Joel Klatt explains how Michigan's ceiling is higher with Jack Tuttle at quarterback

Michigan is to their third quarterback with their substitution of Jack Tuttle last weekend. Still, while not ideal in some senses, Joel Klatt thinks it’s best considering he maybe should have been their starter from the start.

Klatt looked at Tuttle’s play and how that affected the Wolverines last Saturday in Seattle during his show earlier this week. While they did lose to Washington by 10, he wonders if Michigan left that game and now enters their bye week with their best answer yet at the position.

“I guess, if you’re Michigan, there’s some solace in the fact that did they find their quarterback? Did they find somewhat of their identity, even in a loss, now with Jack Tuttle at quarterback?” Klatt wondered. “It was pretty clear early in that game. They fall down 14-0 and Alex Orji is the quarterback. It’s like, ‘This ain’t workin”. Sherrone Moore makes the change and he goes to Jack Tuttle. Tuttle goes in there and, in his first three series, you’re like, ‘Well, geez. Did they just become a playoff team?’, you know? I mean, it’s like the Michigan of last year.”

“It kind of fell apart down the stretch. So, no, it’s not a team that’s going to probably go to the playoff but now, all of a sudden, they’ve got a higher ceiling with Jack Tuttle,” Klatt said.

Tuttle took the field for the first time this season in the first half for the Wolverines. In that time against the Huskies, he went 10-18 (55.6%) for 98 yards and a touchdown. However, he also had his own issues with a pair of turnovers as he threw an interception and lost a fumble.

That came after Orji completed three of his seven passes for just 15 yards. That led the offense to punt on each of their first three possessions of the team’s road opener and created that two-score deficit early on.

Again, QB3 is not ideal by the halfway point of the season. It is, though, if he was always meant to be QB1. That’s what Klatt believes was the case as it’s the reason that he can explain the two quarterback changes to this point so far.

“I believe that they expected Jack Tuttle to be available at the start of the year. This is the only way that I can reconcile what’s been going on through the first month of the season at Michigan. The fact that they’ve looked so lost in trying to find their way offensively? It’s like, hold on. Something happened in the offseason,” explained Klatt. “I think it’s that they expected Tuttle to be ready, which is why they leaned into this style of system. Which is why Davis Warren goes out there as a starting quarterback. Then they clearly have to move because of turnovers and they go to Alex Orji because Tuttle is not ready.”

Michigan’s offense as a whole has much to work on over their week off, including Tuttle. Still, with him starting now, Klatt supposes that they’ve gotten to the right guy at quarterback.

“It wasn’t working at quarterback,” said Klatt. “Now, Jack Tuttle goes in there and you’re like, ‘Well, this looks like it’s going to work?’“