The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1340560
MARCH 2021 THE WOLVERINE 23 in and grab Michigan's starting job. But the elder McCarthy knows he'll compete for it like a spear-wielding man fending off sharks on a coral reef. Once he sees opponents in other uniforms, they're all fair game. "When he's on that field? Yes, he wants to cut your heart out," Jim Mc- Carthy assured. "Call it a silent assas- sin. Don't give him any locker room material, because it's going to work against you. I truly believe when he does that, and his teammates feed off that, it's going to take Michigan foot- ball to new heights. "I'm so excited to see him get into that quarterback room, learn from the upperclassmen, earn his keep, learn from Coach [Jim] Harbaugh and Coach [Josh] Gattis. He's said it before: 'Whatever it's going to take for this team to win, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to fight tooth and nail to get on that field. If it's something dif- ferent, I get it. But I'll be fighting every day to get on that field.'" The McCarthys — J.J., Jim and his wife, Megan — were at Michigan two years ago for a recruiting trip involving the Army game. Out of a chance configuration just outside of Harbaugh's Schembechler Hall office came a keeper of a photo, one that made its way into graphic status at Michigan. The family had made its way down to Harbaugh's bunker and waited for the head coach to emerge. "All of a sudden, Coach Harbaugh comes out," Jim McCarthy recalled. "He puts his fist out to J.J., and J.J. puts his fist out. He says, 'Coach, how you doing? Good to see you.' "My wife says, 'Hold on one second. Do that again.' They're like 'Okay,' looking at her weird. She says, 'No — do that again.' They do it again, and the picture right behind them doing that was the picture of [NFL legend Tom] Brady and Harbaugh. "It was completely spontaneous, how that happened. She was like, 'Wow.' When we started showing that to people, and some of the coaches, they were like, 'Wow!'" His humility notwithstanding, J.J. McCarthy didn't shy from standing in Brady's reflected glory, in a nearly identical fist bump with yet another great Michigan quarterback. He's not backing down from any- one or anything, his dad insisted. "He wants the challenge," Jim Mc- 2021 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE As a sophomore, McCarthy led Nazareth Academy to a 13-1 record and an Illinois state title, completing 182 of 240 passes (76 percent) for 3,448 yards with 39 touchdowns. PHOTO COURTESY THE MCCARTHY FAMILY 2021 Projection McCarthy will have a legitimate shot to win Michigan's starting quarterback job as a freshman, with redshirt sophomore Joe Milton and redshirt freshman Cade McNamara expected to be his main competition. Milton struggled mightily last season (a 56.7 completion percentage and 4-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio), and McNamara only has 71 career passes under his belt. Even if McCarthy doesn't come out on top for the starting job, it's feasible to see him at least earning the backup role.