As fall camp begins, for the first time, Michigan football is J.J. McCarthy’s team
In some ways, it feels as though J.J. McCarthy has been the face of Michigan football for years.
That started before he even arrived; the five-star product from La Grange, Illinois was rated a top-40 player in the nation in high school and came to Ann Arbor with as much hype as anybody at the position since the late Ryan Mallett nearly 15 years prior.
It only continued once McCarthy got on campus and he appeared in 11 games as a true freshman and racked up 640 all-purpose yards to go with seven touchdowns.
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A shoulder injury in early spring of the 2022 offseason was a roadblock, but his talent remained so tantalizing, he forced his way into a quarterback competition with Cade McNamara, who was not only the returning starter, but a senior and captain who'd just led U-M to its first Big Ten championship in 17 years.
The battle forged into the season, where McCarthy ultimately won out and was named the starter going into Week 3.
“I have searched my memory for somebody who has been a first-time starter and had a better first year as a first-time starter and I can’t come up with one," Jim Harbaugh said at Big Ten media days last week in Indianapolis. “He’s a once-in-a-generational type of quarterback at Michigan, and his progress continues to grow.
"He’s at the top of his game right now, really, in all aspects."
McCarthy finished the year completing 64.6% of his passes (208-for-322) for 2,719 yards, 22 touchdowns, and just five interceptions as he was named second-team All-Big Ten, all while helping the Wolverines to their second straight Big Ten title, its first win in Columbus in 22 years and a second-consecutive CFP appearance.
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All of that was achieved when he didn't have a spring to work on chemistry with his receivers, when he hadn't started 13 games (including road games against Ohio State, a Big Ten title game, and a College Football Playoff appearance) and he didn't have an offseason to think about the what-if's of his two costly interceptions in U-M's season-ending loss.
So, while McCarthy has long felt like the face of the program, it's easy to forget, Michigan has never gone into a season with McCarthy as the undisputed leader. With that in mind, Harbaugh appears as optimistic about this season as any he's had during his tenure at U-M. It doesn't seem like a coincidence.
"Everything that he does athletically, everything that he does throwing the football are at the elite level," he said. "Then, I think the thing that makes him the most special, differentiating good and great, is that he's willing to do anything for his teammates, anything for his team."
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Harbaugh continued his praises of McCarthy as he compared him to perhaps two of the top three quarterbacks in the NFL; two-time Super Bowl Champion Patrick Mahomes, and Pro Bowler Josh Allen. Harbaugh noted the similarities he's perceived in their moxie, command of a huddle, and willingness "to do anything for their team."
Last year, the Wolverines kept their requests of the first-year starter to a minimum in his early games, but as the weeks grew on, it became evident the more Michigan allowed McCarthy to use his legs, the more effective the offense became.
Nearly one-quarter (80 of 322, or 24.8%) of McCarthy's pass attempts came via play action a season ago. He went 55-for-80 (68.8%) on such plays, totaling 1,111 yards, nine touchdowns and just one interception as no player in the nation averaged more passing yards per play-action attempt.
McCarthy also proved to be elusive without design; the sophomore was pressured 93 times on 359 dropbacks, yet was sacked just 10 times and threw only one interception, per Pro Football Focus.
"He’s better than me — but I mean, he reminds me of a young Jimmy Harbaugh,” Harbaugh said of McCarthy after last season's road win at Iowa. “Off he goes, he drops back, and then he runs over to his left, circles back to his right, back to his left, runs it, or throws it to an open guy.
"Man, I love it, I just love it.”
However, for all the praise headed his way, like offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore saying this spring it looked like McCarthy was 'playing in a video game', the junior-to-be didn't go to Indianapolis to represent the team last week.
Instead, it was seniors Blake Corum, Kris Jenkins and Mike Sainristil.
McCarthy is one of just two returning Big Ten quarterbacks from last season, a position often seen as an obvious choice to serve as the face of the program, but Harbaugh said the reason he didn't have McCarthy join is simple.
“We traditionally bring the guys that are fourth- or fifth-year players,” he said. “And believe me, every guy back in Ann Arbor knows exactly why the three guys — Mike Sainristil, Kris Jenkins and Blake Corum — are here. They’re walking, talking infomercials for what a football player should be, a Michigan football player, what we think of it. There’s nothing better than those three."
Corum was U-M's first unanimous All-American at running back in more than 70 years, Jenkins has been projected in the first round in some early NFL mock drafts, while Sainristil, a graduate student who was a captain a season ago, would have been taken this season had he not opted to return to Ann Arbor for a fifth year.
They'll all be captains. Reading between the lines, it's not hard to tell who will join them.
"I recommend that anybody on the team follow J.J.," Harbaugh told reporters in June. "Anywhere he goes."
This is McCarthy's team, whether or not he made a summer trip to Indy.
Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.
For openers
Matchup: Michigan (13-1 in 2022) vs. East Carolina (8-5 in 2022), season opener.
Kickoff: Noon Sept. 2; Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.
TV/radio: Peacock (online only); WWJ-AM (950), WTKA-AM (1050).
Line: TBA.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football ready to follow J.J. McCarthy's lead in 2023
