After a long hiatus, Michigan has proven it is again among college football's elite.
Back-to-back decisive victories over Ohio State, consecutive Big Ten titles and appearances each season in the College Football Playoff are indisputable measures.
And this season the Wolverines are positioned ideally to win the national championship.
Georgia, after back-to-back CFP titles, is understandably the consensus pick to three-peat. Alabama is garnering its typical respect. Ohio State is lurking, as usual.
Yet, Michigan is in a unique position among college football's Big Four.
Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State all lost uniquely gifted quarterbacks, while Michigan returns J.J. McCarthy.
Teams don't win national championships without stellar QB play. It is a fact of football life. Stetson Bennett ultimately proved to be much more than a game-managing walk-on for Georgia. Alabama's Bryce Young and Ohio State's C.J. Stroud went 1-2 in the NFL Draft.
Bennett joined the likes of Clemson's Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones, Florida State's Jameis Winston and LSU's Joe Burrow.
McCarthy is capable of being in such elite company. He was a five-star recruit from a top high school program (IMG Academy), who presents a solid combination of quickness, speed, arm strength, swagger and, now, experience. He beat out an established starter, Cade McNamara, and led the Wolverines to a 13-1 season. It included a brilliant second half performance at Ohio State.
Yet, there were inconsistencies. McCarthy missed more open throws than typical of a top college QB. His three turnovers, including a pair of pick 6 returns for TDs, were a major factor in the Wolverines' upset loss to TCU in the CFP semifinal.
Despite his athletic gifts, McCarthy is rarely mentioned as a potential NFL first-round pick, and was rated the 98th-best QB in 2022 by profootballfocus.com.
In his annual preseason magazine, Phil Steele has Michigan's QB room ranked just 18th nationally, which doesn't sound ideal, but is ahead of Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State, who are bunched together 41 thru 43.
Tennessee is sixth, despite losing Hendon Hooker to the Lions via the NFL Draft. The Volunteers' starter is none other than former Wolverine Joe Milton.
The QB carousal has become utterly maddening with the advent of the transfer portal and NIL.
Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State, like Michigan, have mostly avoided the mania at QB, though.
Kyle McCord leads Devin Brown heading into fall camp in the race to replace Stroud at OSU. He has a rocket arm, and been effective when given playing time (72 percent completion percentage on 58 attempts). Brown is more innovative. Each were consensus Top 7 QBs nationally out of high school.
The Buckeyes open the season with a conference game, albeit at Indiana.
Game 4 is at Notre Dame, which figures to have its best QB in decades with transfer Sam Hartman, who performed extraordinarily well at Wake Forest.
Georgia, as you can imagine, has recruited exceptionally well at QB.
Carson Beck, the most experienced, won the job in the spring. But Brock Vandagriff was the second-rated pro style QB the same year McCord and McCarthy were fourth and fifth. And Gunner Stockton was the No.2 dual threat QB in 2022.
Alabama's Nick Saban did blink, turning to the transfer portal after spring practice for Tyler Buchner, who followed offensive coordinator Tommy Rees from Notre Dame to Alabama.
Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson, the latter a 5-star of note in the '22 class, were underwhelming this spring. Buchner started at Notre Dame, but was knocked out early last season with a shoulder injury. In his two years at ND, he threw more interceptions than touchdown passes.
All this QB uncertainty has opened the door for teams with established QBs, former powerhouses such as USC (Williams), Notre Dame (Hartman) and Florida State (Jordan Travis) to break in.
Also, don't sleep on Penn State. Sean Clifford's replacement, Drew Allar, already has the NFL drooling. He's nearly 6-5, weighs more than 240 pounds and was in the eyes of some pundits the top recruit in the '22 class regardless of position. He did reasonably well last season when Clifford was out, but was clearly out-of-sync in the spring game. But he has help. Sophomore Nick Singleton is one the best backs in the nation, and tackle Oju Fashanu a probable first-team All American and first-round NFL draft pick.
McCarthy, though, has as much talent surrounding him as any QB. Blake Corum is already an All-American back, and Donovan Edwards is arguably as good or better. Guard Zak Zinter is perhaps the nation's top guard, leading an excellent line. Michigan's defense is potentially exceptional.
However, QB play ultimately is the biggest determining factor for capturing the big prize.
McCarthy should be a huge edge for Michigan, at least in theory.
We'll see if theory becomes reality.
