Brandon Peters
Michael Brandon Peters (born October 15, 1997) is an American football quarterback who plays for the University of Illinois. Before transferring to Illinois, Peters played for the University of Michigan.
Peters in 2017 | |
Illinois Fighting Illini – No. 18 | |
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Position | Quarterback |
Class | Senior |
Career history | |
College |
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Bowl games | 2018 Outback Bowl |
High school | Avon (IN) |
Personal information | |
Born: | Avon, Indiana | October 15, 1997
Height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
Weight | 220 lb (100 kg) |
Career highlights and awards | |
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High school career
Peters played high school football and basketball at Avon High School in Indiana. As a senior in 2015, he led Avon to a regional football championship,[1] appearing in 13 games and completing 218 of 363 passes for 3,103 yards, 37 touchdowns, and five interceptions.[2] In December 2015, The Indianapolis Star selected him as its Mr. Football for the 2015 season.[3] He was also named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Indiana.[2] He participated in the Elite 11 quarterback event in July 2015,[4] and he was rated by ESPN as the No. 5 quarterback in the class of 2016 and the No. 60 overall player in the 2016 ESPN 300.[5]
College career
Michigan
On April 27, 2015, Peters committed to play college football at the University of Michigan.[6][7] He enrolled early at Michigan in January 2016. In February 2016, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh compared Peters to Andrew Luck, noting that "I saw a lot of similar things in Brandon—a natural player, not over-coached or over-mechanized."[8] 2016 Spring practice began on February 29 with a highly anticipated quarterback battle between redshirt sophomore Wilton Speight, redshirt junior John O'Korn, redshirt junior Shane Morris, true freshman Peters and redshirt freshman Alex Malzone.[9][10] As Spring practice wound down in late March, Speight, O'Korn and Morris seemed to be the leading three,[11] in that order.[12] On September 3 before the opening game against Hawaii, Speight was named as the starting quarterback.[13] Peters did not see game action during the 2016 season.
In 2017, Peters was engaged in a quarterback battle with incumbent starter Wilton Speight and 2016 backup John O'Korn. On August 12, 2017, Jim Harbaugh revealed that Speight and O'Korn are the leaders in the quarterback battle, with Peters designated to a back-up role. In a game against Rutgers on October 28, 2017, Peters replaced O'Korn in the second quarter, with the game tied 7–7. He led the team to 3 consecutive scoring drives, including throwing the teams first touchdown pass in over a month en route to a 35–14 victory.[14] Peters would go on to start the next 3 games, winning against Minnesota, winning at Maryland, and in the loss at Wisconsin. Peters would get concussed in the 3rd quarter against Wisconsin and did not recover until the Outback Bowl. Peters would start in the bowl game however, which was a 19–26 loss to South Carolina.
For the 2018 season, Peters was the 3rd string quarterback, backing up Shea Patterson and Dylan McCaffrey. He saw playing time in the 49–3 win against Western Michigan, the 56–10 win against Nebraska, the 42–7 win against Penn State, the 42–7 win at Rutgers (where he led a scoring drive), and the 39–62 loss at Ohio State where he set up a rushing touchdown with a completion to the one yard line.[15]
References
- Aaron McMann (November 11, 2015). "Recruiting roundup: 2016 Michigan QB commit Brandon Peters leads Avon to regional title". Mlive.com.
- Kyle Neddenriep (December 3, 2015). "Avon's Brandon Peters wins Gatorade Player of the Year".
- Kyle Neddenriep (December 10, 2015). "Avon QB Brandon Peters named 2015 IndyStar Mr. Football". The Indianapolis Star.
- Tom Van Haaren (July 6, 2015). "Brandon Peters has a big target at The Opening". ESPN.com.
- "2016 ESPN 300". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
- "Four-star quarterback Brandon Peters commits to Michigan". Sports Illustrated. April 4, 2015.
- Mark Snyder (April 4, 2015). "Four-star QB Brandon Peters commits to Michigan". Detroit Free Press.
- Nick Baumgardner (February 5, 2016). "Jim Harbaugh sees young Andrew Luck traits in Brandon Peters, but QB just trying to be himself". Mlive.com.
- Kercheval, Ben (February 24, 2016). "Who Has the Edge in Michigan's Quarterback Battle?". Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- Baumgardner, Nick (February 22, 2016). "John O'Korn, Shane Morris, someone else? Michigan's QB 'cage match' set to begin". MLive.com. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- Baumgardner, Nick (March 26, 2016). "Wilton Speight, John O'Korn, Shane Morris are Michigan's top QBs, but no one has pulled away". MLive.com. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- Baumgardner, Nick (March 29, 2016). "Michigan's top three QBs all want to start, but say the competition is far from over". MLive.com. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- Foltin, Lindsey (September 3, 2016). "Jim Harbaugh had a strange way of pumping up Michigan's new QB". FOX Sports. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
- "Brandon Peters has to be Michigan starting QB moving forward". freep.com. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- "2019 Spring Football Roster: Brandon Peters". MGoBlue.com. University of Michigan. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
- McMann, Aaron (June 18, 2019). "Michigan QB Brandon Peters transferring to Illinois". MLive.com. Retrieved July 2, 2019.