Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but this one is “special.” This one is different. This one isn’t just the next one, he’s the one that’ll finally live up to the hype.
Or at least that’s the narrative that’s building once more in Ann Arbor, leaving a once-bitten, twice-shy fanbase unsure of what to do. It’s not just coming from outside the football building, either. It’s coming from inside Schembechler Hall, too.
Joe Milton hasn’t yet been named Michigan’s starting quarterback for this upcoming fall season. But he’s unquestionably the one who will be when Jim Harbaugh makes it official, based on everything we’ve seen — Dylan McCaffrey’s opt-out decision with an eye on transferring was the most recent clue — and everything we keep hearing.
From teammates, from former players, even former rivals — Urban Meyer called him a “Cam Newton lookalike” — and now from the guy who has the most at stake, too, as Michigan’s offensive coordinator Josh Gattis weighed in with some lofty praise Wednesday.
So what is it about Milton that has everyone so convinced that he’s the answer to a question fans and critics alike have been asking throughout Harbaugh’s tenure as Michigan’s head coach?
“I think it’s everything,” Gattis said Wednesday on a video conference call. “I think it’s him learning the offense, it’s him taking control and command. And every day out there, he makes some type of ‘wow’ play. And those ‘wow’ plays are not just ‘wow’ plays in college football, they’d be ‘wow’ plays on Sundays.”
For now, though, the concern is less about the “wow” and more about the how when it comes to Milton leading the Wolverines as a first-time starter. Namely, how will the redshirt sophomore play on Saturdays this fall, beginning with that Oct. 24 road opener at Minnesota? How ready is he, really?
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Milton saw only mop-up duty behind starter Shea Patterson and McCaffrey in his first two seasons in Ann Arbor, throwing fewer than a dozen passes in live game action while rushing a dozen more times. He has thrown exactly one touchdown pass in his career, and two interceptions.
And it wasn’t until recently that Milton, a former four-star recruit, made his move to the top of the depth chart, leapfrogging McCaffrey along with sophomore Cade McNamara, a player Gattis had plenty of good things to say about Wednesday as well.
Still, it’s apparent now that Milton is the chosen one here. Gattis called him “one of the most improved players on the team,” and not just from a physical standpoint, as the second-year coordinator raved about the strides the 6-foot-5, 240-pound quarterback has made with both his footwork and his pocket presence.
Gattis credits Harbaugh and quarterbacks coach Ben McDaniels for much of that growth. But he also noted the initiative Milton took after last season, from his film-study habits to rounding up teammates for workouts while at home in Florida this spring and after he returned to Michigan this summer
“I’ll tell you, it was a little bit scary for us, losing a starting quarterback,” Gattis said. “Going into the offseason, I really challenged those guys and said, ‘Hey, we need someone to step up and show us that they can lead this team.’”
And by the sound of it, Milton has done just that.
“I think he’s just more focused,” receiver Giles Jackson said. “You could tell, as soon as this offseason (started), he was a different person. He was more serious, more focused. You could tell he wanted to play and he was just more locked in.”
He’ll benefit from having a full year under his belt in the same scheme, something Patterson didn’t have last season as Harbaugh changed the rules of the road, handing the keys to the offense to Gattis and encouraging him to step on the gas.
The results were mixed in 2019, with plenty of early stumbles and fumbles followed by enough sparks from the offense later in the season to see there was some fire behind all that “speed-in-space” smoke. But now after an extended preseason camp — on the heels of a virtual spring — there’s a better sense of direction, if nothing else.
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The Wolverines’ offense got a key piece back when tackle Jalen Mayfield — a potential first-round NFL draft pick — decided to opt back in for the 2020 season. And while line coach Ed Warinner still has to replace four other starters up front, there’s enough experience and talent — and depth, finally — that shouldn’t be a huge hindrance for this offense.
There are multiple playmaking options in the backfield and at tight end, and even with the likely departure of Nico Collins, Michigan’s young receiving corps figures to be a strength. Behind junior Ronnie Bell, who led the team with 48 catches for 758 yards, there’s a trio of sophomores — Giles Jackson, Mike Sainristil and Cornelius Johnson — and a couple of true freshmen in four-star recruits A.J. Henning and Roman Wilson that will help Gattis spread the field, horizontally and vertically.
“Well, the first thing you see is speed,” Gattis said of the newcomers. “Those guys, they immediately step on that field and they make our team faster, they make the game faster.”
And if things aren’t too fast for Milton at the line of scrimmage — a big if, obviously — there’s some tools there that are impossible to ignore.
Milton has what Jackson calls “one of the strongest arms I’ve ever seen.” Gattis shakes his head and counts at least three deep balls that have flown 70 yards in the air on the practice field recently, “and it has been pinpoint accuracy on each one,” he said, adding, “I’ve gotten to the point now where I’ve told the receivers, ‘Don’t stop running.’ ”
As for the short and intermediate throws, and the accuracy that’s necessary to make the offense really hum, though, we’ll have to see about that.
“That’s one of the things we have talked about, as far as taking RPMs off, knowing how to give a catchable ball,” Gattis said. “Accuracy as far as ball placement was never an issue. Sometimes the issues in the past have been whether or not those receivers can catch it that fast. But he’s done a really good job improving in that but still maintaining his power in his arm.”
By way of proof, Gattis laughed, “Everyone’s got all five fingers. So that’s been really good.”
How good, though? That’s always the question at Michigan, where things often aren’t as good as advertised. And when it comes to the quarterback, you might as well add an exclamation point.
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