When Shea Patterson announced he was transferring from Ole Miss to Michigan, it was assumed that Jim Harbaugh would just hand the former 5-star prospect the keys to the offense. That’s not the case in Ann Arbor.

Though most of us still believe Patterson will be the one under center when Michigan travels to Notre Dame on Sept. 1, Harbaugh has maintained that there’s a four-man battle for the starting job and that he has no idea who will win the job over the next two weeks.

Just coach-speak, right? One Elite 11 general manager believes that Harbaugh may actually be telling the truth.

Brian Stumpf recently sat down with 247Sports to talk about the quarterback situation in Michigan, particularly the battle between Patterson and Brandon Peters. He believes that the Wolverines are capable of winning with either quarterback.

Here’s what Stumpf had to say about Patterson and Peters when he spoke to 247Sports:

Shea is super talented, and we’re right there with Barton on Brandon, too. In terms of his physical abilities and attributes when he was coming through in high school, Brandon Peters is, with great development and all that stuff, what the NFL is looking for in four to five years. He’s big. He’s strong. He’s sneaky athletic.

People have to remember, Shea hasn’t played too much. He got the four or five games at the end of his redshirt season and got halfway through last season and got hurt. It’s not like he’s this two-year starter who started 16 SEC games and all that stuff.

They’re both talented. At the end of the day, Shea certainly would bring something more in that element of being able to make things happen when plays break down for them. I think they’re both talented, and they can certainly win with both guys.

If the quarterback competition is that close, it would be interesting to see if Harbaugh thinks about playing both Patterson and Peters for a few games if one doesn’t separate himself.

Most are still going to believe that Patterson is going to be the No. 1 guy for the season, but it sounds like the Wolverines have two really good options.

That’s not a bad thing for Harbaugh or Michigan after not having much success at that position over the past three seasons.