A product of Birmingham Brother Rice, one of the most successful high school football programs in the state of Michigan, quarterback Alex Malzone is quickly impressing those who have seen him during spring practice. The QB position at Michigan is wide open, as has been well documented since the hiring of Coach Jim Harbaugh in late December; Malzone has just the same amount of opportunity that the rest of the quarterbacks have.
Malzone was a 4-star player ranked the 13th pocket passer in the country according to the ESPN300 and he was highly rated for a reason. Don’t let the term “pocket passer” fool you though. Malzone, while he doesn’t have blazing speed, ran a 4.8 40 yard dash but numbers don’t really matter when you watch his film. He shows an uncanny ability to move around in the pocket to buy time and find the open man. Something special about his pocket mobility is that he keeps his eyes downfield the whole time. This gives him the ability to watch routes develop, read coverages and ultimately hit the open receiver and most true freshman quarterbacks don’t show such great vision like he does. He also has the ability to scramble and pick up first downs with his feet when plays completely break down, but he uses that ability rather sparingly.
Malzone is an early enrollee and has been turning heads at spring practice along with fellow freshman and roommate, receiver Brian Cole. The chemistry between the two of them is building and they are both making noise in terms of depth chart position. First year head coach Jim Harbaugh implemented a new format for this years spring game that included a draft of each of the players and Malzone was the first QB selected at 24th overal, ahead of presumed frontrunner Shane Morris, according to MGoBlog’s Bryan Fuller. Could Malzone really be leading the pack at the end of spring ball? Not necessarily, but its an intriguing storyline nonetheless. Very few details have been released about the “draft” itself so it could mean that the coaches have been impressed by his play or it could mean that a “captain” of the team, presumably a player, picked him first on any number of biases, my guess being the former.
Regardless of the spring game draft, or spring practice in general, Alex Malzone is a great, hometown talent who never wavered in his commitment to the wolverines. He is high character kid who loves the game of football and loves the Michigan Wolverines. He has great ability, a strong arm, and a drive to be the starting quarterback as a true freshman. Whether he accomplishes that goal remains to be seen, however. Keep an eye on Michigan’s spring game Saturday, April 4th on The Big Ten Network and see for yourself whether or not Malzone was truly worthy of being the first quarterback selected.
