Key takeaways from Michigan football at Big Ten Media Days

Despite some new teams being added to the Big Ten, media days have been a little boring. Michigan football took the stage on Thursday as the defending champions and Sherrone Moore took the stage for the first time.

Moore is comfortable in that setting and handled it well. He wasn’t nervous and didn’t offer up any bulletin board material for anyone else.

As far as the interviews Moore gave, there wasn’t a ton of information to glean. He was pretty mum about the starting quarterback job, which was to be expected.

I’d say Moore’s first trip to Indy for Big Ten Media Days was a success and here are some key takeaways for Michigan football fans.

The standard hasn’t changed

Moore said that Michigan football expects to beat Ohio State, win the Big Ten, make the playoff and win it. Those are lofty goals but the Wolverines have achieved all of those over the past three seasons.

It’s going to take plenty of work to keep the program where it is. But we have seen Moore be more aggressive on the recruiting trail and it has paid off.

You either evolve or die in college football and Michigan football has evolved since Moore took over. I’d expect more QB runs this season with Alex Orji and more pass targets for Donovan Edwards.

But the culture feels intact and the expectations haven’t changed one bit.

Offensive line is in good hands

Most of us knew this already but the Michigan football offensive line is in good hands with Moore, a former O-line coach as the head coach, and Grant Newsome.

Jim Harbaugh said Grant Newsome would be a head coach someday. Moore reiterated that on Thursday and that has to make Michigan fans feel good. The offensive line has been the lifeblood of the offense the past three seasons and a huge reason why the Wolverines have won three Big Ten titles in a row.

The defense has been spectacular. The quarterback play, even in 2021, was good. But those titles don’t happen without Michigan owning the trenches on offense.

With uncertainty at quarterback, the Wolverines need their offensive line to be a strength, and despite losing essentially six starters, fans should have confidence in that group.

Not close to naming a starter

One thing that’s clear is that Michigan football isn’t close to naming a starting quarterback. Jack Tuttle is a threat to win the job and he was out this spring. Tuttle has been throwing the ball and is healthy now. Alex Orji is a dual threat and could be the best option as long as he can be successful throwing the ball.

There could be a timeshare too where Tuttle and Orji share the job. Kirk Campbell, the offensive coordinator, made clear that the Wolverines will use Orji, even if he’s not the starter, so now it’s a matter of how he throws the ball compared to Davis Warren, Tuttle, and the others.

But in terms of naming a starter, Moore said that wouldn’t happen until it was clear to the coaching staff who that should be.

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