After three great years — two years as the starting quarterback — J.J. McCarthy has left Ann Arbor and is pursuing the NFL. Mostly everyone knows the story of McCarthy, a five-star talent who came to Michigan back in 2021. He never lost to rival Ohio State, won two-straight Big Ten Championships, and won a national championship during his junior season.

But what’s next for Michigan? The Wolverines have had arguably their greatest quarterback to every play in Ann Arbor the past two seasons and now with uncertainly surrounding Jim Harbaugh and what he may do next — the Wolverines will be turning a page when it comes to the signal caller in 2024.

Here are a few options for the Wolverines.

Option 1A: In house with tiny experience:

Michigan doesn’t have much in house when it comes to experience at the quarterback position, unless Jack Tuttle receives an extra year of eligibility which might be a long shot. I’m going to assume for argument sake that he doesn’t get granted an extra year, so Michigan could turn to the likes of Alex Orji, Jayden Denegal, or Davis Warren.

Orji is probably the most exciting option out of the three for obvious reasons. He has the dual-threat element to his game and Michigan has made that known when bringing him in as a runner during its College Football Playoff run. He has fantastic size at 6-foot-3, 236 pounds and the Wolverines were using him as the Jalen Milroe during their practice before facing Alabama. During his two season’s with Michigan, Orji has run the ball 21 times for 123 yards and three scores. We’ve only seen him attempt one pass during game action, so that adds some intrigue as to what kind of a passer he is in order to become the starter in Ann Arbor.

Both Denegal and Warren are more of the prototypical passers. Warren has show promise during the spring games, but has looked shaky during game action. Just this season alone, Warren went 0-for-5 with an interception. And Denegal has just four attempts in the two season’s he’s been in Ann Arbor. But coaches have raved about the arm talent the 6-foot-5 quarterback has.

If I had to put money on this, I think Orji and Denegal would have the first shots between the three here.

Option 1B: In house true freshman

J.J. McCarthy had some success behind Cade McNamara as a true freshman, so why not throw Jadyn Davis into the fire? It might not be the move the Wolverines want to make, but if Michigan doesn’t make any moves in the transfer portal and if the Wolverines give Davis a fair shake — he could prove he’s the best quarterback on the roster.

Davis, who was once a five-star recruit, finished his senior year as a four-star quarterback prospect and the 93rd-ranked recruit in the country, according to 247Sports Composite. He hails from Charlotte (NC) Providence Day School and had a tremendous senior campaign. Davis was named Mr. Football in North Carolina and he threw for 3,370 yards with 43 TD and 9 INT while completing 70.8% of his passes this past year.

Davis was with Michigan during its College Football Playoff run and was getting in practices with the team. Harbaugh told the media he was already giving Davis some tips and he was excited to coach him. Players were raving about how smart and talented the soon-to-be freshman quarterback was.

Davis began as a five-star for a reason. The talent is there, but will he be ready to take the reigns Day 1?

Option 2: Transfer portal

There aren’t too many great options left in the transfer portal. Most of the starter-caliber quarterbacks have picked their new home. The Wolverines were in on Dante Moore but he decided on Oregon and now Michigan needs to figure out who is going to start in 2024.

If Michigan is going to land someone via the transfer portal, it might have to wait until spring when more players will enter the portal due to coaching changes, loss of a starting job, or a variety of other reasons.

However, there is one intriguing name left on the market. Former Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers is back in the portal after he committed to Washington before Kalen DeBoer went to become the head coach at Alabama.

Rogers is an explosive passer who threw for 12,315 yards during his four years with the program. He threw for 36 and 35 touchdowns during his sophomore and junior season with the Bulldogs.

Now as a graduate transfer, Rogers is hoping to land somewhere that could deliver him a championship. What better place than the current national champions? Rogers isn’t exactly a perfect fit for the Michigan offense. He is a gunslinger that loves to throw the football, and the Wolverines are not a team that loves to throw the football. The two sides would have to agree on terms of how the offense is going to look if Rogers would come to Ann Arbor, but he sure would bring a new element to the team and add a positive throwing dynamic to the offense.