Michigan football will start Davis Warren at quarterback against MSU

Michigan football has been tight-lipped all week about who will start at quarterback in Saturday’s rivalry game against Michigan State, but it appears the answer was revealed Friday night.

According to a report from Matt Zenitz of 247Sports, the Wolverines are expected to face redshirt junior Davis Warren against the Spartans tomorrow night.

Warren was Michigan’s preferred quarterback entering the season and started each of the first three games of the year for the Wolverines. In games against Fresno State, Texas and Arkansas State, the redshirt junior completed 48 of 72 pass attempts for 444 yards and two touchdowns. However, Warren also threw six interceptions in those three games and was benched in favor of redshirt sophomore Alex Orji. He hasn’t seen the field since.

Of the three quarterbacks Michigan has rotated so far, Orji has been the best at taking care of the football. However, this could have been primarily due to the redshirt sophomore’s limitations in the downfield passing game. Orji played sparingly in a special package role with Warren as the starter before making his own starts against USC, Minnesota and Washington.

Orji has completed 23 of 43 pass attempts for 148 yards, with three touchdowns against one interception. He adds an element to Michigan’s rushing attack, totaling 124 yards on 35 carries. Orji was benched in the second quarter of UM’s game against Washington after the Wolverines fell behind by several points.

Seventh-grader Jack Tuttle replaced Orji against the Huskies and appeared to be the answer Michigan had been looking for all season, leading the Wolverines to three consecutive scoring runs against Washington. Things went downhill from there for Tuttle, however, as he had two costly fourth-quarter turnovers against the Huskies and two more giveaways in UM’s 21-7 loss to Illinois last week. Since those three consecutive scoring drives, Michigan has scored just once in its last 15 possessions with Tuttle at quarterback.

That leads head coach Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines back to Warren, who has been Michigan’s most efficient quarterback in terms of completion percentage and accuracy. Limiting turnovers will be the challenge for Warren after the redshirt junior watched the Wolverines’ last four games from the sidelines.

Michigan and Michigan State are scheduled to begin at the Big House in Ann Arbor at 7:30 p.m., with Big Ten Network carrying the broadcast.

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