It sounds like Michigan might have its quarterback heading into fall camp.

New Michigan quarterback coach Matt Weiss had no trouble referring to Cade McNamara as the team’s starter based on what he’s seen through spring practice. Obviously, a lot could change between now and the Wolverines’ season opener against Western Michigan, but Weiss seems pretty comfortable acknowledging McNamara is currently the one to beat for the job.

“Cade is a guy who I think for everything people are going to say to criticize him, he’s a guy that’s going to end up playing 10 years in the NFL because you can say he’s not enough of this, not enough of that. But at the end of the day, he’s really smart, makes great decisions and processes things very fast, and his accuracy and arm strength are more than enough to win with,” Weiss said on the In the Trenches podcast with Jon Jansen. “He’s a guy that’s been awesome to work with. He’s extremely valuable to our team. He’s our starter. Love the fact we have him.”

McNamara is the only quarterback on the roster who has taken a snap for Michigan. He completed 43-of-71 pass attempts for 425 yards and 5 touchdowns without an interception and also had a rushing touchdown.

Trailing Rutgers during the 2020 season, McNamara came in to relieve a struggling Joe Milton and helped lead the Wolverines to an overtime victory over the Scarlet Knights. He also started in the team’s season finale against Penn State.

McNamara is in a quarterback room with Dan Villari, Texas Tech transfer Alan Bowman and 5-star newcomer J.J. McCarthy. Fighting off those guys to keep his spot atop the depth chart will be quite a challenge over the next several months.

Right now, though, it seems like he’s the guy.