ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Playing quarterback at Michigan Stadium sounds great, right up to the moment Will Johnson glides in front of a pass and returns it 86 yards for a touchdown.
That was Mikey Keene’s experience in his one and only trip to the Big House. As Fresno State’s starting quarterback, Keene completed 22 of 36 passes for 235 yards in the 2024 season opener, a 30-10 Michigan victory. Johnson’s pick six was a pass he’d like to have back. The chance to play the reigning national champions in front of 110,000 fans was an experience he wouldn’t trade.
“People all around the country dream of this,” Keene said after the game. “This is the dream you have when you play college football. This is a big-time stage.”
At the time, nobody knew Keene would be playing on that stage in a Michigan uniform in 2025. Michigan’s season took some unexpected turns following that victory against Fresno State: three quarterback changes in eight games, the signing of five-star prospect Bryce Underwood, upsets of Ohio State and Alabama to propel Michigan into the offseason. With Michigan’s quarterback of the future already on campus, the Wolverines needed a quarterback of the present who could compete with Underwood and hold down the job as long as necessary.
That’s where Keene comes in.
“We played him in the first game, so we know how tough he is,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “We know the type of throws he can make. We heard great things, impeccable things, about him as a leader. We’re really excited for him to push that room and give us an experienced guy that we feel can go win us games.”
Moore has declared Michigan’s quarterback competition open, kicking off what’s likely to be one of college football’s most fascinating spring storylines. Davis Warren, who started nine of Michigan’s 13 games this season, won’t be part of the competition in the spring after tearing his ACL in the ReliaQuest Bowl, though Warren indicated on social media that he plans to return for a fifth season at Michigan. That would leave Keene, Underwood and redshirt freshman Jadyn Davis as Michigan’s top three quarterbacks for the spring, assuming Alex Orji follows through with plans to transfer.
Experience was Michigan’s biggest need at quarterback, and Keene has it. He’s thrown for 8,245 yards and started 34 games in four seasons, including two at Fresno State and two at UCF, where he played for new Michigan offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey in 2022. He’s small in stature at 5 feet 11, which prompted defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to call him a “broke man’s Kyler Murray.” Though he’s not a big running threat, Keene’s ability to extend plays and throw on the move makes him dangerous.
“It was huge that we played him this year,” Moore said. “We saw him live in action and saw him make some really good and do some things (that were) dynamic. We’re excited for him to get going in this program.”
Strengths
Accuracy and ball placement
Keene is a bit like a veteran pitcher who doesn’t have overpowering stuff or velocity but gets people out by changing speeds, mixing his pitches and putting the ball exactly where he wants it. The biggest upgrade he’ll offer is in his accuracy: According to TruMedia, he was off-target on 5.6 percent of his throws in 2024, the best mark of any starting quarterback in the FBS.
A lot of Keene’s success comes from knowing what kind of throw to make and putting the ball where only his receiver can catch it. This throw from Fresno State’s win at Purdue in 2023, Keene’s first start for the Bulldogs, is a good example. There’s about a minute left, Fresno State is trailing by three, and Keene makes a pretty back-shoulder pass for a touchdown to help the Bulldogs beat a Big Ten team on the road.
Below is another example of Keene putting the ball in a spot where his receiver can go up and get it. This is from Keene’s final game at Fresno State, a 20-13 loss to UCLA in November. Sometimes Keene can get a little antsy in the pocket, but on this throw, he takes his time, sets his feet and anticipates his wide receiver flashing open in the back of the end zone.
Keene completed 67.1 percent of his passes in 2023 and 70.5 percent this season, the sixth-best mark in the FBS. If he opens the season as Michigan’s starter, he should give the offense a stable floor that’s higher than what we saw this season, primarily because of his feel for the game and his confidence as a passer.
Throwing on the run
When Keene scrambles, he’s looking to throw, not to run. His longest run at Fresno State was 14 yards, and he’s had negative rushing yards in every season of his career. Although he’s not a big runner, Keene uses his legs to extend plays and throws accurately on the move.
Here’s an example from Fresno State’s loss to UNLV this season. Instead of tucking the ball after he’s flushed out of the pocket, Keene keeps his eyes downfield and fires a strike for a touchdown. Keene’s tendency to extend plays can be good and bad: He makes some nice throws on the run, but he also takes some sacks and puts the ball in harm’s way at times. On the whole, his shoot-from-the-hip attitude is an asset.
Familiarity with the system
As a freshman at UCF, Keene backed up Dillon Gabriel and became the Knights’ starter after Gabriel went down with an injury, going 7-3 with a win against Florida in the Gasparilla Bowl. Gabriel transferred to Oklahoma the following season and Lindsey, who was on Gus Malzahn’s staff at Auburn, came on board as UCF’s offensive coordinator.
