Michigan QB Wilton Speight is no lock to start

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is not sold just yet on Wilton Speight as his starting quarterback.

“He comes in really tied for first with John O’Korn and Brandon Peters, legitimately, through competition, throughout all the spring, went through 15 practices and was a dead heat,” Harbaugh said. “But the good news is they all did some things [well]. Brandon really shot up. O’Korn played consistently good. And Wilton had some impressive moments, as well.”

Speight played 12 games last season, throwing for 2,538 yards and 18 touchdowns. Harbaugh said he would allow the three to compete during training camp.

Catching some Fleck

Newly hired Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck was one of the main draws on the second day of the Big Ten media days. The charismatic coach was the first to address the media Tuesday morning and made his loud presence known fairly quickly.

“I’m not sure if this was by design to make me go first by waking everybody up,” Fleck said.

Fleck was hired by Minnesota in January after leading Western Michigan to a 13-1 season in 2016.

Many other coaches were asked their thoughts on Fleck, including Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald, who took Fleck out to lunch years ago when they first met.

“I saw a guy that was very driven,” Fitzgerald said. “He wanted to learn and grow and ask me questions about how I manage things as a young head coach and how I do things on a day-to-day -basis with the staff, all the way to the players, everything in between.”

Watching the clock

Bill Carollo, the Big Ten coordinator of football officials, said officials will place a greater emphasis on game efficiency this year. According to Carollo, since 2010, the average college game has gone from 3 hours, 10 minutes to 3 hours, 24 minutes. Officials will keep a strict 20-minute halftime and will look to speed up substitutions.

Carollo also addressed the issue of targeting in the conference, noting that “targeting numbers are up. We’ve done a good job, but the numbers are up across the country.”

Follow me on Twitter @ElanKane15.

Email: ekane@suntimes.com

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