For years, Joe Milton’s talent has been a mercurial talking
point at the tip of Michigan coaches’ tongues. There are
the stories, repeated ad nauseum, of his arm strength.
Early in his Michigan career, the stories go, he injured
receivers with passes zipped in at warp speed. Eighty-
five yards, allegedly, is his maximum throwing distance.
Giles Jackson has one of those stories too, as told in a
Zoom call with reporters Thursday.
“In practice one time, we had a deep ball, I was
probably 70 yards out and he just launched it,” the
sophomore receiver said. “I thought he threw it late,
but the ball beat me to my spot. I was like, whoa. He has
an arm I’ve never seen before.”
There’s a different tone to such a story now, though.
Because over the course of a few hours Wednesday
morning, everything changed for Milton. First, the Big
Ten announced its plans to return to play after canceling the
fall football season just five weeks prior. Then, a few hours
later, word trickled in that senior Dylan McCaffrey was
opting out to pursue a transfer.
Suddenly, Milton, whose precocious talent had
always sat outside of the limelight, was in line
to start a football game for Michigan in just
five weeks. For Milton, it’s an opportunity
he always deemed within reach even
as most outside the program assumed
McCaffrey
would
succeed
Shea
Patterson as the Wolverines’ starter.
“Nothing been on my mind to
(transfer) somewhere else,” Milton
said last December, ahead of the
Citrus Bowl. “Just being patient
and humble. It’s gonna come one
day.”
The program did not make
Milton available to media Thursday
afternoon, but Jackson has seen
his teammate seize this offseason’s
quarterback competition, even as
practice time has been limited due
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think he’s just more focused,
I’d say,” Jackson said. “You could
tell, as soon as this offseason, he
was a whole different person. He
was more serious, more focused.
You could tell, he wanted to play,
and he was just more locked in.”
The two live next door in Ann Arbor
and have developed into close friends
over the past year, part of a bond between
Michigan’s quarterbacks and receivers. On
the field, that has parlayed into a trust between
two largely inexperienced groups.
After Nico Collins signed with an agent this week,
indicating his intentions to declare for the NFL Draft,
the Wolverines’ only returning starting pass catchers
are junior receiver Ronnie Bell and fifth-year senior
tight end Nick Eubanks. That lack of experience leaves
a heavy burden on Michigan’s sophomore trio of Giles
Jackson, Cornelius Johnson and Mike Sainristil. The three
combined for just 21 catches for 348 yards and a touchdown
last season, but all fit the mold of offensive coordinator Josh
Gattis’ speed in space philosophy.
Combined with their burgeoning connection with Milton, that
has Jackson feeling confident.
“I’m always with him getting better, watching film,” Jackson
said. “I know in the offseason we were getting together, throwing
footballs together a lot. That just helped. We have a good bond.”
Put it all together and Michigan has an offense built of players
whose talent has always lurked in the shadows, thrust into the public
eye only by press conference hype. On the field, Milton is 6-for-11
for 117 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. His freshman
year of college, in which he went 3-for-4, is the only time he’s ever
completed more than 50 percent of his passes, including in high
school. And in Collins, he loses the receiver who most fits with
his vertical style of play, at least on paper.
But now, that qualifier — “on paper” — is on the verge of
becoming a remnant of the past for Milton. In 36 days, he
will almost certainly take the field as Michigan’s QB1.
And when he does so, the hype will finally meet its test.
THEO MACKIE
Managing Sports Editor
You could tell,
he wanted to
play, and he
was just more
locked in.
Alec Cohen / Daily | Design by Jack Silberman
20 — Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com