Michigan football quarterbacks, offensive line seeing major improvement

Today, following the Wolverines’ massive 38-point win over Nebraska on the road last weekend, Jim Harbaugh spoke with the media. Week 5 appeared to be a major turning point for the Maize and Blue, who are in search of a third-straight Big Ten title and CFP appearance this fall and saw a lot of improvement across the board. From the Michigan football quarterbacks — including JJ McCarthy and Jayden Denegal — to the offensive line, here are some of the improvements that Harbaugh saw.

Jim Harbaugh pleased with his Michigan football quarterbacks

First, the Michigan football quarterbacks, which is a subject that still needs to be officially addressed for the Wolverines. JJ McCarthy is obviously Michigan’s starter; however, the Wolverines are yet to name an official QB2, though the job appears to belong to Jack Tuttle. Still, Jayden Denegal and others are getting a lot of reps right now, and Jim Harbaugh seems quite pleased with what he sees so far.

“You, see some quarterbacks throwing four to six touchdowns a game, and he (JJ McCarthy) is just so locked in on winning, and being efficient for the team, and contributing to the team,” Jim Harbaugh said on Monday. “It’s a beautiful thing. And the rest of the quarterbacks — Jack Tuttle, Jayden Denegal, Davis Warren — I thought they were really good too. I thought we made a really big step and improvement when our twos went into the game. We still put up a field goal drive and a touchdown drive. That was really good.”

The offensive line has largely addressed its early-season issues

Jim Harbaugh is also very happy with his offensive line. Through three weeks, Michigan football fans were a bit concerned with the lack of gritty runs and missed blocks from the offensive line; however, since the start of Big Ten play, the Wolverines have really picked it up. On Saturday, Michigan bullied a big defensive line which was previously seen as one of the top run-stopping units in the nation.

“The O-Line — dominant offensive line against a really big defensive line,” Harbaugh said. “Those guys were big and physical, and I thought our offensive line played extremely well. Another group that’s playing really good, unselfish football. Trevor Keegan and LaDarius Henderson both had really good games. Drake (Nugent) and (Karsan) Barnhart played really well. Trente Jones played really — we gotta get Trente in the game more. He’s such a good player, so athletic, and might have to start playing a bit of a rotation.”

Michigan football looking to pick up a second-straight road win at Minnesota this weekend

While there were previously some early-season concerns about Michigan football, Jim Harbaugh and his Wolverines shut just about all of that down with a massive win over Nebraska. This weekend, the Wolverines will march into Minnesota in search of another road victory; this time, against PJ Fleck and his 3-2 Minnesota Golden Gophers.

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