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Michigan’s season, and Jim Harbaugh’s fate, come down to QB play
By Ryan O'Gara
Published:
It’s a different year but the same story in Ann Arbor. Jim Harbaugh needs a quarterback.
The 7th-year Michigan head coach and former Wolverines QB has been unable to identify and develop one of his own, which has been somewhat baffling considering he was a Heisman Trophy finalist himself in 1986 and played 14 seasons in the NFL.
In Harbaugh’s tenure, he hasn’t had a QB finish in the top 40 nationally in passing yards per game (Shea Patterson was 42nd in 2019), and he hasn’t had a QB finish better than 28th in yards per attempt (Patterson in 2018).
That’s surprising considering Harbaugh has routinely recruited some of the most talented high school QBs in the country. He has had 2 of the top 6 from the 2016 class on his roster (Shea Patterson was No. 1, Brandon Peters was No. 6), the No. 5 pro-style QB in 2017 (Dylan McCaffrey) and the No. 9 pro-style QB in 2018 (Joe Milton) during that span.
This season, Harbaugh is working with the No. 7 pro-style QB in 2019 (Cade McNamara) and the No. 5 pro-style QB in 2021 in JJ McCarthy. All of those guys were blue-chip recruits, and Patterson and McCarthy were 5-star prospects.
And still, Michigan has yet to have a top-40 passing offense. It has finished 4th in the Big Ten in passing just once, Harbaugh’s debut season in 2015. That tells you there is either something wrong with the development program, the system or both. Either way, that’s an indictment of Harbaugh and the offensive staff.
What’s interesting is that Jake Rudock, Wilson Speight and John O’Korn — the starting QBs in Harbaugh’s first 3 seasons — were all 3-star recruits. Even with so-called better players, Harbaugh’s teams aren’t any better off offensively.
It’s not like Harbaugh hasn’t done this before; he recruited and coached future No. 1 pick Andrew Luck at Stanford for 3 years. He just can’t seem to do it at Michigan.
On Monday, Harbaugh officially named McNamara the starting QB, as was expected. At this time last year, McNamara wasn’t even on the radar, as Milton and McCaffrey were battling it out to be the starter. Now, McNamara is arguably 1 of the 2 most important players in determining the future of Harbaugh and this Michigan program, with McCarthy obviously being the other.
Michigan is no longer really committed to Harbaugh, as the reworked deal this past offseason gives the program an easy exit from the coach, should it want to use it. That means either McNamara or McCarthy has to inspire some confidence.
This problem predates Harbaugh, as the Wolverines haven’t had a really good QB since Chad Henne. But the guy with the long career as an NFL QB and NFL head coach was supposed to fix that.
You know what’s going to look really bad? If Milton, who on Monday was named Tennessee’s starter, thrives after leaving Michigan. The Vols are going to run a QB-friendly offense under 1st-year head coach Josh Hueppel, and as a result of probably falling behind a lot, will put up some good numbers through the air. If Milton looks like a different player, that is going to raise a whole lot of questions as to why Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Josh Gattis couldn’t make it work. There’s no question Milton has the talent, as his arm strength was NFL-good. But he had no touch on his throws and couldn’t read defenses, which are the types of things that you’d hope a coach could help harness.
Harbaugh made the right choice in naming McNamara the starter. For one, McNamara earned a crack at it after coming off the bench and saving Michigan from losing to Rutgers. And two, given he has the most experience with Gattis, he gives Michigan the best chance to win right away, which is something that it absolutely needs to do after a disastrous 2-4 season in 2020.
It’s not fair to ask McCarthy, a true freshman, to step in right away and be the savior at the most important position in sports. Quarterbacks are exceedingly more advanced at a young age than they were even 5-10 years ago, but the pressure to perform would be ridiculous.
Plus, Harbaugh can keep McCarthy in his back pocket or the ace up his sleeve — the card to play later to keep fans from really losing faith (if they haven’t already).
McNamara has a great chance to succeed, as Michigan will have no shortage of weapons. Ronnie Bell is a legit No. 1 receiver, and then there is a nice mix of size (Cornelius Johnson and Daylen Baldwin) and speed (AJ Henning and Mike Sainristil), plus running backs Hassan Haskins and highly touted true freshman Donovan Edwards.
It’s gotten to the point of, “If not now, when?” for Harbaugh and the offense. There are 10 starters back and 3 potential options at QB, including Texas Tech transfer Alan Bowman.
It’s on Harbaugh to push the right buttons at QB and ease the pain of an embarrassing season, or else his days at Michigan will be numbered.
Ryan O'Gara is the lead columnist for Saturday Tradition. Follow him on Twitter @RyanOGara.