LOOK: Cade McNamara photo fuels surgery speculation
This time last year, senior quarterback and team captain Cade McNamara was leading Michigan football through an 11-1 regular season and eventual Big Ten Championship. One year later, he was posting a photo on Instagram from a hospital bed.
McNamara, who has been out since Sept. 17 with a leg injury, sent out a photo on Wednesday with the caption “Here we go!” which fueled speculation that he was heading in for surgery. Earlier this season, head coach Jim Harbaugh had said he did not think the ailment would be season-ending.
“Cade, unfortunately I think his foot was caught in the ground, got hit on the side of the leg. He’s probably going to be out for a few weeks,” Harbaugh said on Sept. 17. “It’s not going to be a season-ending thing, I don’t think. He’ll miss some time.”
Without an official update as of this posting, it seems that the timeline may have been premature or that the best course of action moving forward was reconsidered.
Michigan has been rolling with sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy after winning the job after Week 2’s start against Hawai’i. He and McNamara were in a heated battle in the leadup to the season, which extended into the first 2 games.
So far this year, McCarthy has thrown for 1,615 yards, 12 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and posting an 80.7 QBR, which ranks 13th in the country. He is completing a touch under 71% of his throws on the 2022 campaign.
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Michigan’s backup quarterback in recent weeks has been sophomore Davis Warren with graduate Alan Bowman and freshman Alex Orji also staying ready in case of emergency.
McNamara started 16 consecutive games from the 2020 to 2022 seasons after replacing Joe Milton during the COVID season. He led the team to a comeback win at Rutgers in 2020 before an injury knocked him out of the Penn State game, his first career start.
Last year, he threw for 2,576 yards with 15 touchdowns and 6 interceptions on the campaign and started all 14 contests. Michigan went 12-2 on the year, beating Ohio State for the first time in 10 years and winning the program’s first Big Ten Championship since 2004. McNamara also helped lead the Michigan offense into the program’s first College Football Playoff appearance.
McNamara started the opener against Colorado State before giving way to McCarthy in Week 2. In 3 games this season, he has 180 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He was voted a captain by his teammates ahead of the 2022 season and has been on the sidelines at home games this year and has stayed engaged and around the program.
