Jack Tuttle, Alex Orji QB battle: Sherrone Moore reveals expected starter vs Illinois

Jack Tuttle will make the start at quarterback for Michigan against Illinois on Saturday, head coach Sherrone Moore announced on Monday.

Tuttle is in his sixth season of college football and was 10 of 18 throwing for 98 yards with a touchdown and an interception during last weekend’s loss to Washington. He beats out Alex Orji for the starting spot in Week 7.

“I think right now he gives us the best chance to win,” Moore said. “We’ll continue to process that as an offense, as a team, but that looks like the direction we’re heading.”

Following the national championship rematch, Moore backed Tuttle to be the Michigan starting quarterback moving forward, praising him for how he played in the game and the chance he gives Michigan to succeed moving forward.

Now, it appears that he’ll be the starter moving forward. Moore revealed he may be heading in this direction with Tuttle after the loss.

“I think we’ll see,” Moore said on Saturday. “We’ll watch the film. Feel good about the way he played. Feel good about what he did. So, right now, if we had to play tomorrow, I’d say Tuttle would be the starting quarterback. Want to build stuff for us to be successful with him and us to be successful with Donovan [Edwards] and Kalel [Mullings] and the rest of our guys. So, feel like he gives us a great chance to win and we’ll just clean up the turnovers and go from there.”

Tuttle is a career backup, never passing for more than 500 yards in a season or throwing for more than 90 attempts. He transferred into the program ahead of the 2023 championship season after spending four years with Indiana — but is a 1,000-yard career passer.

Despite his inexperience during in-game situations, it seems that Moore has confidence in the longtime college quarterback moving forward.

Kickoff between the Fighting Illini and Wolverines is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and will air live on CBS.