Michigan Football Chatter: Updated QB Talk Pre-Spring Ball

As Shea Patterson prepares himself for the next step in his journey, going through this past weekend's NFL Combine, Michigan continues to look forward to spring practice and the battle between redshirt junior Dylan McCaffrey and Joe Milton.

We wrote about the quarterbacks a month ago, and in the past five weeks, all three signal-callers - redshirt freshman Cade McNamara too - have been working diligently both in the weight room and with receivers to put themselves in the best position for the start of spring ball.

"No one from this group wants to get outworked - that's been a real positive," one of our sources shared. "There's no one slacking off. All three of these guys have been workhorses. I think part of that is their natural disposition, but obviously a big part of that is the opportunity.

"Dylan might be the favorite but he's not going to let Joe outwork him and give the coaches any reason to question his commitment and effort. So that's been a real plus this offseason. And that goes for Joe and Cade too."

As Michigan debates which quarterback will emerge, part of the argument centers on what the offense will look like if McCaffrey wins the job versus Milton (or versus McNamara). Among the offenses coordinator Josh Gattis previously worked with, Penn State's 2017 edition, which ranked 19th nationally, averaging 460.3 yards per game, including 290.2 yards passing, is perhaps the most ideal.

That offense included QB Trace McSorley rushing for 491 yards. A number of insiders view McCaffrey as a faster, more athletic version of McSorley.

"I'll come back to terms I've used before, but he's both fearless and a natural read-option runner," one of our insiders noted. "With Joe, there's a strength, but his running instincts are a significant step behind Dylan.

"Now, both of these guys would benefit tremendously from more reps, both in practice and especially in games. They've only begun to scratch the surface of what they're capable of because they just don't have much experience. Even Dylan, we're talking about [23] career rushing attempts spread out over [10] games. Hard to be very good at something when you've done it that little."

A number of sources believe McCaffrey is the frontrunner and will ultimately win the job because he offers the Michigan offense the chance to be more dynamic than Milton does. After senior tailback Chris Evans, McCaffrey is the fastest ball carrier on the team, and he can be a game-breaker as a read-option runner while he's capable of picking up some key yards on scramble situations.

"The biggest thing with Joe is there is a reluctancy as a runner, and after this past year, when Shea really shied away from being a running threat ... Dylan's maybe a little too aggressive, but you'd rather see someone that recognizes himself as a threat."

I asked all five of the insiders I spoke to where they're at coming off winter conditioning ahead of spring practice, four said McCaffrey is the clear favorite. The fifth said he expected McCaffrey to win the job but thinks it won't be decided until the end of spring ball.

"There's no complete quarterback on this team, but Dylan is 90% there," the fifth insider shared. "He doesn't have Joe's arm strength but he has the rest. Joe, if he becomes a more confident quarterback this spring as a runner, and a more aware quarterback as a passer, there's really no reason he can't beat Dylan out, but the last time we saw him, there was still a hesitancy to his game."

Some players will evolve significantly in the time between bowl game practices and spring practices, some will slowly evolve and some won't change at all. The coaches are excited to see which category their three quarterbacks fall into.

"The one thing about Dylan is every time there's a break, he's made gains - maybe that's the benefit of being from the family he is, but Joe and Cade, as young guys, understand the opportunity so they've been working really hard. Very excited to see how much better they are when spring ball starts."