Sherrone Moore botched Michigan QB decision, recognized it, owned it, but now can he fix it?

Sherrone Moore aced his audition to become Michigan’s head coach last season, leading the Wolverines to wins over Penn State and Ohio State when Jim Harbaugh was suspended. 

But with the interim tag removed and the job fully his, Moore clearly botched his first big decision in 2024: He got too cute with Michigan’s quarterback battle, and essentially admitted as much Monday when he announced that Davis Warren was headed to the bench and Alex Orji would start Saturday against No. 11 USC. 

“I’m excited for him,” Sherrone Moore said of Orji. 

“He’s been in here champing at the bit, so we’ll move on from there.”

Move on? Not so fast.

Michigan is 2-1 with Warren as its starter. The Wolverines would probably be 2-1 with Orji as QB1, too. This team wasn’t beating Texas. 

The difference is they wouldn’t be yo-yo’ing offensive identities before the biggest game on their schedule until the finale at Ohio State, either.

Moore’s move to turn the offense over to Orji is an acknowledgment he screwed up the evaluation process this offseason. He made a rash decision rolling with Warren, so now does he have the answers to make sure Orji is best positioned to succeed?

Michigan Wolverines football quarterback Alex Orji threw a touchdown pass against Arkansas State. (Photo by Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images)

Why wasn’t Alex Orji named the starter out of camp?

For nearly nine months, every indication was the Alex Orji was set to be the heir apparent to J.J. McCarthy. The staff buzzed about Orji’s raw potential, and Moore had such confidence in Michigan’s quarterback room that he showed no interest in acquiring another arm via the transfer portal. The Wolverines didn’t hit the market for much-needed receiver depth, either, indicating that Moore would continue to lean on the ground game as the foundation of Michigan’s offense. 

But then Davis Warren had a strong finish to fall camp, and Orj’s status as the frontrunner started to fade. By the time the opener against Fresno State rolled around, Michigan’s staff did a complete 180 on an entire offseason of plans. 

Despite lackluster personnel on the perimeter and an offensive line shaky in pass protection, Sherrone Moore rewarded Warren for his play in preseason practices. 

It might’ve been the correct move for the individual, but it absolutely was a mistake for Michigan’s offense as a whole. 

Michigan abandoned its spread-option, downhill attack against the Bulldogs, as the former walk-on threw ball 25 times (with zero designed runs) — and was bad (just 15 of 25 for 118 yards at 4.7 yards per attempt with one pick and one touchdown).

Warren was even worse Week 2 against Texas, turning the ball over twice on 33 attempts. 

*** It’s here where I’d like slip in the fact that McCarthy had 25 attempts in six games all of last season and threw the ball 33 times just once. 

Warren then had the bizarro stat-line against Arkansas State last weekend where all 14 of his passes were caught — only three happened to go into the hands of the other team. 

So after three starts: Warren has 444 yards (6.2 per attempt, tied for 16th in the Big Ten) with two touchdowns and six picks. Also: Michigan doesn’t have a single receiver with more than nine catches or even 60 yards. 

“I thought (Orji) was in a really good place. But Davis outperformed him in camp at the end,” Sherrone Moore said.

“We’d love to see (Orji) take the reins and do what he was doing through those first couple weeks (of camp).”

Talk about wanting a mulligan.

We’re going to find out immediately just how badly Moore botched this entire quarterback decision against USC on Saturday.

The Trojans are improved defensively, but they’re hardly world-beaters (5.36 yards per play ranks 14th in the Big Ten, 41% success rate ranks 89th nationally). If Michigan looks awesome reverting back to its spread, bully-ball approach, then Moore will be second-guessed a bit as to why he didn’t just roll with the dual-threat quarterback from the outset but at least they’d have an identity and confidence moving forward. 

But if Orji struggles? Or isn’t trusted at all to throw the ball vertically (he has ONE career-attempt over 20 yards, which was an overthrow against Arkansas State), then everyone will be questioning Moore’s entire offseason as a first-year head coach — from disregarding the portal to deciding at the 11th hour to go with Warren. 

Rarely do head coaches in Year 1 face such inflection points so early in their careers, but Saturday feels like such a game for Moore. Beat the Trojans in the Big House, and Michigan is 3-1 with a manageable path back to the College Football Playoff — even if a fourth-straight Big Ten title looks off the table. 

Lose, and the Wolverines would have two losses before October for the first time in a decade, and would likely be starring at a 7-5-ish season. 

So Saturday is really important, and Moore seems to recognize as much by publicly tabbing Orji as the starter rather than playing mind games again like he did in Week 1. 

He made a mistake, recognized it, and owned it. 

Now what can he do to make sure this decision works?

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