Michigan QB Cade McNamara Gifting His O-Line With New Drivers Through NIL Comes With Peculiar Timing

The University of Michigan football team is right in the middle of a massive decision. Who will start at quarterback?

One option is former four-star recruit Cade McNamara, a senior who started the majority of games in 2021 and led Michigan to a Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff. The other option is Class of 2021 five-star recruit J.J. McCarthy, who challenged his elder for snaps as a freshman last fall.

As things currently stand, the competition between the two remains open. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said the decision on who to play is "biblical" and is giving both guys a shot.

McNamara started in Week 1 against Colorado State and completed nine of 18 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown. Meh.

Cade McNamara. (Getty Images)

This week, as Michigan hosts Hawaii, it will be McCarthy who gets the start. Many, if not most people in and around the program believe that he is the better player and will likely win the job.

The competition isn't over. But if McCarthy has a big week on Saturday, he's probably going to be the guy.

The ongoing quarterback battle is what makes Cades McNamara's most recent NIL move so funny.

During the offseason, McNamara signed a deal for his Name, Image and Likeness with Ping Golf. The terms of the deal are undisclosed, but it was a pretty significant partnership.

Now, after a lackluster performance in the first game of the year, McNamara is thanking the Big Uglies up front for taking care of him. He gifted each of his offensive linemen with custom, blue and maize-colored drivers on Thursday.

Quarterbacks taking care of their offensive line is a great thing. I love signal-callers who make sure their line is happy and express their gratitude, so I love what McNamara did here. He has made a fan out of me with the move.

That's not why it's funny. It's the timing that makes it so hilarious.

McNamara is not expected to win the starting job. He still could, but it's not necessarily looking good for him.

In turn, it's super easy to joke that as the backup, he will have a lot more time to golf. Meanwhile, he is giving his linemen a driver during the time of year in which they most certainly will not have time to hit the links.

Additionally, the joke can be made that maybe McNamara should have spent more time practicing football than playing golf during the offseason. Maybe then he would have won the job.

Again, it's a nice gift and I love the sentiment behind what McNamara is doing here, but... perhaps it would have been better timed during the offseason. Not smack dab in the middle of a quarterback battle.