Michigan’s Opener to be QB Playoff

With so many changes to the Michigan coaching staff and team roster over the past year, head coach Rich Rodriguez isn’t sure which player is best for the top job – leading the team as quarterback. So, during the team’s Week One game against Western Michigan, he’ll play three different quarterbacks - Denard “Shoelace” Robinson, Tate Forcier, and Nick Sheridan. The three have been competing for a few weeks now, and while Coach Rod may start his personal number one pick, he isn’t ready to commit just yet.

Junior Sheridan obviously brings the most experience to the game, since Robinson and Forcier are true freshmen. Last year, he played in 8 of the 12 games, throwing touchdowns against Utah in Week One and Minnesota, a game they surprisingly won closer to the end of their horrendous season. Unfortunately, Sheridan isn’t the most consistent QB, and along with touchdowns, he also had five interceptions during the season, including two against Notre Dame. He does have some ground mobility though, and last year, he ran in one against Northwestern. Overall, though, Sheridan isn’t a “force” – at least he wasn’t last year – so he may not be the best choice, even if the other Michigan quarterbacks haven’t even played in college games yet. Sheridan is also coming off a broken leg, so that injury could still affect his abilities on the field.

Nick Sheridan last year against rival Michigan State. Image: Newscom

Forcier and Robinson were both highly recruited by Coach Rod, who thinks that they’d be good for his new spread offense approach at Michigan, which has caused so many good players to leave the school. Forcier has a slight advantage, perhaps, as he graduated high school early to enroll in the college last spring, in time to play with the team during spring practice. Robinson’s been getting a lot of press, though, so I wouldn’t count him out of the game just yet.

Despite the stiff competition for time on the field, the three say that they remain good friends and enjoy how they push one another to play better. We’ll see if that friendship sticks when someone takes the reigns as starter and the other two get less playing time.