Michigan football: What Jack Tuttle brings as contender for starting QB job, insight on Grant Newsome, more

Michigan Wolverines football graduate quarterback Jack Tuttle was a college freshman at Utah in 2018, in the same recruiting class as Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields, both of whom are entering their fourth season in the NFL. Tuttle, though, remains at Michigan, after being granted a medical hardship waiver that will allow him to suit up for a seventh year of college football.

Tuttle transferred to Indiana in 2019, before making the move to Michigan ahead of the 2023 campaign. He rose to second on the depth chart in Ann Arbor and is a contender to start entering spring practices, which begin March 18, following the departure of J.J. McCarthy to the NFL Draft.

Tight end AJ Barner, an NFL Draft prospect, knows Tuttle as well as any teammate he’s had. The two played three years together at Indiana before both transferring to Michigan. At the combine in Indianapolis, Barner discussed Tuttle coming back for another season.

“Just happy for him. Whatever he does, I think he’s gonna be great at it, he’s gonna put his best foot forward and attack every day,” Barner said. “Jack is a tremendous leader, a tremendous football player, and I think whatever opportunity he’s given, he’s going to make the most of it.”

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Tuttle has played 479 offensive snaps throughout his career, appearing in 21 games, including six at Michigan, with five starts (all at Indiana). He’s been around the game for a long time, and he has aspirations to coach. He’s also gotten his fair share of run in games.

“His leadership, the way that he approaches each day, his experience, his ability to make plays outside of the pocket and move around,” Barner said of what Tuttle brings. “I mean, he’s got good arm talent, too, so I think he’s a complete quarterback. The experience part, too — he’s played a lot of football and he’s been around a lot of different systems, so he knows ball.”

Barner added that his expectation for the 6-foot-4, 210-pounder is “to compete for the starting job.”

“They have a bunch of talented quarterbacks — [junior Alex] Orji, Denny [junior Jayden Denegal], the new kid, [freshman] Jadyn [Davis], Jack. I think all of them will get an opportunity to compete, and whoever does get that job is going to do a tremendous job.”

Grant Newsome will be ‘phenomenal’ offensive line coach at Michigan

New Michigan head coach Shrrone Moore promoted Grant Newsome from tight ends to offensive line coach. Barner worked closely with him last season and believes he’s primed to do a great job in his new role.

“Coach News, he’s awesome,” Barner said. “He’s going to get those guys right, and he helped me tremendously. The details that he coaches with, what he teaches in the run game, and he played at Michigan. He cares a whole bunch about the place, and he’s going to be a phenomenal O-line coach. I can’t wait to see the way his career continues to trend, because he’s just an awesome coach.”

Michigan doesn’t need plethora of five-stars

Michigan’s 56.3-percent blue-chip ratio (the percentage of recruits that were ranked four-star or higher) in the five cycles leading up to the 2023 national championship is an outlier. The next-lowest ratio for a national champion in the CFP era (since 2014) is the 2016 Clemson squad at 60 percent.

The Wolverines finished 15-0 in 2023, with just one five-star on the roster, cornerback Will Johnson.

The Maize and Blue will have a new look with Moore as the head coach, replacing Jim Harbaugh, but Barner said the formula should stay the same.

“For them to sustain, I think just keep on doing what they’re doing, keep recruiting the same kids that they’re recruiting,” the Michigan tight end explained. “We don’t get 15 five-star guys; we get a select few guys that are going to come in and work extremely hard and be tough as nails and play with pride and play as a team.

“When your running back is on the ground, you better run over there and pick him up. If there’s your teammate on the other sideline, you better go over there and escort him off the sideline. And I think they’re going to keep that stuff going. With Coach Moore at the helm and the rest of the coaches they got, I know they’re going to keep that tradition going.”