New Michigan passing game coordinator Jedd Fisch has what he wants in a starting quarterback on his roster. It just isn’t all in the same person yet.
Tuesday, after the Wolverines’ fourth spring practice, Fisch shed light on what he’s looking for from his signal callers, but acknowledged it was still too early to give anyone an advantage.
“They have different skill sets,” Fisch said. “(Redshirt freshman Wilton Speight) is a very large man, he’s a big guy, and he can see everything. He’s a pretty good athlete and throws the ball well, but he doesn’t seem to have a ton of experience.
“(Junior Shane Morris) has a very strong arm, which everybody knows. He spins it well — he just needs to understand that that’s not really the most important thing. If you have a really strong arm, you have a really strong arm. That’s what you have. So now it’s a matter of what do you do with it? How do you utilize it?”
That has been the question for Morris, who looked uncomfortable in the pocket during limited action last season and overthrew multiple receivers. Freshman Alex Malzone, by contrast, seems to have struck the right chord with Fisch in terms of composure and the mental aspects of the game.
“Alex should be a senior in high school right now,” Fisch said. “He’s got a lot going on, and he has handled it unbelievably well. He’s unbelievable in his ability to not let things bother him, to be consistent, to jump right back and play the game. If a play doesn’t go right, he’s right back in and ready for the next one.”
Referencing the improvement of Blake Bortles — Fisch’s rookie quarterback last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars who drastically cut his turnovers the second half of the year — the new coach highlighted relentless competition and good decision-making as the factors most important to winning the starting job.
Some of the tools Fisch seems to be searching for in his starter can be seen in each of the three, but he’s waiting for it to come in one single package. And that, Fisch said, is what the Wolverines will be striving to cultivate for the duration of spring practice.
“It would be great if one of them (separated himself), you always look for that,” Fisch said. “(But) to separate themselves, it’s not just one thing, it’s the whole game.”
Regardless of which player lines up under center in the fall, Fisch was excited about the talent his quarterback will be throwing to. Tuesday was the first time Fisch worked with redshirt junior Amara Darboh, and he said he was excited about what he saw from him as well.
Darboh had the most receptions (36) and yards (473) last season of any returning Wolverine and has the skill set to be a standout receiver this fall.
Between Darboh, redshirt junior Jehu Chesson, redshirt sophomore Freddy Canteen, redshirt freshman Moe Ways and freshman Brian Cole, there was plenty of excitement to go around for one of the more uncertain position groups.
It may seem counter intuitive to embrace the unknown in a sport where uncertainty can be crippling. But Fisch’s enthusiasm for the wide-open races at wideout and quarterback fit perfectly with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s declaration that playing time would be a “meritocracy at its finest.”
Fisch wants separation at receiver, and he needs it at quarterback, but he wants it to be earned.
“I’ve told those guys, I think Mark Cuban said, ‘Work every day like there’s someone trying to take your job 24 hours a day,’ ” Fisch said. “If they work that hard, I think the talent level is plenty good.”