JJ McCarthy not letting expectations surrounding Michigan blind him in 2023

JJ McCarthy is a bonafide leader of a very talented Michigan Wolverines football team in 2023. The expectations can be blinding to college athletes, but not to McCarthy.

The Michigan quarterback enters his third year with the team and second as a starter but this could very well be the best team of the Jim Harbaugh era. That means a Big Ten title isn’t good enough.

There has to be a national championship at the end of the year.

“I’ve been fortunate to be on a lot of really good teams, a lot of great teams my whole life,” McCarthy said. “So it’s always been what going back to my high school coach said like, don’t bite, don’t eat the cheese. I mean, all that is just expectation. Don’t let the expectations blind you from the present moment and what we’re doing right now. 

“Focus on the task at hand every single day. And then don’t let rankings or expectations (affect you). The only potential ones that matter are just the ones that are in January. So we just take it day by day.”

In his first full season as a starter under Harbaugh, McCarthy threw for 2,719 yards, 22 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 64.6% completion percentage. He also had 306 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns.

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

That type of bravado and media savviness definitely points towards McCarthy being a special talent. As far as where he’ll go in next year’s NFL Draft, it could range from late first round to a mid-round pick.

But Harbaugh expects the best out of his quarterback.

“He’s a once-in-a-generational type of quarterback at Michigan, and his progress continues to grow,” Harbaugh said of McCarthy. “Daily he’s at the top of his game right now, really in all aspects.

“Everything that he does athletically, everything that he does throwing the football are at the elite level, and 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.”