Michigan football quarterback J.J. McCarthy named to Davey O'Brien Award watchlist

It's watchlist season in college football, when seemingly just about every team in the nation has at least one player on at least one award list somewhere.

But for Michigan football, the two-time defending Big Ten champion that's returning more than half of its starters and projects to have double-digit NFL draft picks next spring (in Detroit, no less), the number of players to keep an eye on is, well, numerous.

Despite the Wolverines' team success last season, only one player took home some hardware: Center Olusegun Oluwatimi, though he won both the Outland Award (college football's best interior lineman) and Rimington Trophy (best center).

Still, the Wolverines had even more award finalists: Blake Corum was named a finalist for the Doak Walker Award (top running back) and Jake Moody was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award (top kicker), a season after winning it.

SCREEN SAVERS: Inside Michigan football's new scoreboard, lights and audio system

JOIN THE CLUB: Big Ten reportedly eyeing further expansion with more Pac-12 schools

Once again, Michigan players appear well-positioned to receive recognition in 2023.

Here are all of the Michigan football players named to pre-season watchlists thus far.

(Come back all month for updates as the watchlists are unveiled ahead of the Wolverines' season opener against East Carolina on Sept. 2.)

Aug. 8 Davey O'Brien Award (best quarterback)

Merely a formality, J.J. McCarthy is on the watchlist for the Davey O'Brien Award, given annually to the nation's top quarterback. The independent committee selected 35 signal callers across the country for the list, few of whom are as decorated as McCarthy.

Now a junior entering his first full season as a starter, McCarthy is expected to build on what was already a standout sophomore year, when he completed 64.6% of his passes for 2,719 yards, 22 touchdowns and just five interceptions.

McCarthy, who was named second-team All Big Ten, added 306 rushing yards and another five scores with his legs. While the list is an honor to be sure, on Monday, McCarthy said he wasn't focused on any personal accolades.

“I don’t get too caught up in the rankings and stuff like that, because most of them go off starts, most of them go off little stuff that’s out of your control,” he said. “The only thing that I focus on is being the best quarterback that I can be for this football team, because that’s all that matters. That’s what’s going to get the wins.

“I don’t care about being top-5 or top-3, or top-1. Because that’s not winning football games. I want to win football games, and when all that stuff pans out it pans out.”

Aug. 4 Mackey Award (best tight end)

The Wolverines have not one, but two tight ends on the Mackey Award list, in sophomore Colston Loveland and senior AJ Barner.

Loveland is now in his second year with the program and would be on the list for Michigan's top breakout candidates heading into 2023 if he hadn't come onto the scene so strong to end his true freshman season.

Buried on the depth chart behind captain Erick All and senior Luke Schoonmaker, Loveland played in mop up duty his first three weeks, where he caught four passes for 33 yards combined against Colorado State, Hawaii and Connecticut.

It would be nearly a month and a half before he caught another ball; a seemingly insignificant six-yard reception against Rutgers, but it sparked a big finish to the season.

Loveland caught 11 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns the next five games, including a 45-yard game-changing touchdown early in the second half against Ohio State, and an acrobatic 25-yard touchdown reception in the BIg Ten Championship game against Purdue.

He was named the team's 2022 Offensive and Special Teams (co-) Rookie of the Year.

"I don’t think he realizes quite yet just how good he is and how good he can be," his tight ends coach Grant Newsome said earlier this offseason on U-M football's in-house podcast 'In The Trenches'. "That’s great for us, because he works every day like he isn’t one of the best tight ends in the country.

"He works every day like he isn’t one of the most talented guys we’ve ever had come through here.”

He's joined on the list by Barner, a senior transfer from Indiana, who brings experience to a room that lost more than a dozen years experience combined between All, Schoonmaker and Joel Honigford.

With 30 games under his belt and nine career starts, the former Hoosier captain comes to Ann Arbor with 42 receptions for 361 yards and four touchdowns to his credit.

Jake Butt (2016) remains the only U-M player to win the award.

Aug. 4 Rimington Award (best center)

For the second straight season, Michigan will look to turn a transfer center into the RImington Award winner. Last year, it was Olusegun Oluwatimi (Virginia) who took home the honor, while this year it's Drake Nugent (Stanford) who's been singled out as one to watch.

A former captain during his four-year run with the Cardinal, Nugent (who was already named to the Outland Trophy watchlist as the nation's top interior lineman) is a two-time All Pac 12 selection who's played in 27 career games with 24 starts at center.

Nugent, who is still in a battle with Greg Crippen for the starting position, allowed just four sacks in 2021 and 2022 combined (993 pass-blocking attempts)

The Wolverines have had three Rimington Award winners since this century: David Baas (2004), David Molk (2011), and Oluwatimi (2022).

