JJ McCarthy, Blake Corum open up on how far Michigan has come from last year's CFP loss

Michigan came a long way but JJ McCarthy and Blake Corum ended it on top after two straight years of heartbreak.

Losing to Georgia and TCU in the College Football Playoff semifinals put Michigan over the top. Both players are NFL bound now, but they’ll be maize and blue legends forever.

The loss to TCU in last year’s semis was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I’d say we came a long way, but in order to accomplish things like this, you’ve got to go to those dark places where everything’s not great,” McCarthy said. “And just the response, the urgency right after that last game last year, it was different. I knew it. Just from being on the podium last year and saying we would be back. 

“I knew the guys that were coming back. I had this feeling that it was going to be where we are right now. And just all credit goes to the players on this team, everybody in that facility, Coach Harbaugh. That man, he’s the reason we’re here today. So just all thanks to him and to everybody on the team.”

JJ McCarthy, Blake Corum end Michigan careers on top

Corum could’ve went to the NFL last year. But an injury at the end of the year changed him.

Ultimately, he decided to run it back with his crew and it was worth it. Corum was one of the best running backs in college football and led the way on offense for the Wolverines.

“For me, when we all decided to come back, we knew what it took to get here, right,” Corum said. “And when we all said we were coming back, and the guys that had no other choice but to come back, we had to pay attention to details. And our strength coach actually hit on it last night when he was talking to us. 

“But it’s the little things, the details and the details we really locked in on those details all the way back to winter workouts, summer workouts, we were trying to execute at a high level and pay attention to detail. I think that’s what separated us a lot.”

Now that McCarthy and Corum are off to the NFL, things will change for Michigan. Heck, Jim Harbaugh could be there too.

So it’ll be quite the facelift in 2024, but a new standard was set in Ann Arbor. Can the success continue? It remains to be seen, but the Wolverines completed one heck of a journey.