Josh Gattis says Michigan football is "nowhere near having a front-runner" in the team's ongoing quarterback competition.
In a Zoom call with local reporters Thursday, the Wolverines' offensive coordinator said the program's three scholarship quarterbacks (incoming freshman Dan Villari is not on campus yet) continue to battle it out for the starting job.
"We're in a three-man competition, coming into the spring, with Joe (Milton), Dylan (McCaffrey) and Cade (McNamara), and no one's got a competitive advantage over anyone," Gattis said. "We're excited about the guys that we have on the roster. We've got to solve that question later down the road when we get the opportunity to.
"But no one has a leg up, it's not based on depth chart last year, it's not based on skill set this year. Every guy is equal. Every guy is going to get the right opportunity to go out there and lead this team. When we have that answer is when they'll know. But right now, we haven't even come close to starting that battle yet, just missing the time."
Michigan graduated former starting quarterback Shea Patterson this offseason, after he started all 26 games the past two seasons following his transfer from Ole Miss.
McCaffrey and Milton have the most experience. McCaffrey, a redshirt junior, replaced Patterson when the latter was injured in the 2018 season opener against Notre Dame and was No. 2 on the depth chart the past two seasons. In 2019, he completed 10 of 20 passes for 116 yards and one touchdown with 13 carries for 67 yards and one score.
Milton, a redshirt sophomore, received playing time as the No. 2 quarterback in 2019 while McCaffrey missed time with a concussion. Milton completed 3 of 7 passes for 59 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
A former four-star recruit, McNamara redshirted in his first season on campus and did not play.
Gattis said he challenged the trio to begin preparing for the position battle as soon as the team returned from the Citrus Bowl in January. He told all three players to embrace the competition and to "show that you can lead this offense." Gattis acknowledged none of the quarterbacks came close to receiving the amount of reps in 2019 needed to make any solid judgments.
"It was a little bit unfair, because they're still not taking the reps needed," Gattis said. "They were still taking backup reps because we had to prepare. Shea was our starter. There were no ands, ifs or buts about it. And he was the best guy suited to give us the best opportunity to win on Saturdays.
"We want a healthy quarterback competition. We want a balanced quarterback competition where we can give those guys the right reps needed. We just couldn't do it right then in December."
The issue was only compounded by the cancelation of spring football due to the coronavirus outbreak. Gattis is pleased with how all three players have handled themselves in quarantine in regards to developing as leaders, but reps are needed.
"We missed the timing, we missed the competitive reps, we missed the good on good, but we'll pick back up," Gattis said. "We're going through something that everybody else is going through. There were a handful of teams in college football that were able to get spring practice in. Unfortunately, we weren't. But we can't control what we can't control, we've just got to be ready to pick the pieces back up when we get the opportunity."
Gattis cautions against reading into last year's pecking order, saying the 2019 depth chart is now "irrelevant" when it comes to this season's quarterback competition. In his eyes, McCaffrey, Milton and McNamara were all even when the pandemic began, and now the Wolverines must wait for football to resume before the quarterback battle can begin in earnest.
"I mean, we've got to get the reps, we've got to get the battle going to figure out who's going to be our quarterback," Gattis said. "It's a really interesting battle. I think that all three can give us opportunities to win games. We're just going to have to catch them up.
"All three are doing great. All three are skyrocketing from a leadership standpoint. That's what's exciting. What else involves a quarterbacK? The DNA, the leadership, the mental aspects. Coach (Ben) McDaniels has done a really good job of developing those guys along in that area. We're excited about where we are. We're in no rush to make a decision. We'll make the best decision to give our team the opportunity to win."
