Michigan football names Cade McNamara starting quarterback for Week 1, J.J. McCarthy for Week 2

The wait to see who Michigan will name the starter — between JJ McCarthy and Cade McNamara — ahead of the season opener Sept. 3 against Colorado State is over as head coach Jim Harbaugh announced an unorthodox plan.

The Wolverines will start McNamara for Week 1 against Colorado State, then give McCarthy the keys for Week 2 against Hawai’i.

“It’s a great thing for our team but there’s only one ball and only one quarterback can be out there at a time. So we’re not ready to say who the starting quarterback is, but the decision that we have made is that Cade McNamara will start the opener against Colorado State and J.J. McCarthy will start the second ball game against Hawaii, and then after week two we will make a decision going into week three on the starter and the backup,” Harbaugh said in a statement tweeted by the team.

QB Update pic.twitter.com/hwDJQmETQK

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) August 27, 2022

McNamara was in a battle with McCarthy all offseason before ultimately coming out on top for Week 1. The two quarterbacks split time this past season as Michigan claimed the Big Ten Championship and made an appearance in the College Football Playoff, and that arrangement will continue, sort of, for the first two games this year.

McNamara served as the official starter in 2021, throwing for 2,576 yards, 15 touchdowns and six interceptions. McCarthy, a top 100 recruit who ranked as the No. 9 quarterback in the 2021 class according to On3 Consensus, appeared in 11 games as his backup. He finished the year 34-of-59 passing for 516 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions in addition to 124 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

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Last season marked just the third time in program history that Michigan finished with 12 or more victories. Coming off of that big year, the Wolverines once again enter with high expectations at No. 8 in the preseason AP Poll. They were also picked to finish second in the Big Ten West in the conference’s preseason media poll.

Now having named its starting quarterback, the Michigan offense is ready to help the team reach those expectations. The Wolverines ranked seventh in the Big Ten with 228.7 passing yards per game this past season, and return leading receiver Cornelius Johnson. Ronnie Bell, the leading receiver in both 2019 and 2020, is also set to return to the field after suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 1 of last year.

With that in mind plus the return of running back Blake Corum, there is a lot to get excited about with the Wolverines offense for this upcoming season.