What Michigan football QB coach Ben McDaniels liked from Joe Milton's first start
Ben McDaniels has certain things he's looking for from a quarterback making their first start.
McDaniels — Michigan football's quarterbacks coach — wants to see the new starter exhibit control of the offense. He wants the quarterback to play as if they're "comfortable in your own shoes."
Sometimes, McDaniels acknowledged, these things can take some time.
But not with Joe Milton.
“Played with great poise," McDaniels said Wednesday. "He was comfortable in the pocket. I think from a starting point, that’s a great start.
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"I was really happy with how much poise he displayed and his ability to be in full control of the operation and the procedure, and I thought it showed.”
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In Milton's first career start, the redshirt sophomore completed 15-of-22 passes for 225 yards and one touchdown (and had another dropped). He ran eight times for 52 yards and a score. It was a turnover-free performance — and more than enough to lead Michigan in a 49-24 win at Minnesota.
And it was the latest step in Milton's development.
McDaniels has tutored Milton for close to two years now. He disagreed with any assertion that Milton, who never had a completion percentage over 50% in high school, was raw. But, McDaniels said, there was plenty of growth to be made.
Milton's first task was "being comfortable with his mental process." McDaniels believes that a quarterback's performance is impacted by how he is conditioned to think. Having a calm mind, McDaniels says, allows the quarterback to understand what they're seeing in front of them — and for their body to react accordingly.
"This offseason, (Milton) continued to take strides mentally and have control of the operation and understand our mental process and try to execute plays with his physical traits and his mental traits," McDaniels said. "He’s done a good job of progressing and learning and continuing to get better which he still is.”
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The two also worked on the physical aspect of Milton's game. Long reputed to have a strong arm, Milton has spent much of his time in Ann Arbor adding more than just the fastball to his repertoire. The Wolverines have put Milton through different drills that ask him to make throws where he doesn't necessarily have to gun the ball in a tight window.
"A lot of times, when you throw with touch, we talk about taking RPMs off the ball," McDaniels said. "That’s really what throwing with touch is. You can’t throw your fastball. Anything that can’t be the fastball, you’ve got to take some RPMs off.
"There’s definitely different drills and different throws that you try and get your guy to make as you try to improve some of those variants of throws."
The other part, McDaniels said, has to do with Milton's understanding of each play.
"We talk about it as having a vision for the kind of throw that you need on this snap," McDaniels said. "When you see it, your eyes need to tell you what kind of throw I need for this. The slower you can make the game, the more you can get yourself to physically do what your mind’s eye is really seeing.”
Against the Gophers, Milton was able to show off his improved touch. On his touchdown throw, he rolled to his left and deftly placed the ball in Ben Mason's hands. Later, he rolled out to his left again and flipped a ball to Erick All, who took the short throw for 27 yards.
And perhaps the most impressive examples of Milton's added touch and accuracy came on throws that didn't pass the line of scrimmage. When the Wolverines called for bubble screens, Milton was able to hit his receiver in stride and give them a chance to turn upfield.
“I thought it was one of the best things that he did the other night, for sure," McDaniels said of the bubble screens. "Those throws is everything, the accuracy of those throws for us to maximize the yards after the catch. I don’t think there’s any question that that was really one of the best things that he did, to allow our guys, our skill players to run with the ball after it. I thought we maximized yards because of it.”
McDaniels was pleased with what he saw from Milton on Saturday night. But he said his quarterback is still developing — and they've already identified what to work on entering their next game.
“I think there were some snaps in the passing game that I know he would like to see a little bit better than how he executed it," McDaniels said. "And that’s going to be a continuous challenge every week of making sure that our eyes start in the right place, we see what we need to see from a pre-snap standpoint and then recognize things from a post-snap standpoint and then the ball goes where it needs to go. That’s every quarterback, and certainly a guy as young as Joe making his first start, that’ll be a continuous process for him in the passing game.
"And we talked, too — there’s some things in the running games that he knows I would like to see different. We were lazier than I would like him to look and be in the running game, and he knows that. There’s some things we’re working on this week.”
Contact Orion Sang at osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter. The Free Press has started a new digital subscription model. Here's how you can gain access to our most exclusive Michigan Wolverines content.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football's Joe Milton had showed 'great poise' in first start
