Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy discusses excitement for 'huge' summer ahead

Michigan Wolverines football’s quarterback competition was put on hold a bit this spring. Sophomore J.J. McCarthy is dealing with lingering shoulder soreness from last season and was on a ‘pitch count’ during spring practices. Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Cade McNamara, the incumbent who led the Maize and Blue to the 2021 Big Ten title, has been full steam ahead and gaining on McCarthy, intent on keeping his job.

Michigan quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss said earlier this spring that the Wolverines are being ‘cautious’ so as to not turn a ‘small problem’ into a ‘big problem.’ McCarthy has been going through drills and throwing some, but he’s not full-go like McNamara and the other quarterbacks.

The summer is drawing closer, and so is a return to full participation for McCarthy. There’s still not a known timetable for when he’ll be 100 percent and back to normal, but he’s excited for the next few months before the late-July start to fall camp.

“I’ve always kept up with being in playing shape and all that, but just getting back to — because I haven’t been throwing for such a long time — getting those reps in with the guys and building that chemistry is going to be huge for me, for sure,” McCarthy said when asked about how significant this summer is for him in an appearance on the Blue By Ninety podcast.

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McCarthy’s Michigan teammates have said he’s kept his spirits high this spring. He and redshirt junior wide receiver Ronnie Bell, who’s also out after tearing his ACL last season, have been acting as player-coaches at times and helping their fellow Wolverines out during practice.

“I’m feeling great,” McCarthy said. “It’s a blessing to lace them up with these boys every single day. Whether I’m injured or not, I’m appreciative of every single second I have with these guys.”

It’s hard to keep McCarthy out of the game, even if he can’t throw. During the spring, he’s started taking reps as a holder on field goals and extra points, which is how he found himself on the field during Saturday’s Michigan spring game. McCarthy describes himself as a “football player,” and seemed to playfully shrug off his new role.

“Coach Harbaugh says, it’s just adding another tool to your toolbox, and makes your toolbox more valuable,” McCarthy explained. “Just developing that new skill is gonna be great. In the NFL, you pretty much always start off as a backup, and that’s the role that you play. That’s a skill.”

Davis Warren Discusses Spring Game Coming-Out Party

Michigan redshirt freshman quarterback Davis Warren has been one of the most-talked-about Wolverines during spring ball. The walk-on is a leukemia survivor who hadn’t played in a game since his junior year of high school. After impressing behind the scenes as the Wolverines’ scout-team quarterback last season, he finally got his shine in front of fans at The Big House and watching on television.

Warren quarterbacked the Michigan Maize team, which fell 20-12. Despite the loss, he finished the day 12-of-23 passing for 175 yards and displayed his big arm.

“Doing good,” Warren said on the Blue By Ninety podcast after the game. “That was awesome. It felt great, good to get back out there, nice to get hit a little bit, get knocked around. Felt good. Coach Weiss put in a good plan, and we were excited to go spin it around.

“It’s good to kind of show my stuff a little bit, show everyone what I got. It’s been nice.”

He’s been live in practice sometimes, but mostly has been protected. He was available to take some blows Saturday, though, and he actually enjoyed it. He relished in the trash talk with his Michigan teammates, too.

“Uppy [Michigan redshirt junior defensive end Taylor Upshaw] had some good chirps for me,” Warren said with a laugh. “I missed a ball on third down there, and he was getting into me. It was all in good fun.

“We’re a competitive group; we love to compete, and being able to compete on that stage like we do every day in practice, that’s what we love to do. It gets competitive, but never a battle. Just good fun.”

And he’s happy to finally be a bigger part of it for the Michigan Wolverines.

“Especially last year, just watching from the sideline and seeing how the game plan is going but not being able to go out there and actually do it. And now coming into the spring game and being able to game plan, we watch film, we talked about what we want to do. I think we executed pretty well on offense, so to be able to go out and see things out on the field, it was really fun,” Warren said.