Michigan transfer Wilton Speight named UCLA football starting QB

Marlowe Alter | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Michigan football: What Tarik Black injury means Nick Baumgardner, Jeff Seidel and Shawn Windsor talk after the Michigan football news conference on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, in Ann Arbor.

UCLA football coach Chip Kelly named senior Wilton Speight his starting quarterback Thursday for the opener against Cincinnati on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Speight started 16 games the past two seasons for Michigan football under coach Jim Harbaugh, but had his 2017 season cut short in Week 4 due to a spinal injury. He announced he would be transferring last November.

Speight threw 18 touchdowns against seven interceptions as a redshirt sophomore in 2016, helping the Wolverines to a 9-0 start. He sustained a shoulder injury late in the season and missed one game, then played the following week in an overtime loss at Ohio State. Michigan finished 10-3 that season.

Speight struggled in 2017, completing 44-for-81 passes (54.3 percent) for 581 yards, with three TDs and two INTs.

Michigan has a plethora of quarterbacks. Shortly after Speight announced his transfer, it snagged a commitment from Ole Miss transfer Shea Patterson, who is now the starter.

The Wolverines open the season Saturday at Notre Dame (7:30 p.m., NBC).

Trending Michigan football stories:

Chat recap: Could a quarterback transfer from U-M?

How good is Michigan? Notre Dame game will tell a lot