Dylan McCaffrey suffered a nasty concussion in the second half of the game at Wisconsin a few weeks back and is working his way back onto the field for the Michigan Wolverines. Head coach Jim Harbaugh addressed the status of the backup quarterback during his Monday meeting with the local media, but did not have much more to add than what we have previously been told since the hit.
“Still working through the process. Progressing,” Harbaugh said. “It’s been fantastic, really. Really the best I’ve seen in terms of the collaboration here at Michigan, doctors from home in Denver and experts all over the country. It’s been really good. Tip of the hat to the professionals. The process is in the hands of the experts.”
McCaffrey’s absence is notable seeing as the Wolverines made the change from Shea Patterson to him after the first half went awry in Madison a few weeks back. It looked like they were finally ready to give him an extended look before suffering the head injury, which was deemed as to be a little more serious than the average concussion being that he has now missed two weeks of action.
Fans have been clamoring for a change at the quarterback position with Patterson struggling and McCaffrey was seen as the most ready to roll, but obviously the head injury was a setback for him. Even when he does return to practice, there may be rust and other things to work out before he is ready for meaningful game snaps.
McCaffrey was Harbaugh’s second true quarterback recruit during the 2017 cycle after they took Brandon Peters in 2016. Peters dealt with a similar situation after suffering a concussion in Madson in 2017 before transferring after last season. We have only seen a handful of games from Harbaugh-recruited signal callers since he arrived at Michigan whether it be because of a transfer in place above them or a lack of needed development to get them on the field quickly.
Harbaugh was asked to sum up how his quarterback recruiting has gone since he arrived in Ann Arbor and did not seem ready to address that.
“To go back through every quarterback we’ve had?” Harbaugh asked back. “I’d rather not talk about tooting my horn, or you know... I don’t like talking about myself that way.”
Until further notice, Joe Milton serves as the No. 2 quarterback to Patterson.