Michigan football has made a change at quarterback ahead of its Big Ten season opener vs. No. 12 USC.
Head coach Sherrone Moore told reporters Monday afternoon that Alex Orji has been named the starter moving forward, and Davis Warren will move to the bench beginning Saturday against the Trojans (2-0) in their first Big Ten matchup (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS).
“Alex will start on Saturday,” Moore said Monday from Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Excited for him. He’s been in here champing at the bit.”
Warren was anointed as the starter by Moore and offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell after he was determined to be the winner of a position battle that began in spring, spilled into summer and wasn’t decided until the final week of fall camp.
Though Warren was said to have outperformed Orji in practice at the time, as Moore said, game reps would be the final determining factor, and to this point Warren had not gotten the job done. The senior from Los Angeles completed 48 of 72 passes (66.7%) for 444 yards with two touchdowns compared to six interceptions.
“It’s a tough situation when the big thing we talk about protecting the football and it gets put in harms way,” Moore said. “But (Warren), he’s a great team player. Watch him on the field after and celebrate Alex’s touchdown…not much I needed to tell him to hype him up or support him.
“We will continue to support him … but at the end of the day, we have to play the guys we think will help us win.”
Orji, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound athlete from Sachse, Texas, has long provided a rushing upside. He has run 10 times for 51 yards this season, and U-M coaches say he can throw well, too. That has been the knock on him. He was 2-for-4 for 12 yards and one touchdown vs. Arkansas State, but was not on the same page with receiver Frederick Moore on a deep ball overthrow.
Michigan quarterback Alex Orji…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-names-alex-orji-starting-200518432.html
Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2024-09-16 20:05:18
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