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Wolverine TV: Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy talks weight gain, spring practices

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•03/16/23•

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J.J. McCarthy
(Photo by Clayton Sayfie / TheWolverine.com)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines football junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy met with the media Thursday afternoon, with U-M halfway through spring practices ahead of an April 1 scrimmage at The Big House. He discussed his weight gain this offseason, how practices are going and more.

“I was playing at like 193 last year, and now I’m at like 207, 205, fluctuating,” McCarthy said.

“It’s just helping with my growth — bigger, stronger, faster every single year. Just trying to improve those areas of my game. I don’t know how it’s going to improve it, but I know it’s going to be even better.”

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said recently that McCarthy went through an entire season’s worth of experience just in the 51-45 loss to TCU in the Fiesta Bowl alone. McCarthy agrees and believes he can learn from it.

“I think it was exactly that,” the Michigan quarterback said. “He couldn’t have said it better. There was just so much you can learn from, especially emotionally, going through that game. Now I can have a reference point if there is a game that we’re down and we’re fighting and they just keep hitting us back with more counter punches. I’ll know how to react to it, and I won’t let emotions take control like they did last time.”

McCarthy didn’t participate in Michigan’s spring practices last season, out with a shoulder injury. The starting signal-caller job is now his, he’s healthy and building off the 2022 campaign into the future.

“It’s been absolutely amazing — just effortless,” McCarthy said of this spring. “It feels like everything is in harmony. Being able to be solidified as the guy, it’s a complete honor, and I’m happy that I worked to get that position. It’s just been so much easier to be on the same page as the guys that I’m going to be throwing to coming into this season, and building off that chemistry has been amazing.”

Watch video from the Michigan quarterback’s press conference below.

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