Brady Quinn not a fan of Michigan’s two-quarterback system
After playing in a one-score game for the entire first half of Week 1, Michigan pulled away late to start off their 2024 season with a 30-10 win over Fresno State last Saturday. It was a game where the defending national champions featured two quarterbacks behind center, Davis Warren and Alex Orji.
Some say if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. It’s a sentiment that college football analyst Brady Quinn seems to align with, raising concerns about Michigan’s two-quarterback system on The Joel Klatt Show ahead of the Wolverines’ marquee matchup against Texas this weekend.
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“This whole two quarterback system, I personally have never been a fan of it for this reason: you’re making all 10 players adjust,” Quinn said. “Everyone else has to adjust, besides the quarterback, for whoever it is when you’re trying to run two. You either have a guy in there who, in Davis Warren’s case, [is] probably gonna run more of a conventional offense from the pocket, etc. If Alex Orji’s just going in, it’s probably more run dominant, etc.”
Warren took a majority of the team’s snaps last Saturday, throwing a touchdown and an interception apiece along with 118 yards through the air. While Orji came in for nine snaps where he rushed for 32 yards on five carries with just two pass attempts.
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It’s clear that both quarterbacks have different styles of play, with Michigan’s offense changing in identity depending on who’s behind center. But Quinn believes the potential struggles for Michigan go beyond that.
“But everyone else has to adjust to their cadence, their leadership, all those intangibles, their pocket presence, the timing with the football, how they’re holding on to it, the type of styles of plays you’re running, the different football they’re throwing too if you’re a receiver or pass catcher,” Quinn explained. “So I’ve never been a fan of it from that standpoint.”
Quinn added that the quarterback and the head coach are the two people that a team looks to when adversity strikes. And that having two quarterbacks could create potential fractions within a locker when that adversity does come knocking.
He speaks from experience as a former quarterback at Notre Dame, also spending eight seasons in the NFL. But you could also argue that the Wolverines battled adversity better than any other team in the country last season on their national championship run filled with distractions.
“I think you have to kind of pick your lane and go with it,” Quinn added. “And if it’s not Davis Warren, if it doesn’t work out, then you go to Alex. If it is Alex, go with that. If it doesn’t work out, go to Davis Warren. But I’ve always been a big believer in put the guy out there that you feel like gives you on every single play throughout the game the best chance to win and we’ll see if that happens this week.”
It will be fascinating to see how Michigan approaches their quarterback situation in Week 2 as the Longhorns take a visit to Ann Arbor in one of the most exciting non-conference matchups of the season across the entire college football landscape. The game kicks off at noon ET in The Big House and airs on FOX.