8 — Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight threw for 2,375 passing yards and 17 touchdowns in the regular season, his first as a starter for Michigan.
Season in Review: Quarterbacks

With the Michigan football 

team’s 2016 regular season in the 
books, the Daily looks back at the 
performance of each unit this year 
and looks ahead to the future in 
2017. In this edition: quarterbacks.

With 
2015 
starting 

quarterback 
Jake 
Rudock 

departing after an impressive 
single-season 
leap 
from 

unproven graduate transfer to 
NFL Draft pick, the Michigan 
football 
team 
had 
a 
huge 

question mark at quarterback at 
the beginning of 2016.

It turned out that question 

was all but answered in the 
spring, and that answer might 
be the key to the Wolverines’ 
offense for the next two seasons.

The year started with an 

open 
competition 
between 

redshirt 
sophomore 
Wilton 

Speight and redshirt juniors 
John O’Korn and Shane Morris, 
but Speight emerged as the 
frontrunner for the starting 
job before the Spring Game in 
April. He never relinquished 
his lead, and he embarked on a 
remarkable first starting season 
that, in many ways, mirrored 
his predecessor’s.

Despite 
throwing 
an 

interception on his first pass 
this season, Speight came back 
to throw seven touchdowns 
in his first two games, tying a 
school record to start a season.

He overcame an elbow injury 

to beat eventual Pac-12 runner-
up Colorado, put up 49 points 
in a win over eventual Big 
Ten champion Penn State and 
uncorked a 45-yard touchdown 
to 
fifth-year 
senior 
wide 

receiver Amara Darboh to seal 
the deal against eventual Big 
Ten West champion Wisconsin. 
And that wasn’t even his best 
three-game 
stretch 
of 
the 

season (more on that later).

If it wasn’t abundantly clear 

that 
Speight 
deserved 
the 

starting job early on, a late-
season shoulder injury proved 
it. Speight missed the Indiana 
game on Nov. 19 after sustaining 
an injury late in Michigan’s loss 
to Iowa, and O’Korn turned in a 
season-low 56 passing yards in 
his place despite still picking up 
the win.

Of course, Speight returned 

for the Wolverines’ thrilling 
regular-season finale against 
Ohio State, throwing for two 
touchdowns and leaving his 
team just three points shy 
of a chance at the Big Ten 
Championship.

The 
first-time 
starter 

finished 
the 
year 
with 

2,375 
passing 
yards 
and 

17 
touchdowns 
against 
six 

interceptions. 
He 
not 
only 

answered one of Michigan’s 
more 
pressing 
preseason 

questions, but he established 
himself as a potential face of the 
offense for years to come.

HIGH POINT: Over one 

stretch starting in late October, 

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh 
said in three straight postgame 
press conferences that Speight 
had just completed his best 
game yet. During that run — 
which included wins against 
Illinois, Michigan State and 
Maryland — Speight completed 
70.8 percent of his passes for 
859 yards and four touchdowns, 
with his passer rating reaching 
levels of well over 200 during 
the games.

To cap it off, Speight added 

his 
first 
career 
rushing 

touchdown against Maryland, 
leaping over the goal line after 
a 10-yard scramble — an image 
now 
immortalized 
on 
his 

Twitter account as a parody of 
the Jordan Brand’s Jumpman 
logo. It was the icing on the cake 
for a quarterback not known for 
his running ability. (As fifth-
year senior defensive end Chris 
Wormley once quipped, “You 
see Wilton try and scramble 
and it looks like it hurts.”)

LOW POINT: One could 

argue 
that 
Speight’s 
two 

interceptions and the fumble on 
the one-yard line against Ohio 
State were his three biggest 
mistakes of the season, but his 
command of the offense still 
put the Wolverines in position 
to win that game. His true low 
point came two weeks earlier 
in Iowa City, when Michigan 
mustered just one offensive 
touchdown in a 14-13 upset loss 
to the Hawkeyes.

Speight completed 11 of 26 

passes for just 103 yards, finishing 
with a season-worst 67.9 passer 
rating, zero touchdowns and 
an interception. His inability to 
keep the offense on the field late 
in the game proved fatal, as the 
Wolverines went three and out 
despite needing to kill less than 
two minutes of game time in 
the fourth quarter. A face-mask 
penalty on the ensuing punt set up 
Iowa’s game-winning field goal.

THE FUTURE: Harbaugh 

does 
love 
his 
quarterback 

competitions 
— 
and 
he’ll 

have plenty of capable bodies 
next season — but Speight’s 
performance this season likely 
cemented his place as the 
starter going forward.

O’Korn and Morris each have 

a year of eligibility remaining, 
but Harbaugh has said that fifth 
years aren’t guaranteed, and 
if this year is any indication, 
playing time should be hard to 
come by for the two veterans.

