Wilton Speight has won Michigan’s starting quarterback job, while Nolan Ulizio is the right tackle.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Wilton Speight has officially won Michigan’s starting quarterback job and is under center today as the Wolverines open their 2017 season against Florida at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Speight warmed up with the starters and took the field first for Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines, just as he did a year ago as Michigan’s No. 1 passer.
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The Wolverines brought four quarterbacks to Texas today: Speight, fifth-year senior John O’Korn, redshirt freshman Brandon Peters and true freshman Dylan McCaffrey.
In pregame drills, Speight was followed by O’Korn as the first- and second-string offenses went through their usual walk-through. Peters was the third quarterback in, followed by McCaffrey.
On the offensive line, Nolan Ulizio got the start at right tackle, as Michigan went with Mason Cole (LT) , Ben Bredeson (LG) , Patrick Kugler (C) , Michael Onwenu (RG) and Ulizio (RT) up front.
Defensively, senior co-captain Mike McCray did not start the game, but did enter later in the first quarter. He warmed up prior to kickoff, but seemed to be dealing with some type of nagging injury before kickoff. He did some light jogging on the sideline throughout the team’s first defensive series but did not enter the game. Second-year linebacker Devin Gil started in his place.
Elsewhere, a trio of true freshmen did not make the trip with the team: Receiver Nico Collins, defensive lineman Luiji Vilain and defensive lineman Donovan Jeter.
Michigan did not provide specific reasons for those absences prior to the start of the game.
Contact Nick Baumgardner: nbaumgardn@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickBaumgardner.
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