This column by SI.com's Stewart Mandell can't possibly
be right...can it??? After all, didn't Lloyd Carr all
but promise Chad Henne he'd be Michigan's starting QB
in 2004? Oh sure, Carr said Chad would "compete" for
the job, but everyone knows (wink, wink) what he
meant.


BIG HOUSE BURDEN

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--The most recent guy to hold the job
finished as the school's all-time leading passer, yet
was reviled throughout his career. The six guys before
that all went on to the NFL.

If, as expected, Matt Gutierrez becomes the next
starting quarterback at Michigan, he'll do so carrying
a burden the size of Michigan Stadium. Kind of like
the pressure he was under at Concord (Calif.) De La
Salle, where, as the starting QB from 1999-2001, he
was charged with keeping the Spartans' now 151-game
winning streak intact.

"For a young high school kid, that's a lot of
pressure," said Gutierrez, a 37-0 career starter in
high school. "But in the big picture, that scale
doesn't even compare to what goes on here at
Michigan."

It's a lesson Gutierrez learned the past two years as
the backup to John Navarre, who set school records for
yards (9,254), completions (765) and touchdowns (72).
But until he beat Ohio State in his penultimate game
to send the Wolverines to the Rose Bowl, Navarre was
the target of constant criticism. Such is life at a
school where every starting quarterback since 1989
(Elvis Grbac, Todd Collins, Scott Dreisbach, Brian
Griese, Tom Brady, Drew Henson, and, most likely,
Navarre) has made it to the next level.

Gutierrez, however, knew exactly what he was getting
into. His principal at De La Salle was Chris Brady,
the uncle of a certain former Wolverine QB and
reigning Super Bowl MVP.

Spring practice in Ann Arbor ended last week with
coach Lloyd Carr, as is his custom, declining to name
a starting quarterback between the third-year
sophomore Gutierrez and redshirt freshman Clayton
Richard--"There's a lot of time in the spring and
summer where quarterbacks can make rapid improvement,"
explained Carr--but the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Gutierrez,
having had an extra year in the system and having seen
action in six games last season (completing 13 of 19
passes in mostly mop-up duty), is believed to have the
edge.

Since the two QBs share the same home state and
similar physique, Wolverines observers will be eager
to liken Gutierrez to Brady, but Carr sees little
comparison. While mostly a traditional drop-back
passer like the recent Michigan mold, Gutierrez is
more mobile than most of his predecessors.

He also has a shaved head. And Carr is particularly
impressed with what's inside of it.

"His greatest strength is that he's smart," Carr said.
"The most difficult part about trying to evaluate
quarterbacks is determining whether or not they'll be
able to embrace the pressure. Matt comes from an
excellent background. He's been in a high-school
program that had more exposure than any program in the
country. He made it very clear he was excited about
the challenge of playing in a program like this."

Soft spoken but notably intense, Gutierrez, the latest
in a long line of laid-back California quarterbacks
(Ken Dorsey, Carson Palmer, and Casey Clausen, to name
a few), does not appear to be easily flustered. Which
is good, because much like De La Salle's winning
streak once did, Michigan's hopes of a return to the
Rose Bowl are riding on his shoulders.

--END--

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