Jim Harbaugh has not been shy about backing his own players when it comes to the Heisman Trophy, but on Saturday evening, he effectively nominated his second choice of the season. Previously, Michigan's head coach has campaigned for Jabrill Peppers as the best player in college football and as a Heisman contender in various sound bytes, but this time around, it was a member of the Wolverines offense.
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Quarterback Wilton Speight is generally regarded as an upper-tier quarterback in the Big Ten, but that isn't exactly the same playing field as a legitimate Heisman candidate. However, Harbaugh indicated that Speight put forth "the best half of football (he) has ever seen a Michigan quarterback play) with his first-half performance against Maryland, and that is incredibly high praise.
The redshirt sophomore signal-caller has now completed 64.5% of his passes on the year with 15 touchdowns against only three interceptions, and Speight's steady hand has had a galvanizing effect on Michigan's offense as a whole. Make no mistake, it would be largely insane to consider Speight on the same parallel with Lamar Jackson, Jake Browning, Deshaun Watson and others at this point in the campaign, but he is playing quite well and Jim Harbaugh is not afraid to tell you all about it.
