Michigan Football: J.J. McCarthy off to impressive start at Elite 11

J.J. McCarthy, the gem of Michigan football’s 2021 class, took part in the Elite 11 which started Monday and here’s how he did.

Representing Michigan football at the Elite 11 competition, which began Monday, was five-star quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the top-rated recruit in the Wolverines 2021 class.

McCarthy has been committed to Michigan football for more than a year now and not once has he shown any signs of wavering. And on Monday, McCarthy was impressive, according to reports and the first thing to take notice of was his size.

According to EJ Holland of Rivals ($), McCarthy was nearly 6-foot-3 and weight 190 pounds. Holland said McCarthy was around 197 when he did a private workout with him, but overall, he’s added close to 20 pounds and should continue to bulk up some. Size isn’t an issue.

In terms of how he threw the football, Holland heaped praise on McCarthy, and here was a part of what he said about the day one performance:

"“McCarthy had a really strong Day 1 of the event. Other than being up and down on some throws in the red zone, I thought McCarthy was pretty much on point, especially as the night wore on, and he was asked to make more difficult throws.”"

Holland also said that McCarthy compared favorably to Ohio State commit, Kyle McCord, the quarterback Ohio State chose over J.J. Both players had good days, but Holland did say McCarthy had more “wow” throws.

Here’s a glimpse of McCarthy’s day-one evaluation from 247 sports Josh Newkirk ($:

"“Based on his group, he looked like one of the better quarterbacks there. He made it to the top-five in a friendly competition to end the day one of the camp. But he definitely asserted himself in day one. He could separate himself on Tuesday, where they’re supposed to do the pro day drill. But so far, so good for McCarthy.”"

It will be interesting to see how McCarthy does the rest of the week and if he can actually win the competition. J.J. is ranked as the second pro-style quarterback in the 247 composite rankings and he’s listed as a five-star for a reason.

He still has something to prove though. He only has four stars from Rivals at this point but with more solid work at the Elite 11, that could be changing soon.