What’s wrong with Jim Harbaugh’s QB room at Michigan? | Yahoo Sports College Podcast

Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Pete Thamel, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde discuss Michigan QB Joe Milton entering the transfer portal, and why the line of quarterbacks that didn’t pan out at Michigan keeps getting longer.

Video transcript

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DAN WETZEL: Let's start with this. Joe Milton, once hailed-- perhaps even on this podcast, I can't remember-- as the next savior of Michigan football, the latest Savior of Michigan football, is transferring. Former four-star QB from Florida has entered the transfer portal. Now, I don't think this is going to have a major impact on the 2021 season. Milton was probably going to be third string.

Again, one of the great mysteries of life is how Jim Harbaugh is not landing all these quarterback recruits that he would want. These guys aren't leaving because there's, like, a logjam of talent. They're leaving because anybody can be the starter and nobody gets them, so maybe McNamara is the solution. Maybe JJ McCarthy, the heralded player from IMG that's coming in is the solution. But so far, Harbaugh has gone o-fer on the recruiting market for quarterbacks. Pat, how is this possible?

PAT FORDE: I don't know, Dan. I mean, I am-- I find it shocking, really. I guess in the last couple of years it's less shocking because you've seen it kind of manifest itself and I think quarterbacks out there sitting there saying, why would I play for him? But before that, I think you would think they were saying, why wouldn't I play for him? And he would get good ones and make them better. The way he did with Andrew Luck. The way he did in the NFL with Colin Kaepernick. I mean, they haven't gotten good ones, and when they've got-- whoever they've gotten hasn't gotten any better. In fact, if anything they've often gotten worse.

And so lack of play at the most important position has been striking. And yes, this podcast is guilty. I do remember Joe Milton after his debut as the starter against Minnesota and the Michigan people were pumping him up. And he was good in that game. Over his last three games as a Michigan Wolverine, zero touchdowns, two interceptions throwing the ball. Not good. And hopefully he goes on to greater success elsewhere. Nothing personal against him, but it was just another quarterback who didn't pan out at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh.

PETE THAMEL: Yeah. And I just-- I guess I'm not surprised anymore, right? Like, there's enough empirical evidence other than Jake Rudock who transferred from Iowa and was a really good quarterback in Harbaugh's first season there. Like, there's really-- from that point on there's been diminishing returns in his six years. And I think the lack of quarterback success and the lack of identity Pat spoke of kind of are tied together, right? Like, Joe Milton isn't anything like Dylan McCaffrey. Like, they're different quarterbacks.

So, it just-- when you don't have an identity and you're not recruiting to a specific offense-- so, the Michigan quarterback failure-- again, from the macro, if you had told me when Harbaugh got there that that would be the vexing thing that is among the main things holding the program back, it would have been stunning. But as we have watched, sort of, failure after failure and transfer after transfer at that position-- again, this isn't the fault of the players, right? There's been poor identification in the coaching staff.

I really-- there is a lot of coaches that really like the McCarthy kid who's coming in there now. He's a little bit of a physical late bloomer which is why some of the bluer bloods didn't pull the trigger on him initially and he really could be the answer. But, at this point when I hear, he could be the answer at Michigan, I roll my eyes. Because there's been about five answers and they-- at a certain point, you gotta ask what the question is and that's what Michigan hasn't told us.

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