Michigan will start junior Cade McNamara at quarterback for Saturday's season opener against Western Michigan, coach Jim Harbaugh said Monday.
Harbaugh labeled McNamara as the Wolverines' starter before preseason camp opened, and the junior has only strengthened his position during the past month. McNamara appeared in four games last season and started one, passing for 425 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions.
Freshman J.J. McCarthy, Texas Tech transfer Alan Bowman and sophomore Dan Villari all had been competing with McNamara during camp.
"Constant improvement, he's ratcheted it up, really, in a lot of different areas," Harbaugh said. "The biggest one is consistency of doing his job, also call it a talent of really making everybody else around you better."
The 6-foot-1, 212-pound McNamara, a native of Reno, Nevada, did not play in 2019. Joe Milton III, who on Monday was named Tennessee's starting quarterback, started the 2020 season for Michigan.
Harbaugh also said Monday that Michigan is "99% vaccinated" against COVID-19 entering the season.