Michigan Wolverines and Sherrone Moore have obvious choice to make at QB after brutal Big Ten loss to Illinois
Heading into Michigan's Week 8 matchup against Illinois the Wolverines were on their third quarterback of the year. The Wolverines had more passing yards on the season than just two teams in all of college football (Army & Air Force). Jack Tuttle couldn't possibly be worse than what Michigan had seen at QB up to […]
Heading into Michigan's Week 8 matchup against Illinois the Wolverines were on their third quarterback of the year. The Wolverines had more passing yards on the season than just two teams in all of college football (Army & Air Force). Jack Tuttle couldn't possibly be worse than what Michigan had seen at QB up to this point, right? Or could he?
Jack Tuttle kicked off the contest with a "smoking hot" start completing just three of his first seven passes for a whopping 11 yards. He ramped things up a bit late in the second quarter, and then logged some junk time yards on the final drive, but outside of that Tuttle was just as bad or worse than both Alex Orji and Davis Warren. Tuttle threw an ugly interception late, fumbled multiple times again, and should have had another interception (one of the worst you'll ever see) had it not been called back due to penalty.
Michigan inevitably lost 21-7 to Illinois, leaving the Wolverines stranded in no-man's land with a 4-3 record. They're almost certainly out of any real postseason contention for the playoff. "Well, at least we made a bowl game" is not worthy of the breath it would take to utter such drivel, considering Michigan's high standards. It's time to reset and figure out the future, which leaves Sherrone Moore with yet another obvious decision at quarterback: start the freshman.
Don't think it's a good idea to go with the high pedigree talent in Jadyn Davis? Don't think Sherrone Moore would consider it? Let's break down Jack Tuttle's game against Illinois. It's clear he is not the answer.
First off, his 3/7 start for 11 yards was already mentioned, but immediately after that Jack Tuttle fumbled the ball, easily leading to an Illinois field goal (as you can see in the post below). He was trying to do too much, leaping into the air with the ball held loosely, instead of tucked close to his body.
Then on the very next play from scrimmage on the following drive, Jack Tuttle tossed one of the most ridiculously awful interceptions you will ever see right into the stomach of Illinois defensive back Miles Scott. Luckily for Michigan a completely unrelated holding call against Illinois nullified the interception, but it did not undo how awful the throw looked.
Two plays after Tuttle's not-interception, it was Donovan Edwards' turn to fumble. Things looked like they were going to get out of hand for Michigan early.
Kalel Mullings and Colston Loveland did their best to carry Michigan back within one score on the next few drives, but the most talented duo on the Wolverines only managed to score once throughout the entire game.
Tuttle fumbled again on a sack late in the third quarter, nearly losing his second of the game. Then just for good measure, Tuttle threw an interception directly to an Illinois defender as he was hoping to find Colston Loveland for a touchdown about halfway through the fourth quarter (in post below). Tuttle clearly just didn't see Matthew Bailey dropping right into coverage to perfectly blanket Loveland on his wheel route out of the backfield.
When it was all said and done Jack Tuttle's final stat line didn't look otherworldly terrible. 20/32 for 208 yards with zero touchdowns, an interception, and a fumble. But it was so much worse than that. 63 of those yards came on the final junk time drive. Tuttle was sacked five times. He could have lost two more turnovers with his sack fumble and horrid pick called back by penalty.
When Sherrone Moore was asked mid-game by the sideline reporters he confirmed that the rest of this game in particular was Jack Tuttle's to play, but that certainly doesn't mean the offense will be his moving forward.
Moore emphasized this week that the focus against Illinois would be to "take care of the football" more than anything in multiple interviews. Tuttle did not do that.
There are now just two teams in all of college football who have thrown for less than 1000 passing yards with double-digit turnovers committed: Michigan and Kennesaw State (who has zero wins and is in their first year of FBS football). If Davis Warren, Alex Orji, and now Jack Tuttle clearly aren't the answer at quarterback it's time to throw in the towel for this season and prepare true freshman Jadyn Davis for his potential future with Michigan.
Davis is a highly rated four star true freshman quarterback who spent much of his recruiting journey in high school as a consensus five star talent. Davis won back to back high school football state championships in North Carolina, throwing 86 touchdowns over his final two seasons.
Davis saw very limited action in the spring game for Michigan, and most of Sherrone Moore's quotes on him have suggested he might not be "ready" to start yet. However, it's clear that no other quarterback on the team has been anywhere near ready or worthy to start for the Michigan Wolverines either.
It's time to see if the freshman can play. There's virtually no chance he could be any worse than what Michigan has trotted out onto the field through seven games this season.
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