70 days until Michigan football: What is Alex Orji's future in Ann Arbor?
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
With 10 weeks to go until the Michigan football season, No. 10 on the roster remains an exciting and intriguing piece moving forward. And one of the biggest program mysteries.
Alex Orji remains one of the most interesting underclassmen athletes on the Michigan roster regardless of position. He looks like a linebacker at 6-3, 235 pounds and runs as mean and physical as any back in the program. That has led some to believe he has a future somewhere other than quarterback, and yet with the way the ball comes off his fingers it still feels like something worth letting percolate over the next several months, at least.
Orji was 4-of-6 for 41 yards and a touchdown in the spring game with 5 rushes for 19 yards, one of which included a big hit on (now former) Michigan safety RJ Moten that you could feel up in the press box. Of the reserve quarterbacks, he remains the most interesting, but he is still very much a project. It might take a big fall camp for him to push Jack Tuttle and Davis Warren for QB2 duties, but he could be a long-term factor there if he continues to develop as a passer.
Michigan might need to explore ways to get him on the field, but you also do not want to tip your hand from a tendency perspective. Maybe quarterback is not in the cards long-term, but the Wolverines are deep enough at most every position to give this experiment time to play itself out.
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The quarterback room should be all the better for it with Orji’s arm talent and athleticism.
“It’s crazy talented,” offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore said on the In The Trenches Podcast. “But even better, like they’re just they’re all competitors. They all want to win. And they all kind of understand, they obviously know J.J. is QB1. He’s the number one guy but they’re all fighting for number two, but it’s not combative. They’re all helping each other out. But they’re a super-talented group.
“They all got the ability to make all the throws all of them can run, which is super awesome. So they’re all dual threat, I guess you can say. But they’re all extremely talented and I’m excited about that group.”
Michigan football countdown to kickoff
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