Joel Klatt breaks down Michigan quarterback battle after spring game

Joel Klatt took some time to break down the performances of Michigan quarterbacks Alex Orji and Davis Warren during the Wolverines’ Spring Game.

Evidently, Klatt believes both quarterbacks are talented, but only one can win the team’s quarterback competition. He’s not leaning one way or another following the Spring Game earlier in April though.

“The other thing that I think really stood out is just this quarterback battle. There were no answers on Saturday. We didn’t find out who was going to be the quarterback. I think you saw in a lot of ways what makes this quarterback battle so unique, and that is the styles of these players are so vastly different,” Klatt stated. “What Alex Orji brings to the table, No. 10, is explosiveness. The ability to run. What a guy like Davis Warren, No. 16 brings to the table, is a prototypical, knowledge-based, schematic-oriented quarterback, that’s going to throw the ball to the right spot. Now, his deep ball for a touchdown … was really beautiful. He threw it right on time, great air on that ball. He also was able to scramble. … But Davis Warren is a guy that needs to utilize the system. Utilize everybody around him in order to have success.

“Alex Orji is a guy that can have success because of his own athleticism. His own explosiveness, and he can equate numbers, and give you a big advantage in the run game. Don’t know who it’s going to be. I thought those two were the two guys that really impressed me the most on Saturday. … Now these guys are going to be charged with preparing for a season that’s going to be very different than the one that they just played.”

Alas, it’ll be fascinating to see who Michigan rolls with, as they usher in a new era. As much as the Wolverines don’t want to admit it, a lot is changing for them in 2024, and Klatt believes they should embrace it, instead of ignoring that fact.

“How do you make sure that nothing has changed when everything is different?” Klatt added. “That’s what they’re charged to do and what’s going to be so difficult and why next season is going to be so fascinating from a Michigan perspective. Everything is changing at Michigan and around Michigan. Got a new conference in the Big Ten. Got a new 12-team College Football Playoff. They also are now trying to defend a national championship with all new faces. Yet when you go into the building there is this sense within the group that nothing has changed. It’s wild because everybody’s different. How has nothing changed? 

“They will tell you that their culture, their philosophy, their structure, the mentality of how they practice, their systems both offensively and defensively, the development — none of that is changing. This is status quo for the Michigan Wolverines. Yet everybody doing those things is different.”

It’ll be interesting to see where Michigan ends up in 2024, but the Wolverines have a lot more questions than answers entering their title-defense season.