Michigan Football: 3 Reasons to believe the hype about J.J. McCarthy

Michigan football’s 2021 commit J.J. McCarthy is a five-star recruit and could become one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. Here are three reasons why you should believe that.

Michigan football commit, J.J. McCarthy, is a five-star recruit from La Grange Park, IL, where he plays football at Nazareth High School. According to 247Sports, J.J. is the No. 1 football player out of Illinois, the No. 2 Pro-style QB, and 11th in the country for the 2021 class.

Standing at 6-foot-2-inches as a sophomore, McCarthy already has the size for college ball and his verified forty and shuttle times are off-the-charts for someone at his age (4.87 forty, 4.47 shuttle).

247Sports Allen Trieu projects J.J. to be a second-round draft pick and compared the young man to legendary QB Drew Brees. Trieu also provided the following evaluation:

"Lean frame right now. Right around the average for height at the position, but needs to fill in more in the coming years. Fantastic arm talent. Can make every throw on the field, is consistent with accuracy and placement and has clean mechanics. Smart, competitive kid who has excelled in big games and big situations. Is not a big big running threat, but shows very good pocket presence, ability to escape the rush and make throws on the move. Passing skills and approach to the game scream multi-year college starter at a high-level, the main concern would be pure strength and adding bulk to his frame."

With all of that said, here are three reasons why you should believe the hype.

He’s a five-star leader

Coach Says J.J. McCarthy is a 5-star Leader Too is a fantastic article written by TMI’s Sam Webb. In it, Sam lays out his interview with J.J. McCarthy’s head coach Tim Racki.

“You see the highlights, you see the strong arm, (and) you see the athleticism. What people don’t see… and this is what I brag about all the time… are those leadership qualities for a kid his age.” Racki said. “He’s mature beyond his years. His ability to bring guys in, to make them feel comfortable, to even take the heat when it’s not even his fault… like if a receiver runs the wrong route, or a back maybe makes a misstep… he puts it on himself. Those little things that you basically see more in college than you do in high school… he has those intangibles.”

Coach Racki went on to say that in the offseason, J.J. was the one who approached him about getting better before the coach has to chance to offer up insight. Tim said that oddly enough J.J. has his own whiteboard in his basement which is helping him with his reads.

As a sophomore, McCarthy led the Roadrunners to a state title with a 31-10 win over St. Charles North in the 7A division. J.J. completed15 of 24 passes for 201 yards in the win.

He’s deadly accurate and can throw the ball a mile

At 16, McCarthy threw for 3,448 yards, 39 TD’s and only 4 interceptions. He also completed 182 passes on 240 attempts giving him a 76% completion rate. Those are insane numbers.

Check out his Hudl page here.

With a flick of his wrist, J.J. McCarthy launches a rocket 60 yards downfield to the endzone with deadly accuracy. He hits his receivers in stride and rarely misses. The guy is incredible, like starting from day one incredible.

“The top-ranked quarterback in attendance more than backed it up Saturday and Sunday,” 247Sports analyst John Garcia said about McCarthy following the 2019 NFA 7v7 National Championships. “There wasn’t a more dynamic passer through the weekend. The Michigan commitment did it even when a play looked all but wrapped up against good coverage. Throwing targets open with anticipation and pinpoint accuracy, the smooth pro-style talent made things look easy no matter the score or situation.”

Garcia went on to say that McCarthy was not “stopped on a single drive during pool play and went all but a handful in that direction even as the field narrowed to the best of the best.”

To sum up all of what Garcia had to say: the kid is crazy good.

He HATES Ohio State

Yes, that’s right, J.J. McCarthy HATES Ohio State so much that he wants to ‘kill them.’

Oddly enough McCarthy grew up a die-hard fan of the Buckeyes and dreamed about becoming their quarterback of the future. That is until the day he went to visit them and was told by Ryan Day that they won’t be offering scholarships to players in the 2021 class until the end of the summer.

Well, that’s not exactly the truth because Ohio State offered and received the commitment of another 2021 QB soon after that conversation. The QB in question is Kyle McCord whose ranked lower than McCarthy. Thanks for that Ohio State, your new head coach is doing a great job!

“I used to love them,” McCarthy told The Athletic ($) “Now I want to kill them.”

In a few years, McCarthy will have the opportunity to fight for the starting role. When J.J. arrives, Joe Milton will be a senior and Cade McNamara will be a junior. JD Johnson is the only other quarterback commit and beyond that, it doesn’t look like there will be anymore. Not unless they want to be a backup.

The future is bright for the men in maize and blue.