Aug. 2: Lou Groza Award (best kicker)

After Moody's back-to-back seasons as a finalist, it feels like it wouldn't be right if Michigan's kicker didn't start the season, despite Moody's departure for the NFL.

Louisville transfer James Turner takes Moody's spot on the list in his first season in Ann Arbor. A Saline native, Turner spent the past four seasons kicking for the Cardinals, for whom he converted 79.6% (47 of 59) of his field goal tries. Turner was named third-team All-ACC in 2022, when he made 20 of 22 field goals, setting a Louisville record (90.9%) in the process.

Aug. 1: Bronko Nagurski Trophy (Defensive Player of the Year)

Michigan has three nominations for the Nagurski — one on each level of the defense — in senior defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, junior linebacker Junior Colson and junior safety Rod Moore.

Jenkins, one of three players who represented U-M in Indianapolis at Big Ten media days last month, was an All-Big Ten honorable mention in 2022 after he recorded a career high 54 tackles and two sacks.

Jenkins, who has put on nearly 20 pounds — bringing him up to 305, according to the most recent roster update —has appeared in 29 games (18 starts) for the Wolverines, recording 76 tackles, including four for a loss.

Colson, meanwhile, continues his upward trend and is projected to be one of the best linebackers in the conference. A freshman All-American (Maxwell) in 2021 and an All-Big Ten second-teamer in 2022, Colson has 162 tackles over his 28 games for U-M, including 6½ TFLs and 2½ sacks, to go along with three pass breakups and a fumble recovery.

Then there's Moore, who went from a three-star recruit to All-Big Ten honorable mention in 2022. In 25 games, Moore has 104 tackles with eight pass breakups and four interceptions.

The only U-M player to win the award was cornerback Charles Woodson in 1997.

Aug. 1: Outland Trophy (best interior lineman)

The Wolverines will look to make it two years in a row with an Outland Trophy winner, starting with four players on the watchlist.

Jenkins is a nominee on the defensive side; he joins offensive linemen Trevor Keegan, Drake Nugent and Zak Zinter, who are expected to start on the interior as U-M searches for a third consecutive Joe Moore Award (the nation's top offensive line).

Keegan, a two-time All-Big Ten member, has 30 career games at left guard, including 23 starts. His high status on the Wolverines' line is signified by his jersey number this season — No. 77, previously worn by Jon Jansen, Jake Long and Taylor Lewan.

Zinter, meanwhile, also started each of the past two seasons, including a stint as a first-team All Big Ten guard in 2022. Zinter has played 33 games (31 starts), all but one of which came at right guard.

Nugent is a transfer from Stanford; coach Jim Harbaugh said he battling Greg Crippen for the starting center job. At Big Ten media days, however, Jenkins, cited Nugent as a player flying under the radar. The former Cardinal captain has played in 27 games, with 24 starts at center, and allowed just four sacks across the past two seasons combined, covering 993 pass-blocking snaps.

July 31: Maxwell Award (Player of the Year)

Corum and U-M quarterback J.J. McCarthy are among the 85 players on this watchlist, which has a representative from 69 teams. Neither name comes as a surprise.

Corum would almost certainly have been a Heisman Trophy finalist last year, if not for a knee injury in Michigan's 11th game. Corum was still an All-Big Ten first-teamer and a unanimous All-American after 247 carries for 1,463 yards and 18 touchdowns. That yardage total is eighth among Wolverines all-time.

GO TIME: As fall camp begins, for the first time, Michigan football is J.J. McCarthy’s team

Following knee surgery, Corum is reportedly back to full health; he was cleared for full contact late last month.

McCarthy, meanwhile, enters the season as U-M's unquestioned leader and is expected to improve as he moves into his second season as a starter, aided by U-M's desire to pass more often.

As a sophomore, McCarthy was an All-Big Ten second-teamer; he completed 208 of 322 attempts (64.6%) for 2,719 yards, eighth-most by a U-M QB in a single season. He also had 22 passing touchdowns (sixth in program histoy) and rushed 70 times for 306 yards and five touchdowns.

The last time a Michigan player won the award? Desmond Howard in 1991, his Heisman Trophy season.

July 31: Patrick Mannelly Award (best long snapper)

Although U-M is replacing experience on special teams at kicker (Moody) and punter (Brad Robbins), it returns a veteran in long snapper William Wagner. Wagner has started every game for which he has been healthy since 2020, including 20 games handling snaps for field goals, extra points and punts.

Wagner delivered the ball for all 125 of Moody's points in 2021 and 197 points in his career.

Awards on deck

• Aug. 9: Doak Walker Award

• Aug. 10 Butkus Award, Jim Thorpe Award

• Aug. 11: Walter Camp Award

• Aug. 14: Bednarik Award

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football's stars well-represented during watchlist season