How much more can Michigan put on J.J. McCarthy's plate? Jim Harbaugh has 'really thought about' it
Michigan football got one of its most accomplished seasons out of a first-year quarterback starter in 2022 with J.J. McCarthy. The sophomore led the Wolverines to a 13-0 record, a win over Ohio State and Big Ten Championship before losing to TCU in the College Football Playoff.
McCarthy enters the offseason as Michigan’s unquestioned leader at quarterback without legitimate competition for the job. His dual-threat skill set mixed with the arm talent and poise he brings to the table make him the complete package and Harbaugh’s best at the position since arriving in Ann Arbor.
His leadership makes him an easy candidate to be a future captain at Michigan. Harbaugh hopes that players will continue to march to the beat of his drum.
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“J.J. McCarthy is the starting quarterback,” Harbaugh said on Thursday afternoon at Schembecher Hall to speak on the first week of Michigan spring practice. “Tremendous physical ability and athletic ability and in every single way that you would want your quarterback. The rare thing is that he would sacrifice anything for any player on this team. Personally, he’s just so willing to do whatever is best for the team. I would follow him anywhere happily. I suggest that all players on our team do the same thing. He’s just really, really good at it.
“As far as anything you tell him, I mean, any coaching point that you give, he just he absorbs it and will make the correction immediately. It’s tremendous.”
Michigan wants to control the line of scrimmage and bully its opponents on the ground, but McCarthy’s big arm and mobility are weapons that the Wolverines have still yet to fully unleash. The closest it came was during the stretch run without running back Blake Corum. McCarthy’s abilities darn near single-handedly led to Michigan’s win over Ohio State. His 395 (343 passing, 52 rushing) total yards and 3 touchdowns in the College Football Playoff loss to TCU was almost enough to flip U-M’s fortunes in that game.
The silver lining to having Michigan’s offensive identity challenged late last year was McCarthy being thrown into the fire. It has Harbaugh wondering just how much more it can put on his quarterback’s plate.
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“Well, it’s a really good question,” Harbaugh said. “And something I’ve really thought about. I look at J.J.’s first whole first season as a starter and all the things he faced. Good, bad, cheered, booed. Hit run, throw — everything he did, it’s about as good as you could be. As a first-year starter, no question about it. I don’t think anybody’s ever seen anything — I haven’t seen anything like that, first-year starting quarterback. 13-0 on Christmas and we’ve never been undefeated at Christmas. And then I call that a season for him.
“The TCU game in itself I think was practically like a whole season of experience. Because of all the things that happened. Behind, come back, really behind, come back, really good. Every up-down hit. He was just in so many football situations in that game, it was almost like a whole season. So it was really good.
“This program has become like — good. OK, we lost that game, but it drives us, it makes us even more hungry. Something else comes up — good. We’ll work on that, we’ll fix that.”
McCarthy started the final 13 games of the season for Michigan, throwing for 2,719 yards with 22 touchdowns and 5 interceptions and 70 rushes for 306 yards and 5 scores. FanDuel lists his Heisman Trophy odds at +3000 for the 2023 season.
