McCarthy sets new standard for Michigan QBs
J.J. McCarthy, the best college football player at the most important position in the history of Michigan football, was taken No. 10 overall by the Minnesota Vikings last week. Minnesota traded with the New York Jets to move up one spot in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft.
McCarthy went 27-1 as a starter for the Wolverines, won three Big Ten championships, made three College Football Playoff appearances, and capped his career with a Rose Bowl win over Alabama in which he was named the game’s MVP, and then a CFP championship game victory over Washington.
McCarthy, the first quarterback drafted by the NFL from U-M since Jake Ruddock (2016), is now the highest-selected signal-caller in program history. The only other former Michigan QB first-round selection: McCarthy’s former coach, Jim Harbaugh, who was taken No. 26 overall in 1987 by the Chicago Bears.
McCarthy represents the highest an offensive player has been drafted from Michigan since Jake Long (Miami Dolphins) went No. 1 overall in 2008. He’s the highest Wolverine picked since Aidan Hutchinson was taken No. 2 by the Detroit Lions two years ago and just the third non-lineman from Michigan on offense to go in the top 10 this century, joining Braylon Edwards (No. 3, Cleveland, 2005) and David Terrell (No. 8, Chicago, 2001).
A native of La Grange Park, Illinois, who began his high school ball at Nazareth Academy, McCarthy transferred to IMG Academy as a senior, winning a national championship. In 2020, after U-M had finished a 2-4 campaign, McCarthy sent out a social media post about the need for the fan base to take some deep breaths, that the coaching staff was working diligently and the tides would soon be turning.
He stepped on campus the next year and took over the starting role a season later. Following his arrival in Ann Arbor, Michigan went 40-3 and won three outright league titles for the first time in program history.
As a freshman, McCarthy was an understudy to Cade McNamara but was inserted in the lineup for a few plays. He played in 11 games, completed 34 of 59 passes (57.6%) for 516 yards, five TDs and two interceptions and ran 27 times for 124 yards and a pair of scores.
For all the dazzling moments he showed, his year was more notably marked by a low moment. McCarthy fumbled on his lone fourth-quarter snap in a top-10, undefeated rivalry game in East Lansing, which soon led to Michigan State’s game-winning TD and, ultimately, a crushing 37-33 loss. Michigan hasn’t lost a Big Ten game since.
The next year as a sophomore, McCarthy pushed McNamara in a quarterback competition. Harbaugh allowed each player to start at QB in the first two games of the 2022 season, and after a dazzling Week 2 performance against Hawaii in which he completed 11 of 12 passes for 229 yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers, there wasn’t much left to be said.
The 6-foot-3, now 202-pound QB won the job and later led U-M to its first road win at Ohio State in two decades and a second straight Big Ten championship. It was the first 13-win season in program history, but it ended in the CFP semifinals, where McCarthy earned the lone scarlet letter of his collegiate career.
McCarthy threw not one, but two interceptions, both pick-sixes, as TCU led 21-6 at the half. Although he would throw for a career-high 343 yards and three touchdowns, U-M was upset 51-45.
The lasting image of the season was McCarthy, staring into the falling confetti,
then leaving the postgame presser from the podium after answering just one question.
He finished his first year as a starter completing 208 of 322 passes (64.6%) for 2,791 yards, 22 touchdowns and five interceptions, to go with 306 rushing yards and five more scores.
That also proved to be the last collegiate loss he took.
McCarthy led Michigan to a perfect 15-0 season as a junior, when he finished third in the nation in QBR (88.2) and put together the best overall statistical season for a quarterback in U-M football history. He completed 240 of 332 passes (74.2%) for 2,991 yards, 22 touchdowns and four interceptions and finished as the Big Ten’s Quarterback of the Year, in the top 10 in Heisman Trophy voting, as a finalist for both the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and Archie Manning Award.
McCarthy departs Ann Arbor as the program’s career leader in completion percentage (67.6%), passing efficiency (160.5), and touchdown-to-interception ratio (with at least 20 touchdown passes; 4.5-to-1). McCarthy also set singleseason program records for interception rate (1.2%) and completion percentage (72.3%) in 2023 and finished second in pass efficiency (167.4) and touchdown passes (22).