I’m as anxious as anyone to see JJ taking snaps for us when his time comes, but something tells me that those who are thinking JJ will supplant McNamara as the starter sooner than later are going to be proven wrong. I still think his performance after the Rutgers comeback last season would have made that clear if he had not been injured in the Penn St. game. We will of course never know how that would have turned out. He certainly appears to fit the mold of quarterbacks who lack the talent others have and yet emerge as winners, guys who lead their teams to victories because of something inside their head and heart despite only an average to above average arm. I’m obviously not saying he is going to end up anywhere close to a Tom Brady or a Joe Montana, however, that is what they did too—take a decent arm and combine it with superior confidence to generate performances that just got better and better with time. Their teammates then fed off of it and that raised the overall confidence level of the team. After what has happened to Michigan these last few years, it is exactly what is needed—a quarterback who has the “will to win” taking charge of the team when it needs it most. No offense to Milton, who is definitely talented enough to be a high level college quarterback, and may turn into just that at Tennessee, but he did not seem to possess the intangibles that make men leaders. I think McNamara does, and we will get to see it unfold the next several months. I’m not ready to drink the cool aid regarding the rest of the team, as we all know there are some big question marks and it is hard to overcome the bumps of a rebuit coaching staff. But if I am right about McNamara, then we will finally see a team on the field that will believe it is going to win week in and week out and whose confidence will grow with each victory.
