Former Michigan teammate sends heartfelt message to Cade McNamara after the QB enters transfer portal

Cade McNamara had a roller coaster of a career at Michigan. During the 2021 season, he started for the Wolverines and led them to a Big Ten Title and an appearance in the College Football Playoff. Fast forward a year and the team is in the same position after he was bumped to the QB2 spot early in the year in favor of JJ McCarthy.

Now, McNamara’s career in the blue and maize is over as he announced today that he would be entering the transfer portal. Some may see it as a raw deal for a quarterback that led his program to unprecedented success a season ago. That’s exactly how Mike Sainristil, a senior DB for Michigan, sees it as he tweeted his support for McNamara following his decision to transfer.

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Cade my brother. I appreciate you forever, you are 100% the reason I flipped my commitment back in 2018. You told me we’d be the difference makers here and that stands true to this day. I got yo back my boy. Go be special. Love you 12 Gauge @Cademac_12

— Mike Sainristil 🍬 (@MikeSainristil) November 28, 2022

McNamara came to Ann Arbor as the nation’s No. 13 quarterback in the 2019 class. He saw some decent snaps in 2020, but 2021 is really where he made his mark. McNamara threw for 2,470 yards, 15 touchdowns, and only four interceptions on a 64.6% completion rate a year ago. Those numbers helped Michigan to their first win over Ohio State in eight years, a win in the Big Ten Championship over Iowa, and the No. 2 overall seed in the CFP.

However, several were calling for McCarthy, who was then a freshman, to start over McNamara. Those opinions only got louder heading into this season to the point where Jim Harbaugh used the Wolverine’s first three games as a quarterback competition. In the end, McCarthy won out and led us to the decision for McNamara today.

McNamara will likely find success wherever he lands next as an experienced, winning quarterback. Still, some like Sainristil will wish it could have worked out in a way that would have let him do it in a Michigan uniform.