ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Since the moment J.J. McCarthy committed to Michigan football as a high schooler, fans have anxiously awaited the day he takes over and gives the Wolverines their first star quarterback in a decade.
That day has arrived, and midway through the 2022 season, McCarthy has certainly lived up to the five-star hype.
Before Michigan kicked off Saturday against Indiana, the television broadcast showed a perhaps misguided graphic comparing parts of McCarthy’s game to Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and Tom Brady.
OK, full disclosure: If you expected the 19-year-old to be a combination of two of the greatest quarterbacks in history and two of the top players in today’s game, I’ll concede, you might be underwhelmed by what he’s done so far.
But really, that’s the only way anyone could be disappointed. Because McCarthy has been even better than Michigan could have hoped.
Through six games -- five as the starter -- McCarthy is completing 78.3% of his passes for an average of 9.6 yards per attempt. He’s thrown just one interception compared to nine touchdowns while using his legs not only to move the sticks, but also to keep plays alive and find teammates downfield.
Is he Patrick Mahomes? No, but he can certainly improvise and turn broken plays into big gains. Is he Aaron Rodgers? Not a chance, but he has a strong enough arm to hit receivers anywhere on the field. Is he Tom Brady? Absolutely not, but he’s done a nice job captaining the different elements of Michigan’s offense.
For as great as McCarthy has been and as long as Michigan fans have waited, the celebration of his play seems a bit... muted. Maybe it’s because his former five-star recruiting ranking set the bar too high? Or maybe people just want to see him do it against a top-tier opponent like Penn State?
Whatever the reason: Stop waiting. It’s time to acknowledge that Michigan finally has the quarterback fans have been waiting so long to see under Jim Harbaugh. Fans waiting to see him fail might not appreciate what they’ve got until he’s long gone.
On Saturday, for the first time, McCarthy was asked to go out and win a close game for the Wolverines. Indiana committed to slowing Michigan’s reliable rushing attack, holding Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards to a combined 89 yards on 31 carries after Corum’s first 50-yard scamper.
McCarthy responded with his first 300-yard passing performance, a trio of touchdowns, and a surgical second half that saw Michigan methodically turn a 10-10 dogfight into a 21-point victory.
McCarthy has shown new signs of maturity each week. In his first Big Ten start, he engineered three fourth-quarter scoring drives to stave off an upset bid by Maryland. At Iowa, he knew the game plan was to possess the ball and avoid mistakes, so he dinked and dunked for an efficient 155 yards on 18-of-24 completions.
Saturday’s challenge was bouncing back from his first interception of the season. Michigan had the ball in the red zone with a seven-point lead, so even a field goal would have put the Wolverines up two scores. But McCarthy tried to force a ball to Ronnie Bell in the end zone, and it was tipped up and intercepted.
How did he respond? By completing 10 straight pass attempts for 104 yards and two touchdowns between the pick and the end of the game.
McCarthy’s talent is easy to see, whether he’s airing it out, throwing on the run, or avoiding sacks with his legs. But his control of the offense and ability to move on from mistakes is just as impressive, considering he’s new to this whole “starting quarterback at the University of Michigan” thing.
The last three weeks have proved that for all his physical gifts, McCarthy also has the innate ability to play whatever role Michigan needs to win on a given Saturday, be it game manager or mini-gunslinger.
Saturday will be a massive test because Penn State is one of the top teams in the country. But based on what we’ve seen so far, Michigan’s offense is in capable hands. It’s time to see what else McCarthy has in store.