Jim Harbaugh: JJ McCarthy is a 'dawg'

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is keeping it real while praising his quarterback in JJ McCarthy.

Speaking with the media while the Wolverines are among the top teams in the country, Harbaugh revealed how he would describe his quarterback. Evidently, he’s taking a page from the young people in doing so.

“It’s like the young people say, you know he’s a dawg. D-A-W-G. Disciplined athlete with grit. Put an acronym to it,” explained Harbaugh. “I thought he, that really jumped out in my mind, watching him play. He’s in total control when he’s making those kind of plays. Whether it’s, I mean they look kind of wild. Like he just doesn’t care, like he’s just got no conscience. But you know, he’s really in total control.

“The athleticism that it takes to do that is off the charts, it really is. It’s great.”

While we’ve heard the term dawg over and over, that acronym is certainly a new one. We’re not knocking it, but we’ll see if that catches on at Michigan moving forward.

As for McCarthy, he’s No. 3 in the country in completion percentage, at 77.6% through six games. The Michigan leader is also Top 10 in the country in yards per attempt. McCarthy has thrown 11 touchdowns to three interceptions — which all came in one clunker performance — and has three rushing touchdowns while averaging 6.7 yards per carry.

He’s played like a dawg all season long, and he has designs on leading Michigan back to the College Football Playoff. Time will tell, but doubt JJ McCarthy and the Wolverines at your own risk.

Joel Klatt: J.J. McCarthy is the perfect guy for Michigan

Moreover, he’s not the flashiest or putting up the gaudiest stats, but Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy is a near perfect fit for how the Wolverines want to play. At least that is how Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt sees it.

As Michigan continues to be a run-first, point-of-attack offense that turns to McCarthy only as desired or needed, the quarterback hasn’t been burning down opposing defenses with his passing. And the fact he seems perfectly content to hand it off more than throwing is part of why Klatt loves the fit.

“Their quarterback seems to care this much — flashing a big zero — zero cares, zero cares about his stats. You see if they had a guy that went there and wanted more NIL dollars, wanted to throw for, you know, lead the country in passing. Wanted to throw 40 touchdown passes. It wouldn’t work. Because a player like that would be too selfish for Michigan,” Klatt said.

As McCarthy has clicked along, so has the Michigan offense. And sitting at 6-0 without having to break much of a sweat due to the competition, it’s looking like a perfect symbiosis between team and quarterback.

“J.J. McCarthy, in a lot of ways, is the perfect guy, not just player, but guy for Michigan. Because he doesn’t care if throws it 18, 19, 20 times. Because he knows that’s why they win,” Klatt added.

On3’s Andrew Graham contributed to this article.