Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy: "110 percent" healthy for Rose Bowl against Alabama

LOS ANGELES — J.J. McCarthy and Jim Harbaugh have this thing where they compare the injuries they’ve sustained playing quarterback. It’s a bit of one-upmanship, sort of like Quint and Hooper comparing scars in Jaws*. 

McCarthy says he and his coach did this again last week as the Wolverines prepared to face Alabama in Monday’s Rose Bowl. Harbaugh reminding McCarthy never to listen to “Freddie Soft,” Harbaugh’s version of the devil on the shoulder who tells players they’re too sore to practice hard. McCarthy, who aspires to be remembered as the same kind of QB Harbaugh was, assured Harbaugh this would never happen.

*Or a more tame version of Mel Gibson and Rene Russo comparing scars in Lethal Weapon 3.

In the process of providing this anecdote Friday, McCarthy revealed far more about how he felt during the season’s final month than he did during that month. Everyone could see McCarthy didn’t look quite himself. The typically mobile QB seemed slowed by… something. Was it a knee injury? He wouldn’t say. This led to uncharacteristic performances against Penn State and Maryland, and an efficient-but-unspectacular game against Ohio State. And while McCarthy didn’t divulge any specifics Friday, he did make a definitive declaration when asked about his health going into the Rose Bowl.

“A hundred percent,” he said. “I’d say 110 percent.”

If McCarthy is indeed fully healthy, it changes the dynamics against Alabama. A fully mobile McCarthy represents the most dangerous quarterback Alabama has faced other than Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels, the LSU signal-caller who seriously stressed the Crimson Tide defense until he was knocked out of the game following a shot to the head from edge rusher Dallas Turner in the fourth quarter. 

McCarthy at full speed has better wheels than Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne, who gained 85 yards on the ground against Alabama (but lost 28 on sacks). And McCarthy’s arm is vastly different than Thorne’s. Like Daniels, McCarthy can fit throws into tight windows and bomb away deep. If he can save a busted play with a scramble or force Alabama defenders to respect the possibility that he might keep on a read option, it opens up more possibilities in a game that features two defenses capable of smothering opponents. It also helps Michigan’s line in its second full game without guard Zak Zinter, whose gruesome leg injury against Ohio State forced right tackle Karsen Barnhart to move inside to guard and Trente Jones to take over at tackle. 

According to McCarthy, some of his blockers were dealing with pain late in the season as well.

“[Center] Drake [Nugent] was going through a little something. Keegs [left guard Trevor Keegan] was going through a little something,” McCarthy said. “Everybody was going through a little something. Being able to get that time and just let our bodies take their natural course has been tremendous. We need it for this game, too.”

Meanwhile, Tide defenders probably won’t be surprised by all a healthy McCarthy can do. They’ve had to try to contain Daniels, and they also held Ole Miss and Jaxson Dart — another effective runner with a live arm — to 10 points in a Sept. 23 win. They’ll also enter Monday with a healthy respect for McCarthy.

“Although he’s not, quote-unquote, a “running quarterback,” he has running skills so he can call runs and run them very effectively, but he can also keep plays alive in the passing game with scrambles, scrambles to throw,” Alabama defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said Friday.  “Very talented young man. And you can tell he’s very comfortable in the offense, which is key for a quarterback.”

McCarthy looks so comfortable in the offense that it feels as if he’s been in charge of it for more than two seasons. But the question looming as the Wolverines enter the single-elimination phase of the season is whether McCarthy will run Michigan’s offense in 2024.

Someone asked McCarthy on Friday if he thinks he could play in the NFL now.

“It’s a great question,” McCarthy said. “Yes, I do. But I feel like there’s so much more I could grow, so much more I could develop, just so many more things that could prepare me to play better in the NFL.”

So does that mean he’s definitely returning? Not necessarily. “I feel like I could play in the NFL right now,” he said.

With no definitive answer from McCarthy, someone took a different tack. Would Harbaugh staying at Michigan or leaving for the NFL influence his decision? What if Sherrone Moore, who served as Michigan’s acting head coach in four games this season while Harbaugh was suspended, was Michigan’s head coach in 2024?

McCarthy wouldn’t bite. He wants to try to extend Michigan’s season by one more game before considering any such questions.

“Obviously two fantastic head coaches that I would love to play for for the rest of my life,” McCarthy said. “But at the end of the day, I’m excited to play for them on Monday. And that’s all I really care about.”