J.J. McCarthy reveals how Jim Harbaugh's own QB experience aids him most

It’s no secret that the bond between Michigan’s head coach and quarterback is a close one. J.J. McCarthy has not been shy about his love of playing for Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines head man has shared lofty praise of his quarterback.

Speaking with reporters on a conference call on Wednesday, McCarthy dished on how their connection is so strong. It helps that Harbaugh himself has been exactly where McCarthy is now, as the starting quarterback for Michigan.

“I can’t really pick out one way that he helps me. It’s just his overall presence, being in whatever situation that arises he’s been there before and just having somebody that can kind of — I can look to after a great play, a bad play, like the first play of the game that like I was expecting to get chewed out and all this, but with Coach Harbaugh, it was just, ‘Hey, man, it’s good you got that out of your system, let’s roll out.’ It’s just little stuff like that where coaches that haven’t been in that situation before or haven’t had the experience of playing in the Rose Bowl would maybe just get emotionally off balance and just start freaking out at their quarterback. That’s not him,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy also shared that even minor things like Harbaugh pounding on his shoulder pads before the game and his general presence on the sideline help him.

It’s not just one thing, he said, but the overall bond they’ve built over three seasons.

“Just little stuff like him hitting me before the game with — just getting me ready, getting me into it just physically, and then just little words of advice that he gives every single game day. I’d say it’s not one thing in particular, just his overall presence being out there,” McCarthy said.

Harbaugh had high praise for his quarterback after a Rose Bowl win

There was no shortage of pressure, leverage moments or high stakes on Monday night in the Rose Bowl as Michigan triumphed in overtime, 27-20, over Alabama. And speaking on a conference call ahead of the national championship game, Harbaugh raved about how McCarthy and the rest of the Wolverines responded to pressure-packed moments.

From shaking off an early near-interception to piloting a game-tying drive with fewer than five minutes left, McCarthy delivered when the Wolverines needed it most. And that placid mindset amid all the chaos wasn’t exclusive to the quarterback, Harbaugh said.

“Like I said, the pressure moments, I thought our team handled extremely well. Well as they can be handled. J.J., tremendous in the way he handled the pressure moments in the ball game. I’m really proud of — there’s a few guys who had a bad play in the game. J.J., on the first play of the game, he was clearly throwing the ball away and I can tell you, having made a bad play in a football game, it’s like a train going through your head. You just almost see red. It’s like a deafening siren and there’s a lot of guys that will hang their head and go into the tank, get that deer in the headlights look,” Harbaugh said. “But every guy that had that happen to them in our game came back and made a phenomenal play after.”