Michigan football: Jim Harbaugh on J.J. McCarthy's 'new toy,' 'tremendous receivers,' more

Michigan Wolverines football handled Michigan State, 29-7, Saturday night at The Big House. The Maize and Blue did so behind a dominant rushing attack that produced 276 yards and a defense that held the Spartans to 252 total yards and 11 first downs.

Junior running back Blake Corum passed the 1,000 rushing yard milestone and is up to 1,078 for the season after racking up 177 yards on a career-high 33 carries. He had both of Michigan’s two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving.

“It’s too late to say he’s ‘emerging’ as a Heisman finalist, an MVP candidate,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said Monday night on the Inside Michigan Football radio show. “He’s already that. Over 100 yards each of the Big Ten games. Thirty three carries in this last ball game.

“Just another tremendous performance by him, whether he’s running the ball, blocking, doing it all, really, for our football team. Short-yardage, first down, second down, third down. What a player.”

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Sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy didn’t get as many headlines after this one, but Harbaugh lauded his play in multiple areas. He went 15-for-25 passing for 167 yards and 1 touchdown, a flip to Corum that was essentially a handoff.

“I just see him getting better and better every game, whether it’s at home, on the road — in all situations,” the Michigan coach said of his quarterback. “Third down was huge. 

“Quarterback efficiency in this game was really good again. But a huge difference, we converted on some third downs, kept drives alive. Four-, five-, six-minute drives. Time of possession — 40 minutes. And a big part of that was converting those third downs and getting a new set of downs.

Perhaps the best aspect of McCarthy’s performance was his rushing, which produced 50 yards on 7 carries. He had rushes of 21, 16 and 12 yards. The 16-yard gain was a scramble up the middle on 4th and 3 that kept a Michigan drive alive, leading to a field goal.

“Sometimes, J.J. did it throwing the intermediate pass — 13-, 15-, 16-, 20-, 28-yard gains, but also running with the football, a 22-yard gain, 16-yard gain, to move the chains,” Harbaugh continued. “He did it in a very, very efficient manner.”

The way in which McCarthy uses his mobility is improving, too, Harbaugh explained.

“As he plays his game, as he learns what his game is, those things … hey, here’s a new toy,” the Michigan coach said. “‘I can run; I can go pick up this first down.’ They’re in man-to-man coverage, and away he goes. He’s so quick and fast. You can really see some of that speed.

“We’ve seen him do it when he escapes the pocket to the right or the left. I call that a front door or a back door. But now he’s getting up and scrambling in the ‘A’ gap or the ‘B’ gap, straight up the field when there’s a running lane. It’s really becoming a checkdown. Instead of throwing the checkdown, he’s becoming the checkdown — and he’s got the athletic ability to do that.

“The other one was when he stepped out of the free rusher. He had a free rusher in his face that didn’t get blocked, but he was able to duck, dive a little to the left and then come out running with his eyes downfield. He hit [graduate tight end] Luke Schoonmaker down inside the 10-yard line.”

‘Tremendous receivers’

Michigan’s passing attack has been efficient, producing 8.4 yards per attempt, but it hasn’t been used all that much. The Wolverines are averaging 26.5 passes per game, which ranks tied 111th nationally.

Graduate wide receiver Ronnie Bell ranks ninth in the Big Ten with 60.3 receiving yards per game, but he’s the only Wolverine who slots better than 30th in the Big Ten in that category. Schoonmaker is 30th with 37.4.

Host Jon Jansen asked Harbaugh if he wants to get his Michigan receivers involved more in the game plan.

“We’ve got tremendous receivers,” Harbaugh said. “One week, Ronnie Bell gets targeted 13 times and has 11 catches, [senior] Cornelius Johnson has a big game. Another game, Luke Schoonmaker has a big game. [Sophomore] Andrel Anthony — I’d like to see Andrel, we all would, get some more targets, and I think that’s going to happen. [Junior] A.J. Henning contributes a ton. [Junior] Roman Wilson’s had big games — two-touchdown games.

“Every guy isn’t going to have the 13-target game, each game. It’s just not possible. But our guys are playing very unselfishly. If they don’t have the ball, they are willing blockers. Blake Corum — some of the days, some of the big runs … you don’t have a plus-50 run without the wide receivers blocking, not only on the perimeter, but the safeties. And again, you see Ronnie Bell, you see Cornelius Johnson, Roman Wilson — they are so good when it comes to blocking on the edge, but also blocking safeties. And safeties, as you know, those guys are much stouter than the corners.”