Danny Kanell previews Alex Orji's season, compares him to Jalen Milroe in 2023

Michigan has not yet announced named a starting quarterback for the 2024 season. Head coach Sherrone Moore has a few guys in contention but at least from the outside, Alex Orji seems to be the Wolverines’ guy. His athletic ability might be too much to turn down, even if the passing aspect is not great.

That would be quite the shakeup from JJ McCarthy, a first-round pick this past April due to his throwing ability. Danny Kanell compared Orji’s skillset and situation to Jalen Milroe a year ago at Alabama.

“You know what it reminds me of? Like, eerily similar — Jalen Milore,” Kanel said via The Ryen Russillo Podcast. “Remember after the spring, he struggled? And they brought in [Tyler] Buchner from Notre Dame. It was this thing, ‘Who’s the guy going to be? It can’t be Jalen Milroe, he’s just a runner.’

“… He slowy started to develop. I think that’s what you could see with [Orji]. I think they’re very, very similar situations.”

The quarterback situation in Tuscaloosa was a rollercoaster for a few weeks.

Milroe struggled in a huge home game against the Texas Longhorns, ironically the team Michigan hosts Week 2 at the Big House. Nick Saban decided to roll with Buchner and Ty Simpson the following week against USF before reimplementing Milroe for SEC play.

There, we began to see the development really take off. Come November, Milroe was playing a lot better in the offense and getting massive wins for Alabama, eventually making the College Football Playoff. Kanell sees a scenario where Orji’s season plays out on the same track.

Now, if there is anything playing in favor of Orji compared to Milore, it’s the style of offense Michigan runs. Moore is not going to rely on his quarterback to win games, instead hoping to run the ball through defenses. As long as everything goes to plan, Orji will not be asked to do too much.

“JJ McCarthy, as good as he was, they did not rely on him to do very much,” Kanell said. “In his whole career, I think he had three games over 300 yards. Alex Orji is not going to be asked to pick apart defenses and sit in shotgun. He’s going to be asked to hand it off to Donovan Edwards, probably to run it more than JJ McCarthy had to run it, and they’re still going to try to run over teams.”