Davis Warren wins Michigan QB battle: Former walk-on outplayed presumed starter Alex Orji in fall camp

No. 9 Michigan‘s two-man quarterback battle between Alex Orji and Davis Warren has ended in the most surprising of manners. 

Warren, a former walk-on, got the start against Fresno State on Saturday, rendering Orji to the second team. 

The burden is heavy as he replaces national champion and first-round pick J.J. McCarthy. Michigan has a massive showdown against No. 3 Texas in Week 2. Orji, who played last season in special run packages but has only completed one career pass, had been the consensus pick all offseason to win the job until poor recent play in fall camp, plus Warren surging on his own merit, tipped the scales. 

“If you know [Warren] on a personal level and what he’s been through, that kid’s a fighter,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said recently of Warren. “So, you know, it was not just going to be given to anybody. They had to go earn it. And he’s earned the opportunity to compete for it. And that’s what he’s been doing.”

In the days following their national championship, the Wolverines did consider going after a transfer quarterback to replace McCarthy, but timing was not on their side. It would have made the most sense for the program to do so in the winter; the spring transfer portal window featured few starting-caliber quarterbacks whereas four of the preseason AP Top 10 teams will start a transfer quarterback signed during the winter window. 

The only problem with that for Michigan? Harbaugh’s flirtation with the NFL. It was hard for Michigan to recruit in general at that time because of the lack of clarity around the program and by the time Harbaugh left for the Chargers Jan. 24, almost every difference-making QB was off the board. Michigan may have explored winter options had the circumstances been different, but there wasn’t really ever an opportunity to do so given the uncertainty atop the program

Thus, Michigan had what it had in the room entering the spring.

Warren winning the starting job at Michigan is not even the biggest accomplishment in his life. That’s because Warren has a different perspective as a cancer survivor.

In March 2019, Warren was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a less common form of cancer for adolescents. He underwent five months of chemotherapy treatments, spending most of the summer in a hospital as he lost 35 pounds of weight and then rebuilt his strength as a high school junior. At the Children’s Hospital in downtown Los Angeles, he set a goal and found a small garden to throw footballs with his father in between treatments.

“I held that mindset throughout the whole time. I set that date, October 3, we were playing against the Hill School. I told my coach, I told my parents, ‘I’m gonna go play in that damn football game,'” Warren told 247Sports’ Michigan Insider in 2022.

Undergoing rounds of chemotherapy treatments and recovery certainly wasn’t easy, and there were doubts he could return to the field just five months after his initial diagnosis.

“Now, after going through what I went through, and being in those hospital floors of chemo patients and seeing kids not make it out and not get back to doing the things they love – even though they have a great attitude, even though they have great doctors – it was very naive of me to think I was going to come back and play football that fast,” he said.

But Warren did achieve his goal. He played two possessions in that October game for the Peddie School in Highstown, New Jersey, but he wasn’t full strength and he continued to hit road bumps — he missed a game because of low platelet levels in his blood. As he began to feel completely healthy in January 2020, the coronavirus pandemic hit the country, and he could not play in games that fall. He reclassified in the class of 2021. Also hindering his college prospects was the triple-option scheme he played under as a junior, which didn’t showcase his passing abilities.

“As a prospect, I just didn’t have anything. I didn’t have the film and all the stuff that I needed to get recruited at a high level,” he told 247Sports. 

Chris Malleo, Warren’s high school coach, told him he was as talented as a Power Five quarterback. “‘You have to go to the best school you can you have to play high-level football,'” Malleo said, according to Warren. “Don’t settle. Go to the best school you can. And then get your foot in the door.'”

Warren received scholarship offers from Ivy League schools. Some FBS programs wanted him as a walk-on. The Warren family worked their connections in the coaching industry, including trainers at 3DQB in southern California, which led the quarterback to Michigan offensive analyst Steve Casula. They studied film together on Zoom calls during the pandemic, according to The Detroit News, and word-of-mouth worked in his favor in the ensuing months. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh offered Warren a spot as a walk-on — and so did Duke — and he enrolled at Michigan in the summer of 2021.

He has since been lauded by coaches and teammates alike. He was Michigan’s offensive scout team player of the year in 2021 and made his on-field debut as a sophomore in 2022, completing five of nine passes for 89 yards while rushing for 30 more yards. Last season he appeared in three games and threw five passes. He was also placed on scholarship by Harbaugh.

Davis Warren Career Passing Highs

The expected two-man battle between Orji and Jack Tuttle was derailed in the offseason as Tuttle (199 career passes) recovers from surgery, lifting Warren into position to compete. Warren performed well in Michigan’s spring game, leading his team to a win while completing 6 of 9 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns. 

“I don’t think he’s so far off from (former quarterback JJ McCarthy),” Wolverines receiver Kendrick Bell told reporters after the spring game. “I feel like he’s the best thrower in the room. There’s 100% where he can grow more, he’s getting there, but I feel like he throws the ball tremendously.”

Orji has has captivated fans and media with his incredible testing numbers in drills at Michigan, drawing comparisons to big-body runners like Tim Tebow and Cam Newton. Holding him back, however, are turnovers in scrimmages and a lack of experience in games. Despite rushing for more than 2,100 combined yards as a junior and senior in high school, he completed just over 50% of his passes.

Orji might be the most dynamic athlete at Michigan, still loaded despite losing key pieces from its title team a year ago, but Warren has more pass attempts as a Wolverine. Orji, the 235-pounder, has thrown only one pass and has been called upon as a change-of-pace quarterback in previous seasons, rushing 21 times for 123 yards and three touchdowns).

Warren still dreams of playing in the NFL. Becoming Michigan’s starting quarterback would certainly be a launching point. He works with several charitable organizations and visits children at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor every month.

“I have goals that I want to achieve at Michigan and things I want to do in college football and beyond,” he said in 2022. “I’m not afraid to say I want to want to play at the next level as well.”