Michigan must approach transfer QB market 'delicately,' may not add

The Michigan Wolverines are going to have a new look in 2024, with Sherrone Moore taking over as the head coach. The team will also have a new quarterback under center, with J.J. McCarthy making his way to the NFL.

It has been speculated that Michigan will add a starting quarterback from the Transfer Portal. However, there is a lot that goes into it, and as On3’s Pete Nakos explained during an appearance on Andy Staples On3, Michigan needs to be delicate in its approach to a transfer quarterback and may not add through the portal.

“So, you have Alex Orji on the roster, who has a ton of upside, really athletic,” Pete Nakos said. “Has seen most of his reps previously running the ball. You have to handle it really delicately. You cannot afford to lose a quarterback in the portal, especially when we just touched on it, we don’t really know who’s going in, in the quarterback market.”

In total, Michigan has five quarterbacks who are currently competing for the job. That includes graduate Jack Tuttle, senior Davis Warren, juniors Jayden Denegal and Alex Orji, and freshman Jadyn Davis. There are capable players there, and Sherrone Moore needs to be careful that his actions in the portal don’t make one of those players choose to enter when Michigan would prefer them to stay.

“So, Sherrone Moore needs to keep that quarterback room together, and he’s going to need to evaluate who goes in, but at this point, if you told me Michigan doesn’t take a quarterback in the Transfer Portal, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

The Michigan Wolverines have the 38th-ranked transfer portal class in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings. Within that class 15 players have transferred out while two transferred in. Those two players were an offensive lineman and a linebacker respectively.

Sherrone Moore on Michigan Quarterbacks

Once Spring practice got going, Sherrone Moore shared some of his thoughts on the quarterbacks that Michigan has on its roster.

“They’ve all been competing. It’s been super fun to see them all do it. And we’ll see what happens, but I love where they’re at right now, I love their mentality, I love their competitive nature, I love how they’re all getting after it. They’re all complimenting each other. They’re competing at a high level,” Moore said.

“It’s great to go against our defense — the best defense in the country. Even on the other side of the ball, those guys are just practicing so hard. Everybody is practicing hard. It was a great environment we had yesterday in practice, and I’m just excited to see it as we continue to take off.”