The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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SEPTEMBER 2016 THE WOLVERINE 43 want that to be your only touchdown pass. You want to throw 50, 60 or 70 touchdowns. It's good that he does that type of stuff." Speight insists he's simply focus- ing on the matter at hand — showing the best he can, every single day. "Just keep doing what I'm doing — stay calm, complete passes, don't turn the ball over, and instill the con- fidence in my teammates that I can go into a huddle and I'm the guy, that I can take care of the team," he said. "I felt good about doing that in the spring. "I'm not going to go out and try to be Superman, or scramble for 40 or 50 yards. It's do what I need to do to move the ball down the field. That's what Rudock did, and it proved to work in a Jim Harbaugh-type of- fense. Just be me." Speight also mentioned Rudock as a mentor, one he's stayed in contact with after the latter moved on to the NFL. "Jake is a really interesting guy," Speight said. "You see a lot of guys in this day and age tweeting and say- ing how much they're working hard. Jake was never one to do that. "He talked to me this offseason, just saying, 'You don't need to let ev- eryone know how hard you're work- ing. Just go about your business. Do your work, and let that speak for it- self.' He was a very quiet guy, but I really learned a lot from him in just under a year." Michigan has others in the compe- tition — namely Morris, true fresh- man Brandon Peters and redshirt freshman Alex Malzone. Fisch re- fused to discount them, even with a top two clearly declared going in. "That's just the pole position right now," he said on media day. "There are guys in certain spots. But once the race begins tomorrow, it's going to be wide open again." Most importantly, Fisch stressed, the Wolverines won't be caught empty-handed behind center. "Yeah, we have a quarterback," Fisch assured. "We have a quarter- back, for sure. I don't know who exactly it's going to be, but I feel re- ally comfortable, and so does Coach Drev, and so does Coach Harbaugh. "There's somebody that's going to step up and be our starting quarter- back against Hawai'i, and we feel really good about that." ❏ Harbaugh Has The QB Track Record Jim Harbaugh can flat-out develop quarterbacks, those who have watched him insist. The record backs that up, and Harbaugh — in concert with QBs coach Jeff Fisch and offensive coordinator Tim Drevno — aren't looking for any steps backward. He's a rundown of Harbaugh's all-conference quarterbacks over the past dozen years: • Todd Mortensen, 2004, San Diego — Mortensen earned Co-Offensive Player of the Year honors in the Pioneer Football League North Division. He threw for 2,874 yards with 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions. • Josh Johnson, 2005, San Diego — Johnson became the Offensive Player of the Year in the PFL, throwing for 3,256 yards and 36 touchdowns. • Josh Johnson, 2006, San Diego — Johnson became an Associated Press All- American and unanimous PFL Offensive Player of the Year, connecting for 3,320 yards with 34 touchdowns and five interceptions. • Andrew Luck, 2010, Stanford — The redshirt sophomore passed for 3,338 yards and 32 touchdowns, earning All-Pac-10 honors and the league's Offensive Player of the Year award while finishing second in the Heisman Trophy balloting behind Auburn's Cam Newton. • Jake Rudock, 2015, Michigan — Rudock earned honorable mention All-Big Ten in a loaded year for quarterbacks. He threw for 3,107 yards with 20 touch- downs and nine interceptions. Following the Citrus Bowl, Harbaugh predicted Rudock would be a pro quarterback, and the NFL Draft confirmed it. Of course, Harbaugh enjoyed success with NFL quarterbacks as well. Under his direction, Colin Kaepernick took the San Francisco 49ers — a team perpetually out of the playoffs for most of the decade before Harbaugh's arrival — to the Super Bowl in 2012 and the NFC championship game the following season. — John Borton In his only season under Harbaugh's guidance, Jake Rudock threw for 3,107 yards and 20 touchdowns en route to honorable mention All-Big Ten accolades. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN