Jake Rudock hasn't been very good through three games as the starting quarterback of the Michigan Wolverines, and he knows it.
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Rudock, who arrived as a graduate transfer from Iowa, has already matched his season-long interception total (five) from 2014, and there have been several high-profile misses in the passing game that have held the Michigan offense back considerably. Rudock was asked about his struggles on Tuesday, and Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press brings us his response:
"The biggest thing is, these things are going to happen. Unfortunately sometimes they take more time than you'd like. You keep trying to get those big plays. You can't shy away from them. You have to keep working on them in practice and carry them out to the field. ... We're working hard on it, getting some of those. Practice is different than the game. We have to try to get those better."
"Maybe it's the new offense, but you don't want to just say 'new offense.' I'm still the one throwing the ball. It just needs to be better decision-making on my part."
Rudock was quick to praise Jim Harbaugh, who publicly backed the fifth-year senior as easily the best signal-caller on the roster, saying that it "is always a good thing when you have support", but it is encouraging to see that the quarterback understands that his performance has been underwhelming to this point. Harbaugh's offensive philosophy deflects some of the attention from Rudock in that the ground game is the emphasis, but Rudock must make a few plays down the field in order for the Wolverines to reach their potential, and the turnover bug is an even larger issue.
Jake Rudock isn't going to win games for Michigan, but he can't afford to lose them either. We'll see how he responds.
