Of course Davis Warren wondered if he would ever see the field again as Michigan quarterback after being benched following his third start earlier this season. That’s human nature.

But, he kept preparing, watching film and working on his own to get the additional reps he might not have received in practices once Michigan went to the next option, and then the next.

Warren started the first three games of the season and lost the job after a sixth interception. Alex Orji became the starter the next three games and Jack Tuttle started the seventh game. The Michigan quarterback roulette wheel landed on Warren again last Saturday night against Michigan State. He was turnover-free, threw for 123 yards and a touchdown and helped lead Michigan to a 24-17 win over the Spartans.

Michigan also utilized Orji effectively. He led the team in rushing with 64 yards on six carries and scored on a two-yard run. Running back Donovan Edwards threw a touchdown pass to tight end Colston Loveland. Edwards is 4-for-4 passing during his career.

“It was great,” Warren said. “(Orji) was super-efficient running the football. Being able to get that extra hat is huge. Kept the defense off-balance. We even left some meat on the bone. All of us as quarterbacks, we’re just trying to do whatever we can to help the team win football games.”

Edwards, sitting beside Warren at the postgame news conference, repeated Warren’s words: “All of us quarterbacks.”

Warren smiled and took the cue.

“And Dono as a quarterback,” Warren said, drawing laughs.

Perhaps it was not the right move to pull Warren after a sixth interception in his third start of the season against Arkansas State. Perhaps this quarterback carrousel that has been the focal point of Michigan’s 5-3 season (3-2 Big Ten) could have been avoided. Hindsight can be tricky and Michigan coach Sherrone Moore won’t play that game.

“We’re never going to look back and make regrets,” Moore said of returning to a quarterback he benched. “I think we made the right decisions at that time. We came back to this decision now, and we feel really good about him and what he’s done to this point. Credit really to him, because he never flinched at any point. He got replaced and he stayed in there.”

Warren did stay in there. He continued to prepare like he might play.

“I just turned and was like, hey, I’m not playing, I might as well turn into the best practice player I can be again,” he said. “I think had some of my best weeks of practice even when I wasn’t in there as a starter, just staying ready. The way it turned out I was grateful.”

He’s had a lot of practice, as he said, preparing for a job he wasn’t sure he’d ever have, let alone significant playing time. Warren spent the last two years as a backup behind J.J. McCarthy.

“I’m used to that role of not being the guy and still having to be ready,” Warren said. “Making sure I’m on top of all my film study. My iPad with my notes was no less full for any week that I wasn’t starting versus this week. It was the same.

“I take a lot of pride in that, being the most prepared, whether it’s from the film or going into (Oosterbaan) by myself and walking through all the plays I don’t get in practice to make sure I’m ready to go. That’s something I take a lot of pride in and something I was doing when I was starting and when I wasn’t. And the guys keeping me up and telling me they’re still going to need me at some point. I was ready to go.”

Warren was ready to go, and his teammates recognized that after the game.

“One last thing that I do want to hit on about this guy right here,” Edwards said before departing the news conference. “I think that if you go through a lot of adversity, expectations on you, the adversity defines who you are, and this guy right here didn’t flinch. Not one bit.

“That’s somebody in our huddle we respect because of the resilience he’s had. I truly respect and appreciate him. He deserved the game he had and especially being able to get his start back to be able to lead this team to victory. Y’all better stop counting him out, man, because he’s shown time and time again that he overcomes adversity in his personal life and on the football world that he’s always going overcome adversity. I just wanted to say I’m proud of him and stop questioning him, please.”

It’s impossible to question Warren’s resilience, his ability to face down adversity. Warren is a leukemia survivor who never had a chance to be a highly recruited quarterback because he was busy beating cancer. And then the COVID-19 pandemic took away his chance at a high school season in 2020 and he arrived at Michigan as a preferred walk-on.

People talk about perspective all the time. Warren has an enormous dose of it.

“I wasn’t proving anything to anyone but myself. Truly,” Warren said of his performance in his fourth start.

“I truly mean that when I say it. I think what I’ve been through, how far I’ve come to this point, I know what’s important and the most important thing is me and having belief in myself that I was capable of doing enough to get a win. And that’s the job of the quarterback, to get a win.

“I wasn’t trying to play emotional or prove to everyone that I can throw the ball or be the quarterback at Michigan. If I played like that, I wouldn’t have been able to take care of the ball and keep this offense moving and get a win because I woulda been playing too emotionally and not staying neutral, just in the moment and taking each play like an independent event. It was the same thing I did when I got benched, trying to put what happened those first few games behind me and take each day as an opportunity for me to be me and not lose sight of who I am and what I know I’m capable of accomplishing. That next play and that next day is still coming.

“Might as well be ready for it and put yourself in the right mindset and do what the coaches are telling you and do what I tell myself, which is, just make every day a good one.”