The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MAY 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 19 coaching staff has asked itself often how much more it can put on McCarthy's plate. "It's a really good question," head coach Jim Harbaugh said. "And some- thing I've really thought about. I look at J.J.'s first whole season as a starter and all the things he faced. Good, bad, cheered, booed. Hit, run, throw — everything he did, it's about as good as you could be. As a first-year starter, no question about it. I don't think anybody has ever seen any- thing — I haven't seen anything like that, first-year starting quarterback, 13-0 on Christmas and we've never been unde- feated at Christmas. And then I call that a season for him. "The TCU game in itself I think was practically like a whole season of experi- ence. Because of all the things that hap- pened. Behind, come back, really behind, come back, really good. Every up-down hit. He was just in so many football situ- ations in that game, it was almost like a whole season." McCarthy thinks his head coach hit the nail on the head and that the TCU game helped accelerate his development. "There's so much you could learn from, especially emotionally," McCarthy said. "Going through that game, now I can have a reference point if there is a game where we're down and we're fight- ing and they just keep hitting us back with more counterpunches. I'll know how to react to it, and I won't let emotions take control like they did last time." Offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Sherrone Moore has a great relationship with McCarthy dating back to high school and has had a front row seat to the matura- tion and growth of his QB1. "To watch him and his progres- sion, his confidence after being a full-year starter has been something really cool to see," Moore said. "You can see his bravado, you can see how he carries himself, the control, the command of everything he has in the offense. It's turned up to that next level you would think it would; just excited to see him just keep progress- ing and keep growing." McCarthy's growth has been aided by the extra push he gets from quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell, who was elevated to a full-time role after spending last season as an analyst. "I absolutely love Kirk," McCarthy said. "Not just the fact that he's a wizard in the pass game and with developing QBs — just because he's a great friend, a great brother. And when you could have that relationship with a coach, they can push through so many limitations and exceed expectations with my growth and his. "That's the thing: We feed off each other, and it's really special. Extremely grateful to have him here." "I'm a big fan of Kirk," Moore said. "Kirk actually worked hand-in-hand with me a lot last year. So, it was easy for me to know. And he has already gained the trust of everybody in the building. For [Jim Harbaugh], it was pretty easy. Coach saw it and understood what his value was to the program. So, it was very easy for us to make that change for us to be suc- cessful." Campbell has not shied away from be- ing vocal on the field and using the oppor- tunities for live instruction. In the past, the quarterbacks may have gone through practice and been evaluated after the fact. Campbell is giving the Michigan passers real-time feedback. "It feels like he's like me on the field coaching the quarterbacks. He's ripping them. It's great, I love it," Moore joked. "He does a really good job. He's ex- tremely detailed. He works extremely hard. He's on top of them. He corrects them. He coaches them extremely hard. But just like I do with the linemen, he loves them hard. And they know, they understand that it's not the tone, it's the message, and they're responding. They're responding well, and they've just taken off and he's done an incredible job with them." The differences between Campbell and his predecessor, Matt Weiss, have been felt immediately. Michigan's QBs are ap- plying lessons on the field when they hap- pen. There has been a palpable shift in vibe and personality, too. "Coach Weiss hit me with more of a stoic approach of, 'OK, let's break this down in meetings and all that,'" McCar- thy said. "Kirk is, 'Let's break it down on the field right now, and let's get to the root of it right away.' He has this live energy to him that we all gravitate toward. He's very relatable to us, so it's really awesome to just be open and vulnerable with him. It makes it easier for us to grow, because that's the biggest place where you need to grow. "Even from last year, from the get-go. He was definitely limited because he was an analyst, but I just felt it from him with every conver- sation we had, and he helped a lot last year, too, so it's been a pretty organic transition." All of the attention turns now to making sure another loss in the Col- lege Football Playoff does not hap- pen. The seeds were firmly planted in spring ball. "Good or bad experience, I'm al- ways going to try to use it as fuel," McCarthy said. "Something like that, that's just a lot of fuel that was added to the tank. It propelled me and just an exponential growth this past offseason. Definitely reap- ing the benefits in spring ball right now." ❏ McCarthy started the final 13 games of the season in 2022, throwing for 2,719 yards with 22 touchdowns and 5 intercep- tions while guiding Michigan to the Big Ten championship. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL ❱ Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore "To watch him and his progression, his confidence after be- ing a full-year starter has been something really cool to see. … It's turned up to that next level you would think it would."