With John Rhys Plumlee starting for UCF in 2022, Keene appeared in four games and led the Knights to a win against Memphis when Plumlee was injured. Although Keene was mostly a backup during Lindsey’s year at UCF, his familiarity with Michigan’s new offensive coordinator was another selling point when Michigan was looking for a quarterback in the transfer portal.
If not a broke man’s Kyler Murray, Keene has a chance to be Gabriel-lite for Michigan. The two have similarities as undersized quarterbacks who played in the Malzahn offense. Lindsey has his own twist on that offense that comes with some Todd Monken influence — Lindsey was Monken’s offensive coordinator at Southern Miss in 2015 — with a bit more NFL flavor. Keene should be capable of running that offense until Underwood is ready to take the keys.
Concerns
Interceptions
Turnovers at quarterback were a big problem for Michigan in 2024. The Wolverines threw 13 interceptions on 308 pass attempts — or about one pick for every 24 passes, a rate that ranked 124th in the FBS. That has to improve if Michigan is going to make the jump from being a solid team to a great one.
If Keene is the starter, cutting down his interceptions will be one point of emphasis. Keene threw 11 picks on 393 pass attempts in 2024 and 10 in 422 passes the year before. That’s not terrible, but it could be better. Keene threw two interceptions in the loss to Michigan, plus one overturned by replay and another wiped out by penalty on the drive that ended with Johnson’s pick six.
“I didn’t have the best feet to get myself in position to make my throws, which I have to do a better job of,” Keene said after the game. “I need to watch the film and work on it.”
That seems like an accurate diagnosis. When Keene sets his feet and steps into his throws, he’s usually on target. When he whips the ball off of his back foot, the results tend to vary.
Keene had a lot on his shoulders at Fresno State, especially last season, when the Bulldogs went 6-6 in his 12 starts. At Michigan, he should have a strong running game behind him with Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall. If Keene is the starter, I suspect Moore will tell him the same thing he told Warren: You don’t have to be a hero. It’s OK to throw the ball into the stands instead of taking a big sack or forcing an interception.
Vertical passing game
Moore was unequivocal about the need for Michigan to get more explosive in the passing game. That’s a big reason Michigan moved on from Kirk Campbell after one season and hired Lindsey to run the offense. Lindsey likes to attack vertically, or at least he did when he had Drake Maye playing quarterback. Keene’s ability to execute that part of the playbook is one factor that could tip the scale toward Underwood at some point next season.
Keene’s average depth of target was 7.5 yards in 2024, which ranked 121st out of 128 FBS quarterbacks (min. 200 dropbacks), according to Pro Football Focus. Roughly 72 percent of his passes traveled fewer than 10 yards through the air, and 39 percent of his completions gained 10 yards or more, which ranked 115th out of qualifying quarterbacks, per TruMedia.
With 42 touchdowns in two seasons at Fresno State, Keene has shown the ability to push the ball downfield. Perhaps the emphasis on the short passing game was a function of the offense he was playing in. Even without a lot of deep throws, Fresno State was in the middle of the pack in the FBS in explosive passing plays, clearly better than Michigan, which finished dead last in passing plays of 20 yards or more.
Keene didn’t have a strong running game to lean on — Fresno State averaged 3.3 yards per rush last year, 120th in the FBS — and should benefit from Lindsey’s balanced approach. To win the starting job and keep it, Keene will need to show he can bring an explosive element to Michigan’s passing game.
Supporting cast
The quarterbacks took a lot of heat for Michigan’s struggles in the passing game, but they didn’t get a lot of help, either. Tight end Colston Loveland, a potential first-round NFL Draft pick, was the only player who got open on a consistent basis. Without Loveland, Michigan will have to find players who can ease the pressure on Keene, Underwood or whoever’s playing quarterback.
Adding Indiana transfer Donaven McCulley should help. McCulley, a former quarterback, is 6-5 and caught 48 passes for 644 yards in 2023, though he had only two catches this season before re-entering the portal. One portal target, Skyler Bell, decided to stay at UConn, and Yale transfer David Pantelis picked Stanford over Michigan. There’s still time for Michigan to land help at wide receiver, but as it stands right now, the Wolverines will be leaning heavily on their returning cast and their incoming freshmen.
Adding size at wide receiver was a point of emphasis in the offseason. Right now that size is coming from McCulley and the three freshman signees, Andrew Marsh, Jacob Washington and Jamar Browder. With Loveland declaring for the NFL Draft and Tyler Morris transferring to Indiana, Michigan will have to replace about 55 percent of the receiving yards from a unit that was not very productive in 2024. Finding help for Michigan’s quarterbacks, either from outside or from within, has to be high on the list of priorities.
(Photo: Rick Osentoski / Imagn Images)
