3 Michigan football players that must step up to save Jim Harbaugh’s job

Aidan Hutchinson has a high ceiling and that should help Michigan’s defense

Unfortunately for the Wolverines and Hutchinson, the talented defensive lineman was only able to play in a couple of games in 2020 after he was injured in a game against the Indiana Hoosiers.

But, Hutchinson has returned for another season with the Michigan Wolverines and he’s got the opportunity to help his team through some new transitions.

This year, Michigan will be working to install a new defense with a new defensive coordinator and having an experienced defensive lineman like Hutchinson will certainly help the Wolverines get everything figured out.

Hutchinson has the tools to be a star defensive lineman as he’s been a very productive member of Michigan’s defense throughout his career. Through 22 games, Hutchinson has totaled 94 tackles and 11 tackles for loss.

That’s really good and the Wolverines will need him to continue that sort of production, or to improve, this season. If this defense is going to get back on track, it’ll need some consistent pressure on quarterbacks. That’ll help every aspect of the Wolverines’ defense. Getting Hutchinson back can only help with that.

Cade McNamara showed flashes in a small sample size last year but has competition if he wants to remain the starting quarterback

Michigan’s offense wasn’t exactly lighting up scoreboards last season and the Wolverines could certainly use some improvement from their quarterback. Cade McNamara has the opportunity to show that he can compete at a high level and lead this team.

With Joe Milton moving on, McNamara is Michigan’s leading returning passer from a season ago. He was consistent and remained relatively error-free in 2020, but McNamara never really seemed like that much of a dangerous passing threat last year. In total, McNamara completed 60.6 percent of his passes and threw for 425 yards and five touchdowns in four games.

That’s not awful, but the Michigan Wolverines will need more from their offense this year if they’re going to win some games. But, it’s worth noting that it’s not a guarantee that McNamara will be starting for the Wolverines this season.

It seems as if quarterback battles involving transfer quarterbacks is something that is frequent on Jim Harbaugh’s teams and it looks like the Wolverines could have another one this year.

There’s a very good chance that Texas Tech transfer Alan Bowman could start for the Wolverines. In 19 games in Lubbock, Bowman completed 67 percent of his passes and threw for 5,260 yards and 33 touchdowns.

But, along with that, Bowman also threw 17 interceptions.

Then, there is five-star freshman J.J. McCarthy who could be the most talented arm on the roster, but his inexperience could keep him sidelined to start the year.

More than just about anyone else, McNamara needs to improve for Michigan, for both his sake and the Wolverines’ sake. He’ll need to demonstrate that he’s the best quarterback on the Wolverines’ roster and then also help Michigan’s offense thrive next season.

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