Michigan QB competition heats up before spring practice
When summer seven-on-seven drills began a few weeks after spring practice, the Michigan football players needed a guide.
The coaches are not allowed to go near the workouts, according to NCAA rules, so the players are left on their own.
Despite the inexperience and youth of the quarterbacks competing to start -- redshirt freshman Steven Threet and walk-on Nick Sheridan have combined to play in two college games (Sheridan has both in mop-up duty) -- motivation and leadership became their responsibility.
"A lot of it is put on me, Nick and David (Cone); the quarterbacks have to take charge,"
Threet said Friday at the four-station Ann Arbor radio studios where he was helping during the U-M football team's daylong fund-raiser for the new Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor. "Making sure we get people there, making sure we get through everything we need to get through. ... The thing that stands out to me the most is how comfortable everybody's getting. There's not as much confusion with what route we're supposed to run or always lining up in the right formation. It's starting to click a little bit better."
That should rest well with Michigan football fans who are concerned about the quarterback spot. After four years of Chad Henne and following Ryan Mallett's off-season transfer, there's a lot of uncertainty about the most important position on the field.
"Anytime you're dealing with the quarterbacks, you're always under the microscope,"
U-M quarterbacks coach Rod Smith said Friday, adding he is aided at the spot by U-M head coach Rich Rodriguez, Smith's coach at Glenville State. "That's just what the position itself entitles you. That's not different than any other program in terms of that."
Smith left spring practice impressed with the quarterbacks' ability to pick up the offense.
"Steve's got a little bit of a feel for the game, he understands,"
Smith said. "I was telling Rich after practice that every time we're making a big play in a scrimmage, practice or seven-on-seven it seemed like it was Steve at quarterback. It just seemed like he was in the middle of the big plays."
"Nick's a coach's son, understands the game well and has a savvy to him. Both did real well and are very cerebral."
Sheridan said there's no bitterness among the competitors, even though Threet took most of the first team reps in the spring.
He's also not studying every throw Threet makes this summer, just offering congrats on a good pass if he sees it.
"You think about wanting to be the starter at Michigan every day, but you just worry about yourself,"
Sheridan said.
As for the other contenders, Cone showed in the spring he's probably not in the discussion but incoming freshman Justin Feagin should get a chance.
"We're going to bring him in and let him compete for the position,"
Smith said. "He's such an athletic kid; he can play all the positions, but we want him to come in to (quarterback), push those guys and make everybody better at that position."
As for the possibility of a committee or rotation, it's not ideal but ...
"We'll never rule it out,"
Smith said. "Like Coach Rodriguez says, if you're good enough to win with, you're good enough to play. Like last year we had a couple guys good enough to play (at West Virginia) and we played them both at times. Obviously you'd like one guy to separate from a comfort level, but if we need to do it, we can do it."
