Josh Pate of 247Sports talks about quarterback Alex Orji and the potential of Michigan football

Michigan is on a roll after a national championship-winning season, but there are more questions for the program in 2024 than in recent years, particularly regarding the quality of quarterback play the Wolverines will see this fall.

As part of his series on the big “what if” questions ahead of the 2024 college football season, 247Sports podcast host Josh Pate pondered what happens if the Wolverines are better than expected at the game’s most important position.

“What if Michigan gets a quality quarterback this year,” Pate asked. “If your answer is yes. If your answer is just, ‘Will they have quality quarterbacks?’ ‘Yes, Alex Orji will be a quality quarterback this year’ — then they could win the national championship again. That’s the short answer.”

Pate went on to say that the Wolverines could win the Big Ten championship for the fourth consecutive year to automatically qualify for the new 12-team College Football Playoff. Even if Michigan doesn’t make it, Pate believes the Wolverines would be a “no-brainer” if they had a playoff spot with outstanding play from their quarterback.

READ MORE: Michigan Football: Alex Orji’s leadership qualities on full display at Detroit camp

Pate noted that “high-level quarterback play” looks different at Michigan than it does at most college football programs today. Former starter JJ McCarthy threw for 2,991 yards and completed 72.3 percent of his pass attempts, with 19 touchdowns and four interceptions, while leading the Wolverines to the national title a year ago. McCarthy’s completion percentage aside, those are modest numbers compared to players like Stetson Bennett, Mac Jones, Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence, who recently won national titles.

“JJ McCarthy had a little bit of an odd-looking stat line when you compare it to quarterbacks who have won national titles,” Pate said. “Those numbers would certainly be more than good enough (for Michigan’s next quarterback).”

Orji is expected to be a factor in Michigan’s running game this fall, and he could play an even bigger role in that regard than McCarthy did last season. However, if Orji can match McCarthy’s production through the air, the Wolverines will become one of the most dangerous teams in the country in Pate’s eyes.

“The defense will sort itself out up there. Their running game will be there. Those elements aren’t going away. To me, they’re staples of Michigan football now,” Pate said. “If they can get that right, that’s almost the icing on the cake to say, ‘Wow, the quarterback is playing a lot better than we expected this year.’ If they can get that right, they have a chance to win it all again.”

READ MORE: Michigan Football: CBS Sports doesn’t believe in Alex Orji

Pate acknowledged that it’s “a huge if” that Michigan gets a quality quarterback in 2024 with a first-year starter. The general college football public doesn’t expect Michigan to get a quarterback at the level McCarthy provided last year. The two-year starter has a special talent on the throwing arm, was a great and selfless leader and took care of the football in the most crucial moments for the Wolverines last year.

“If that somehow happens, I think the defending national champions could surprise the nation,” Pate said. “But Michigan has the fourth-best odds to win the Big Ten right now, and they’ll be right up there with the best.”

The full segment of “Late Kick with Josh Pate” referenced in this article can be viewed in the video below starting at the 7:35 mark.

– For more coverage of the Michigan Wolverines, visit Michigan Wolverines On SI –

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