Yahoo Lifestyle QB Dylan McCaffrey, brother of Carolina Panthers RB Christian, to transfer from Michigan
Dylan McCaffrey won’t be Michigan’s starting quarterback when the 2020 season begins in October.
The senior QB is transferring away from Michigan per multiple reports. According to the Detroit News, the plan is for McCaffrey to opt out of the 2020 season, graduate in December and have two seasons of eligibility to play at a different school since the NCAA is giving all players an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
McCaffrey, the son of former NFL wide receiver Ed McCaffrey and the brother of Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, was competing with Joe Milton and Cade McNamara to be Michigan’s starting quarterback. His transfer likely leaves Milton as the frontrunner to start for the Wolverines on Oct. 24 against a yet-to-be-announced opponent.
McCaffrey was one of the players who attended a protest earlier in September aimed at letting Big Ten players play in the fall. He said at that protest that he felt the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the 2020 football season in August “stripped” the opportunity away from Michigan and the team’s players to compete this season.
As you probably know by now, the Big Ten reversed course on that decision Wednesday and said that the football season would begin on Oct. 24 with a Dec. 19 date for the Big Ten championship game.
McCaffrey has been a backup
McCaffrey has appeared in 10 games over two seasons for the Wolverines as Shea Patterson has been the team’s primary starter. McCaffrey has thrown 35 passes in his Michigan career and completed 18 of them for 242 yards and three touchdowns and has never thrown more than eight passes in a game.
McCaffrey was a four-star recruit in the class of 2017 according to Rivals. He was ranked as the No. 7 pro-style QB in the country and was the top recruit in the state of Colorado in that class.
Enter Joe Milton?
Michigan signed Milton in the class after McCaffrey. Milton, a Florida native, was a four-star recruit in the class of 2018 and the No. 11 dual-threat QB in his class. He was ranked ahead of Oklahoma State’s Spencer Sanders and Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong in Rivals’ rankings. Both Sanders and Armstrong are set to start for their schools this season.
Milton has thrown only four passes in his Michigan career, though he’s rushed the ball 12 times in eight appearances and has scored two touchdowns. He served as the No. 3 QB in 2019 behind Patterson and McCaffrey.
Nico Collins also reportedly opts out
McCaffrey isn’t the first Michigan player to opt out. OT Jalen Mayfield and CB Ambry Thomas have previously said they would start their preparations for the 2021 NFL draft. And according to Sports Illustrated, Nico Collins has also signed with an agent in preparation for the draft.
Collins was Michigan’s second-leading receiver in 2019 with 37 catches for 729 yards and a team-leading seven touchdowns. He was the only Michigan player with more than 10 catches to average over 16 yards a reception.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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