Michigan closes out spring football with annual Spring Game
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WLNS) – Michigan closed out spring practices with the annual Spring Game on Saturday as Team Maize defeated Team Blue 17-7.
The 2023 Michigan team received its National Championship rings in a separate ceremony before the game. Many of the stars from that team who are awaiting their fate at next week’s NFL Draft stuck around to watch Saturday’s action, including JJ McCarthy, Blake Corum, Kris Jenkins, Mike Sainristil, Junior Colson, Mike Barrett, Trevor Keegan and others.
It’s no secret first-year head coach Sherrone Moore and his staff have a lot to replace this offseason. The Wolverines will likely have more than 10 players selected in the NFL Draft and are losing several other seniors who were key contributors to the championship team.
Of course, the big question on most fans’ minds centers around who will replace JJ McCarthy at quarterback. Alex Orji, Davis Warren, Jayden Denegal and Jadyn Davis all took snaps in the Spring Game, with Warren and Orji receiving the majority of the work.
Warren threw for two touchdown passes, including a beautiful deep throw to sophomore wide receiver Kendrick Bell for a 42-yard score.
Orji led Team Blue on a touchdown drive to open the game, capping it off with an 18-yard touchdown run. He also led a strong drive late in the fourth quarter but it ended with a 4th down touch-sack near the goal line.
After the game, offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell said finding another quarterback in the transfer portal is not a priority for the Wolverines. Campbell and Wolverine players said they feel Warren and Orji have both done a lot this spring to earn trust from the guys in the locker room.
“I’ll start with Davis Warren, he looked really good out there,” said running back Donovan Edwards. “The reads were spectacular. I was on the other team so the touchdowns he threw to Kendrick Bell and Fred Moore had one, I was displeased with but at the same time, that’s just my competitiveness. But for [them as] my teammates aspect, I loved it because that gives them confidence.”
Edwards went on to praise Orji as well.
“He’s definitely gained a lot of respect from the guys and that’s high praises because being able to play quarterback, you have to basically demand the offense, and I feel like he’s in that position where he’s demanding the offense. All the quarterbacks are in that position as well to be demanding and they’re looking really great. The reads are where they’re supposed to be.”
Whether the answer to Michigan’s quarterback question lies with Warren, Orji or someone else, Orji made it clear that whoever the starter is will have the full support of the rest of the room.
“We’re all a family,” he said. “It’s like, whoever we bring into the quarterback room, they’re a Michigan quarterback and we rep that like a last name. Like we’re one big family and I think that, whether we bring in a guy or we don’t, we know the confidence that coach Kirk Campbell has in all of us. If he brings someone in it means he has confidence in them as well, you know what I mean? So it’s not like anything that’s scared of competition or inviting competition. It’s like we thrive off competition. We also thrive off the family aspect.”
Warren added that the goal every day is to chase the standard McCarthy set for the rest of the Wolverine quarterbacks.
“I think I’ve proven to myself and I’ve proven to these guys that I’m capable of being the starting quarterback here,” Warren said. “It’s obviously going to take a lot more work. We have a big summer ahead of us, a big fall, and we’ve got to win. The standard is set. JJ set a standard that was really high. So he had a really, really efficient and effective year last year and so the standard is set. All of us are just trying to match that.”
“Even if we’re on the top of college football I want to keep taking us higher,” added Orji. “Whoever goes out on Saturdays, whatever 11 take the field, I want to make sure that I’m doing whatever I can to be selfless in my pursuit of excellence to make the whole team great.”
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