ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Nick Saban, Lincoln Riley and Deion Sanders all wanted Alex Orji, but Orji wanted something different.
Awuzie, a quarterback whose athleticism has dazzled coaches every step of his career, will make his first start on Saturday when No. 18 Michigan faces No. 11 USC. Opposing Sideline Coach Riley personally offered Awuzie a scholarship when he was at Oklahoma, according to Awuzie's father. Saban also wanted to send Awuzie to Alabama, but with a condition.
Willie Orge, Alex's father, remembers a conversation he had with Saban during a scouting visit to Tuscaloosa, where Saban told Alex he could accept a scholarship offer from Alabama, but he had to be willing to change positions. Alex looked at Saban and his father and explained that he had worked so hard to become a quarterback that he couldn't give up on his dream.
“There were a lot of people he talked to,” said Red Berens, Orji's coach at Saxe High School in Texas, “all the head coaches at the big schools. What Alex wanted to hear from them was, 'We're going to give you a great opportunity to be the quarterback.'
Before college football fans discovered Coach Prime, Sanders tried to recruit Orji to his team. Sanders has a youth football program in the Dallas metropolitan area called Truth Sports, where Orji grew up playing on the same teams as Sanders' sons, Shiloh and Shedur. Before becoming the head coach at Jackson State, Sanders was on the staff at Trinity Christian Academy near Dallas, where his sons attended.
Willie said Dion wanted Orji to play at Trinity Christian, but there was one problem: Shedur was the quarterback, and no one could beat him. To get on the field at Trinity, Orji would have to play a different position. Instead, he committed to Saxe, where his quarterback exploits became the stuff of legend.
There was a time when Deion Sanders recruited Alex Orji to play for a Dallas-area high school team. (Photo by Willie Orji)
Talk to Berens about this particular play and he'll describe it as if it were yesterday: Orji was forced out of the pocket and scrambled toward the end zone. All he had to do was lower his shoulder and run through the defensive back, but he decided to take a different route, leaping over the defender with inches to spare.
“Athletically, he's a one-in-a-million guy,” Behrens said.
Many coaches were excited about Orji's potential, so it was only a matter of time before one of them found a way to get him on the field. But Orji's debut as Michigan's starter comes with some trepidation. Three weeks ago, Michigan evaluated its quarterback competition and decided to start Davis Warren. After Warren threw six interceptions in three games, Michigan changed course and named Orji the starter.
The question surrounding Orji remains the same: is he polished enough as a passer to play quarterback at the highest level?
“He has great arm strength,” coach Sherone Moore said, “and his accuracy has improved tremendously. We're going to have to be mentally, physically and spiritually prepared to get him to the level he needs to be this week, but I think he'll get it done.”
Orji was one of those high school athletes who could do everything: sprinter, high jumper, basketball player, safety, wide receiver, linebacker and punter. Initially, he didn't see himself as a quarterback.
Orji has two older brothers, Alston and Anfernee, who played linebacker at Vanderbilt University. Anfernee signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2023, played on the practice squad last year and has appeared in two games for the Saints this season.
Orji was built like a linebacker at 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, and was expected to follow in his older brothers' footsteps on defense. In middle school, he began training with Kevin Mathis, who played with Dion in Dallas and has been his coach ever since. Mathis, now Colorado's cornerbacks coach, was the one who encouraged Orji to play quarterback.
“He kept trying to get Alex to do it,” Willie said. “Alex was always happy to be able to outrun the kids or push the kids around.”
Orji started at quarterback in middle school, but it wasn't until his junior year at Saxe High School that his future at the position became clear. He transferred to Saxe High School during the COVID-19 pandemic, so Coach Behrens didn't have much of a chance to evaluate him before the season started. Coach Behrens started him at quarterback and quickly realized he had a weapon.
“Anyone trying to grab him or tackle him with their arms, he just ran through them and kept rolling,” Behrens said. “Most high school kids didn't want to stand in front of him.”
As a senior at Saxe, Orji ran for over 1,000 yards and threw for over 2,000 yards while completing 51 percent of his passes. He was recruited by a number of big-name schools, most of which wanted him as an athlete and not as a quarterback. The only exception was Virginia Tech, which ran a similar offense to the one Orji played at Saxe.
Orji committed to the Hokies as a three-star recruit in the 2022 class. Virginia Tech's release of Justin Fuente a few weeks before signing day prompted Orji to reconsider his options. He visited Michigan and met with head coach Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh said he would leave it up to Orji to decide if and when he wanted to try another position. Michigan promised him that if Orji wanted to play quarterback, Michigan would give him that opportunity.
“As long as I'm here, we're going to develop you and get you where you need to be,” Willie remembers Harbaugh saying.
Michigan had a variety of plays lined up for Orji last season and used him in key games, including the Rose Bowl and against Ohio State. When Harbaugh left for the NFL and J.J. McCarthy entered the draft, Michigan's starting quarterback position was guaranteed. Orji didn't win the position in the spring, but most signs pointed to him being the player to take Michigan's first snaps this season.
“Even though I'm at the top of college football, I want to go even higher,” Orji said in the spring. “No matter who's playing on Saturday, no matter who the 11 players are, I'm going to do whatever I can selflessly in my pursuit of excellence.”
Auzi was considered by many to have had a strong start to preseason camp, but then his game dipped midway through camp and he committed too many turnovers, while Warren improved late in the game and earned himself the starting spot.
Naturally, Willie wanted to know what happened. Did Orji take his foot off the gas? Was he overconfident? Did he not try hard enough? Orji chastised his father, reminding him that there were more important things than being a starter. Orji vowed to be a good teammate, to support Warren in any way he could, and to keep working hard for his chance.
“As a father, when your child is trying to teach you something, you have to listen,” Willie said.
Michigan's first drive of the season ended with Orge throwing a 3-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Edwards. The Wolverines used him on one or two snaps at a time for a change of pace, but Warren was the primary quarterback. Despite being intercepted twice against Texas, Warren remained the starter against Arkansas State, playing every snap in the first half. Late in the third quarter, Michigan switched to Orge after Warren's third interception of the game.
Moore was noncommittal after the game, but announced at a press conference on Monday that Orji would become Michigan's starting quarterback. The official announcement came as a surprise to some, including two Michigan players who met with reporters after Moore's comments. Moore made it clear that the position was Orji's and that he had the full support of the team.
“We have a plan in place for Alex and we're ready to announce it,” Moore said.
Disappointment would have been the natural reaction when Orji didn't earn the starting spot in camp after being considered the front-runner for much of the offseason. If Orji was shocked by the decision, his father didn't think so. Moore said he didn't notice any change in Orji's confidence or attitude after Warren told the quarterback he would start the season opener.
“His attitude never wavered,” Moore said. “Obviously he was disappointed. He's competitive. He's a kid who wants to be a starter. If I was a quarterback competing for that position, I'd want to do that too. But his leadership, his conduct, the way he carries himself, it's no different than it is now.”
No one knows how Orji's first start will go. He's thrown seven passes in his career, but it's still unclear how his athleticism will translate as a full-time quarterback. The only way to answer that question is to hand him the ball and see what he can do.
For Michigan, the time to find answers is now.
“There were a lot of schools on the list, but the response was always, 'We'll find you a place to play,'” Behrens said. “He wanted to hear, 'We're going to give you a real chance as a quarterback,' and Michigan gave him that chance.”
(Top photo: Rick Osentoski/Imagn Images)
