The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1465168
'CUTTING LOOSE' IN THE SPRING GAME Davis Warren (right) sure knows how to make an entrance. After spending last fall on the Michigan scout team, the redshirt freshman walk-on quarterback confidently introduced himself to Wolverines fans at the spring game in The Big House April 2. He finished the day 12-of-23 passing for the Maize team with a game-high 175 yards — 50 more than the Wolverines' other quarterbacks combined. "He's been doing that since he got here last year," sophomore running back Blake Corum said. "He was on the scout team last year a lot, and he was just slinging it. I don't know how else to say it. So, I'm not really shocked. That's what he does." Notably, it was Warren's first padded football game in more than three years. A talented high school prospect out of Los Angeles, Warren missed his junior season while battling leukemia. He went on to beat the illness, then had his senior season wiped out by COVID-19 restrictions in the state. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh took a shot on him as a preferred walk-on, and last fall, Warren was a three-time Scout Team Offensive Player of the Week. "He's a talented guy that really hadn't played football for two years when he got here," co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss said during spring prac- tices. "We eased him back into it in training camp, taught him the offense, and then really just cut him loose on the scout team. He took the majority of reps as the scout team quarterback last year — which was exactly what he needed because he needed to get back into 11-on-11 football. Guys whizzing around the pocket, Aidan Hutchinson trying to knock the ball off of him. That really was the best thing that could happen to him all year, doing that. He's really talented. "We're fortunate to have him here." PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL THE BIG PICTURE