Davis Warren’s path to Michigan, outlook for 2023

From a walk-on to QB2, it’s been a wild road for Davis Warren to this point in his football career. There were obstacles for Warren to overcome such as a pandemic and a cancer diagnosis. Davis Warren’s story is one of the most remarkable on the Michigan roster, and he’s an easy person to root for on the gridiron and in life.

The story so far

Warren, out of New Jersey, never saw his high school career flourish due to battling through leukemia and prevailing, only to see his senior season canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Warren arrived in Ann Arbor as a walk-on, but the coaches knew they were lucky to have him in the building. Warren was simply under recruited because of a couple of major underlying variables that kept him off the field.

Warren was a standout on the scout team in 2021, which paved the way for him having a great 2022 spring game which gave Michigan fans a glimpse into what his teammates already knew — Warren can play.

“He’s been doing that since he got here last year,” running back Blake Corum said. “He was on the scout team last year a lot, and he was just slinging it. I don’t know how else to say it. I’m not really shocked. That’s what he does.”

Warren 12-of-23 for 175 yards in the spring game and showed a willingness to push the ball down the field.

Warren began the 2022 season as Michigan’s third-string QB, but that changed weeks into the season when then-backup Cade McNamara went down with a season-ending knee injury. Warren was thrust into the backup QB slot. Warren didn’t see the field a lot in ‘22 but was 5-of-9 for 89 yards with 30 yards rushing.

Warren recently had another great spring game effort last month where he was 8-of-13 for 163 yards and engineered a game-winning drive for the Maize to beat the Blue 22-21.

Outlook moving forward

McNamara is now at Iowa, J.J. McCarthy is Michigan’s QB1, and Michigan added Indiana transfer Jack Tuttle to the quarterback room. Then there’s Alex Orji who will be competing, too, along with Jayden Denegal.

If the spring game is any indication, it looks like it’ll be Tuttle or Warren that receive backup duties — both QBs received a lot of snaps in the spring game. Tuttle has more experience than Warren, but Warren’s beaten all the odds to this point and cannot be counted out as the backup once again this fall. However, it’s clear the backup spot is wide open and both Tuttle and Warren will have chances in camp to state their case.