The more intriguing name, 

however, is Brandon Peters — a 
soon-to-be 
redshirt 
freshman 

who has enough talent to be 
touted by some as Harbaugh’s 
next Andrew Luck. And highly 
coveted 
2017 
recruit 
Dylan 

McCaffrey will be on campus 
next fall as well, making for a 
gifted and crowded quarterback 
room no matter who the starter is.

It seems likely that Speight 

will hang onto his job, but 
Michigan’s 
quarterback 

storyline will surely be heavily 
scrutinized for years to come.

Wolverines ready for 
up-tempo Longhorns

A week ago, the Michigan 

men’s basketball team squared 
off against a Virginia Tech 
squad 
that 

head 
coach 

John 
Beilein 

said 
would 

“push 
(the 

ball) up the 
floor 
right 

down 
our 

throat.”

The 

Wolverines 
(6-2) held serve 
for most of the 
game 
against 

the up-tempo 
Hokies, but ultimately faltered 
down the stretch, losing in 
overtime, 73-70.

Michigan will get another 

chance to face an up-tempo 
team at home against Texas 
(4-3) on Tuesday night, in the 
front end of a home-and-home 
series that matches the teams 
up again next year in Austin, 
Texas.

The two teams also met last 

season in the Bahamas at the 
Battle 4 Atlantis, where the 
Wolverines 
were victorious, 
76-72.

Coached 
by 

Shaka 
Smart, 

the Longhorns 
push the pace 
of the game not 
through 
their 

offense, 
but 

their 
defense, 

a strategy that 
led to much of 
Smart’s success 
at 
Virginia 

Commonwealth 
before 
he 

moved to Texas.

“Shaka has more than he 

had last year, when we played 
them, of the havoc full-court 
defense,” Beilein said. “They’re 
playing some zones, and they 
have a lot of good action going 
on, and our players will have to 
play well.”

Because of Texas’ up-tempo 

defense, the Wolverines will 
have to work harder and rely 
on bench players, especially 
freshman 
guard 
Xavier 

Simpson, who will have to give 
senior guard Derrick Walton 
Jr. a break.

“We’re 
going 
to 
need 

(Simpson) to help Derrick,” 
Beilein said. “Not only to 
beat the press or attack their 
defense, 
but 
also 
to 
give 

(Walton) a rest.”

Added Simpson: “I feel like I 

can handle it. I’m being worked 
on every day in practice and 
getting better and just learning 

the pace of the game.”

But besides the fact that 

Michigan is about to face a 
high-energy 
team, 
Tuesday 

night’s bout will also be the 
Wolverines’ 
third 
game 
in 

seven days.

“(It’s) something we see a lot 

of in the Big Ten, so it’s been 
good for us to go through that 
type of schedule this week,” 
Beilein said.

Most 
recently, 
Michigan 

is coming off an 82-55 win 
over Kennesaw State that saw 
sophomore 
forward 
Moritz 

Wagner score a career-high 20 
points and redshirt sophomore 
DJ Wilson grab his second 
career double-double with 15 
points and 11 rebounds.

The duo, though, will have 

a much tougher time trying 
to repeat their feats against 
Texas.

Inside, the Longhorns start 

6-foot-11 forward Jarrett Allen 
at the ‘5’ and athletic forward 
Shaquille Cleare at the ‘4.’ 
Both will provide challenges 
for Wagner and Wilson at both 
ends of the court.

“They’re a great post-up 

team,” Beilein said. “They’re 
going to play out of the post like 

crazy, so post 
defense has to 
be important.”

Texas 
also 

features guard 
Tevin 
Mack, 

who leads the 
Longhorns 
in 

scoring 
with 

14 points per 
game 
despite 

starting in only 
one game this 
season thus far.

But 
while 

Michigan 
understands 
that 

Texas will bring something 
different to the table, the 
Wolverines still want to play 
their own game, which is 
something they haven’t been 
able to do in their two losses 
this season.

“We just want to stick to 

our style of play,” said senior 
forward Zak Irvin. “We like 
to get up and down, too. 
We don’t want to do things 
uncharacteristically. 
The 

turnovers we had, we want to 
limit those.”

Michigan is looking to build 

on its momentum from its win 
over Kennesaw State. Another 
win over a Texas team that has 
bounced in and out of the top 
25, would be a nice springboard 
before the Wolverines play at 
No. 2 UCLA on Saturday.

But 
right 
now, 
the 

Wolverines 
aren’t 
looking 

ahead. They have to take care 
of business on Tuesday first.

MINH DOAN

Daily Sports Editor

Michigan welcomes Texas to Crisler 
for first year of home-and-home series

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Texas at 
Michigan

Matchup: 
Texas 4-3; 
Michigan 6-2

When: 
Tuesday 9 P.M.

Where: Crisler 
Center

TV/Radio: 
ESPN2

“We just 

want to stick 
to our style 

of play.”

JACOB GASE

Daily Sports Editor