Everyone who has any sort of interest in college football already assumes they know who will be taking the snaps under center for Michigan when Sept. 1 rolls around. But Jim Harbaugh isn’t going to confirm anything right now.

Big surprise, right?

Harbaugh met with the media on Monday night to discuss several topics, one of which was the battle for the starting quarterback spot, a position everyone believes Shea Patterson has locked up. But the Michigan head coach says the battle is still very competitive and that he’s not ready to name a starter just yet.

“The quarterback competition has had great competition there,” Harbaugh said, according to MLive.com. “If you talk about competition making each other better at that position, it’s never more evident than at the quarterback position.

“I’m very happy (with) how that’s progressing. I’m seeing good things.”

Harbaugh isn’t ruling anyone out, essentially saying it’s a four-person race between Patterson, Dylan McCaffrey, Brandon Peters and Joe Milton. According to Harbaugh, nobody is really head-and-shoulders above the competition, and there isn’t a clear frontrunner to be the No. 1 guy for that Sept. 1 clash against Notre Dame in South Bend.

“I don’t know,” Harbaugh said. “I haven’t decided that yet.”

Withholding a depth chart or failing to reveal starting lineups isn’t something new for Harbaugh, who has drawn plenty of criticism from the media for his tactics. So, does Harbaugh really not know who will be the starter? Or is he just not willing to reveal his hand just yet?

Either way, it’ll still be a surprise if Patterson isn’t the one under center in Week 1.