Davis Warren took over QB for Michigan, the defending champions, after J.J. McCarthy left for the NFL.
The Wolverines senior started his first college game in Week 1 vs. Fresno State. In such a massive role with a famed program, Warren has been thrust into the national spotlight. However, some college football fans may not be familiar with his incredible journey to becoming Michigan's QB.
Here are the details on Warren's journey, from being diagnosed with cancer in high school to walking on at Michigan.
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Davis Warren cancer diagnosis, explained
In March 2019, when he was in high school, Warren was diagnosed with leukemia. He was 17 at the time.
"I was a kid who never got sick growing up, so it was really weird for me. And then my dad one day was like, ‘Man, you just really don't look right,'" Warren wrote for 247Sports.
After receiving his cancer diagnosis from doctors, Warren would go through chemotherapy for five months, spending most of his summer in the hospital. But he remained committed to a return to football through it all.
"Now, after going through what I went through ... it was very naive of me to think I was going to come back and play football that fast," Warren wrote.
As he recovered, he fought to return to the field. By October, he was healthy enough to do exactly that.
Warren played four games for his high school team during the 2019 football season, his junior year.
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What kind of cancer did Davis Warren have?
Warren was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. The five-year survival rate for the type of cancer is 66 percent for adolescents.
Per Yahoo Sports, Warren said on the L.A.B. podcast with Jake Butt recently that he remembers not being able to do a single rep of a 135-pound bench press before he went to see doctors.
"I was dizzy, light-headed," Warren said in the story. "I knew something was off."
For a diagnosis with a lower survival rate, it wasn't at all a guarantee that Warren would recover and eventually be healthy enough to play football again. But with treatment taking around five to eight months, he was focused on the sport for the following season.
Warren would beat his cancer, returning to the gridiron even after losing a lot of weight.
He recently spoke about his diagnosis, saying that when you see stories around childhood cancer, you "never expect that to be you."
While he didn't get much of a chance to prove himself as a quarterback prospect after his diagnosis and a canceled senior season, Warren still found his way to a top-notch program in unique fashion.
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How Davis Warren became Michigan's starting QB
Just as he was starting to reach full health, Warren's senior year was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"As a prospect, I just didn't have anything. I didn't have the film and all the stuff that I needed to get recruited at a high level," Warren wrote.
Even with the canceled season, Warren made a strong enough impression with scouts and within coaching circles for former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh to offer him a walk-on opportunity with the Wolverines in the fall of 2020.
Since that opportunity, Warren has ascended within the Wolverines' depth charts, serving as a deep backup piece over his initial time in Ann Arbor but later becoming a scholarship player. In his freshman year, Warren was Michigan's Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year.
He put in the work over his first three seasons, slowly earned more playing time and entered 2024 in a competition to become the starter. Warren officially became the Wolverines' starter vs. Fresno State in Week 1, adding another chapter to his inspiring story.
In Michigan's matchup vs. Texas on Saturday, the spotlight will continue to shine on Warren and the challenges he overcame with his cancer diagnosis five years ago and walk-on opportunity.