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Newsstand: J.J. McCarthy doesn't need to be 'Superman' in 2023

Anthony Broomeby:Anthony Broome•07/04/23•

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Michigan football could be made or broken by what it gets from its offense in 2023, but it may not need sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy to be the savior. On3’s Andy Staples discussed his role with The Wolverine’s Chris Balas in a recent video.

“One thing I thought was interesting about The Game last year, McCarthy at that point had not been asked to really carry the offense, to win them a game,” Staples said. “He had to do that against Ohio State and he did,” Staples said. “How much has he grown, and what else can he do? Because a lot of times, they didn’t need him to be Superman. They just needed him to manage the game, and hand off.”

Balas agreed, and shared how he sees his role heading into the new year.

“J.J. McCarthy took a huge step in the spring, to the point where he said we’d give him ten plays and we’d say, ‘Okay, that’s enough JJ. Go over there and get some water and relax,’ because he’s so good,” Balas said. “So against teams like Georgia, as we’ve seen with Ohio State, you’re going to have to be able to air it out. You hope that you have the wide receivers to do it. Cornelius Johnson comes back after a big game against Ohio State. You think maybe him, Roman Wilson. But are they those guys that can really move the needle in those big games? We’re going to find out.

“But J.J. has all the skills. Great runner, but more than anything he’s a great leader, and one thing about him is he doesn’t care how many yards he throws for. He just wants to win. He was devastated. He had 343 yards against TCU, but he also had those two big pick-sixes, which he says still haunts him to this day. But he’s got all the skills. He’s going to be an NFL guy, high round draft pick at some point.”

Tweets of the day

Michigan quote of the day

“Rudolph was once a borderline five-star prospect before dropping all the way down to a three-star in the latest On3 rankings update. The other three services have him ranked as a four-star prospect, with both ESPN and Rivals having him inside their respective Top 250s. Rudolph is a tough recruit to grade. He’s more likely to hit his ceiling at a place like Michigan, but I still have some question marks. I would rank him as a low four hovering around the Top 300.”

– The Wolverine’s EJ Holland on newest Michigan EDGE commit Elias Rudolph

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