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WATCH: Sherrone Moore, J.J. McCarthy discuss Michigan Rose Bowl preparation

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•12/29/23•

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Sherrone Moore J.J. McCarthy
(Photos by Clayton Sayfie / TheWolverine.com)

LOS ANGELES — Michigan Wolverines football offensive coordinator and line coach Sherrone Moore and junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy met with the media from a Southern California hotel ball room Friday morning ahead of the Rose Bowl. Watch video of Moore in the player at the top of the screen and McCarthy in the embed below.

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Moore was asked about McCarthy and how he’s grown since last year.

“As a leader, first of all, he’s just taken the whole team by the grass and obviously he got voted MVP by his teammates, so that’s a huge piece,” the Michigan assistant said. “Then from a football standpoint he’s just blossomed and continued to play at a high level. I’m just excited to see what he does, especially after all the weeks of prep going into this week. He’s practiced phenomenal, he’s practiced fast, practiced fun. He feels good, he feels healthy, and just excited to see where he is on Monday.”

The Michigan coach was asked about the Wolverines’ ‘Beat Georgia’ drill that has now morphed into a ‘Beat ‘Bama’ period. They also run a ‘Beat Ohio’ drill to shape the mindset of the team during some of its most physical portions of practice. Michigan guard Trevor Keegan compared the level of intensity to a battle scene from the movie ‘300.’

“Yeah, pretty similar,” Moore said. “It’s a lot of pads popping, a lot of noise, loud music, a lot of violence. Sometimes there’s people on the ground; sometimes there’s not. But it’s physicality at its finest, and the players love it, the coaches love it, and I think it’s kind of molded us and built us to what we’ve been the past couple years and what we need to be going forward.”

Added Moore of whose idea it was to start those drills: “Yeah, that was [Michigan head] Coach [Jim Harbaugh]. Everybody does 9-on-7, but I think the big piece for us was making it live tackle. It was a big decision — actually you find from a safety standpoint it’s actually better than doing what people call the thud just because you have less injuries. People know they are going to tackle, they are going to run harder, they’re not going to be hesitant. Guys are going to be more physical at the point of attack. It’s been a good thing for us, and we’ll continue to do it.”

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