
Those guys are all talented but nobody spoke of them being picked #1. Hutch is not as easily replaceable. Proof-none of them beat OSU.
January 1st, 2022 at 10:43 AM ^
The defense gradually eroded in the 3-4 years prior to this year. That’s why the D coaches are gone.