donovan edwards: Live & Latest News Updates : Vimarsana.com
Team Maize defeated Team Blue by a score of 17-7 at today's 2024 edition of the Michigan Football spring game. A game that was preceded by the championship ring ceremony and had numerous departed heroes strolling the sideline, the focus on the field was instead on a number of young players trying to make a name for themselves. As in past years, I'm not going to give a play-by-play recap for an exhibition game, but instead will give you a batch of instant reaction takes on what we witnessed: OffenseAlex Orji's potential... and areas for improvement. Orji quarterbacked the first drive for Team Blue, as well as the last, with intermittent snaps in between. In that time we saw some good and some bad from Orji. He varied his touch on throws that showed a decent understanding of quarterbacking, but was mostly throwing checkdown passes. The final drive in particular saw the defense back off (Team Maize had a 10 point lead), ceding the underneath routes and Orji was efficient in connecting on those. But that's what you'd expect any QB at this level to be able to do, so I'm not putting much stock in that. However, there were more tantalizing moments. Orji delivered a pass to Max Bredeson with good zip and then sensed pressure before scrambling for a touchdown on the first drive. He also seemed to have another touchdown scramble on the last drive, but it was overturned on a questionable "sack" (the referees blew the play dead in rather dubious fashion). The athleticism and the ability to hit the easy stuff was on display but there were concerning moments. He put a ball behind Tyler Morris on the first drive and forced a laser into double coverage looking for Zack Marshall on the last drive. Orji also showed good pocket presence on a different snap a couple drives earlier, dancing in the pocket and eventually finding an open receiver on 3rd & 5... but he way overthrew his target. I'm not sure if the accuracy and reads are completely where they need to be, but Orji wasn't a total wreck and gave us enough reasons to believe he could plausibly be the QB in 2024. It didn't answer all the questions at the QB position, but there was enough on display to believe Orji could be a successful QB at some point in the future (whether that is in '24 or '25). Takes on the other QBs. Davis Warren was the starting QB for Team Maize and just like prior seasons, Warren looked pretty damn good. His arm talent is 100% there, which was most on display on a bomb to Kendrick Bell for a TD: 🔔🔔🔔📺 @CFBONFOX pic.twitter.com/G1jgyJAwmO— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) April 20, 2024There were several other strikes that Warren uncorked and he may well have been the most impressive QB today. However, it does feel a little difficult to take all of it seriously because Warren has looked terrific in spring games prior too, which hasn't necessarily translated to regulation games. Jayden Denegal was a bit of a disappointment in this one I felt. His drives for Team Maize had some moments, but ultimately left a lot to be desired. Yes he did hit a bomb to Fred Moore, but he also threw a wretched interception to DJ Waller (which was punched out and recovered as a fumble), threw a ball that was batted at the line, fumbled a snap that killed the two minute drill in the second quarter, and had a couple other iffy looking throws on the fourth drive. Based on the feel of this game, it would appear that Orji and Warren are the main two in-house contenders for the starting QB this fall. Jadyn Davis didn't play a ton, as expected. He threw a nice ball down the sideline for Peyton O'Leary that was PBU'd which showed off his arm talent, but he did appear to miss a wide open receiver on that very play. That was Davis' most notable moment during a short afternoon and based on today I would expect him to redshirt this fall (nothin' wrong with that). [AFTER THE JUMP: more takes]
MichiganUnited-statesDavis-warrenKendrick-bellSemaj-morganPeyton-olearyJimmy-rolderHogan-hansenZack-marshallAlex-orjiAymeric-koumbaIke-iwunnah