Following his freshman season John O’Korn was on top of the college football landscape. After winning America Athletic Conference rookie of the year honors, O’Korn was well on his way to a strong professional career throwing for 3,117 yards and 28 touchdowns during the 2013 season. How quickly things changed during the 2014 campaign, when O’Korn was benched after just five games in favor of a more dual threat quarterback in Greg Ward Jr. The benching obviously hurt O’Korn’s confidence in the program, and the true sophomore was granted a release from his scholarship in mid January.
Following the hiring of Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, O’Korn felt his talents were better suited for the Michigan Wolverines pro-style offense, and O’Korn announced via Twitter Thursday that he will be transferring into the program.
O’Korn’s name had been linked with programs such as Florida, Texas, Miami and Wisconsin before ultimately settling with the Wolverines. Despite the breaking news, O’Korn will be forced to sit out the entire 2015 season, but the year off should provide the Florida native with optimal time to learn and adjust to the playbook.
If O’Korn is able to adapt to the newly designed Wolverine offense, he would have two years of eligibility to revamp his draft prospects. O’Korn will join four other potential scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, but only returning starter Shane Morris has previous starting experience. Harbaugh, however, made it very clear that each of his young quarterbacks will have a clean slate come spring practices, and the best man will win the job. Nonetheless, O’Korn, who is the first transfer since Harbaugh’s hiring, will not play a significant role during the 2015 year, but don’t forget his name as the Wolverines rebuild their program.
*Section Photo credit to Scott Halleran, Getty Images; Featured Photo (above) credit to Houston Athletics
