Looking ahead to next season, here are five reasons why J.J. McCarthy should be Michigan football’s starting quarterback this fall.
As we are a little over three months from the start of college football, we know that there are still so many things to talk about and break down.
One of the most interesting battles that will come in training camp this year is Michigan football’s quarterback competition.
Now that J.J. McCarthy has healed up quite well and should be ready for fall camp, here are five reasons why he should be the starter on September 3rd:
Schedule
What better way for McCarthy to get into a groove as the starter than against some really bad opponents?
Michigan football has four straight home games against Colorado State, Hawaii, UConn, and Maryland. All of those opponents combined to go 17-33 last year.
All of those games should be easy wins for Michigan, and as we’ve seen from last year, JJ needs some live reps to heat up to get better and better.
With all of that being mentioned, the next opponent in Week 5 is Iowa on the road at Kinnick (probably at night) so having some easier games under his belt before going on the road at Iowa will give JJ some more confidence and reassurance.
Scheme
I’ve already written about it, but if all things go according to plan, this year we should all see Michigan football’s most explosive offense, with the potential for it to be elite.
Listen, I love Cade McNamara, and I’ve made that known before, and he will forever be remembered at Michigan, but we all know what Cade is at this point. He’s a good quarterback that has limited upside.
There’s nothing at this point that shows me that McNamara has improved in any areas aside from taking care of the ball. And even still, the type of player he is does not typically win big games unless they are extremely gifted in some other area(s).
I just don’t see that with Cade. For pretty much three years now, he has shown us what his strengths and weaknesses are. One off-season of work won’t just magically make all these weaknesses disappear.
With McCarthy, there’s fear of the unknown, yes, but we haven’t seen the best of him yet. That has to excite a lot of people. His potential is through the roof, and this is the perfect offense to tailor his skill set.
After years of not having quite enough playmakers on offense to truly be a difference-maker, Michigan football finally has that this year, with an embarrassment of riches that is rivaled only by Ohio State in the conference.
Donovan Edwards, Blake Corum, Ronnie Bell, Andrel Anthony, Cornelius Johnson, Darrius Clemons, Erick All, Luke Schoonmaker, etc.
To unlock this sleeping giant offense, Michigan needs to play McCarthy.
It’s funny because even OSU fans and other fanbases can see that JJ is good. Not all of them want to admit it, but they are terrified of his potential.
If put in the right offense, McCarthy can be better than C.J. Stroud and is the best QB in the Big Ten, and it’s not even close. I don’t think I’m a homer for saying that.
Versatility
Can you imagine all the things that Michigan can do with McCarthy on offense? The dude is an absolute chess piece that can be moved all across the line in various pass or run formations.
Just the threat of him on the field makes the opposing defense have to completely change their scheme or personnel, be disciplined, and run commit, because of how fast and athletic he is as a quarterback.
Michigan football can utilize JJ in a bunch of different ways, as he can line up in the wildcat formation, he can be flexed as a Z or X receiver, you can run a triple option with him, etc.
Michigan already runs an NFL type of offense, so the potential to use McCarthy all over the field like in a real NFL offense should make OC Matt Weiss very excited, and I hope he does.
He came from the Ravens after all, and they have Lamar Jackson, don’t forget, so his background working with mobile QBs should only help.
Athletic ability
As I kind of touched on in the last reason, JJ has tremendous athletic traits. He is very mobile, which is something McNamara can’t claim.
I mean it showed throughout the year last year, and even in the Orange Bowl against Georgia. Yes, 95% of Michigan’s team did not play well at all, that’s obvious.
But also, there were plays where McCarthy completely outran the fastest and most dominant defense in the country.
Yes, the game was long out of reach, and yes, most of the backups were probably in for Georgia but still. Those guys were still mainly four and five stars, and JJ made them look silly.
If McNamara had even a little more mobility, he could’ve potentially bought a few extra seconds when the blitzes kept coming, and completed some extra passes, possibly keeping Michigan in the game for a little while longer earlier in the game.
Michigan hasn’t had a running threat QB of this caliber since at least Denard Robinson. You could argue Devin Gardner since he was the last true “dual-threat” Michigan had, but Denard Robinson was a true difference-maker.
You need guys like that on the team once in a while. The game is evolving, and now more than ever, successful teams have a quarterback that can at least be a threat to rush the football on any given play.
Recruiting
I don’t know if anybody has noticed, but Michigan football is struggling mightily on the trail to recruit Dante Moore and CJ Carr. Those guys are literally in Michigan’s backyard, and they are failing right now.
Listen, we don’t know if we can even get one of these guys, so holding onto McCarthy has to be a priority. If that means starting him when he isn’t quite ready or starting him over a more safe option in McNamara, so be it.
If Dante or CJ don’t pick Michigan, when do you think the next five-star QB will come to Ann Arbor? Michigan hadn’t had a five-star QB recruit since Ryan Mallett way back in ‘07, so it was beyond time to finally get one.
All of us have complained about the lack of the difference-maker at QB, and then when one finally comes, they still want to roll with the low-upside option. I don’t get it. He’s right there, waiting for the opportunity to take Michigan’s offense to the next level.
The Bottom Line
JJ is extremely loyal. He really wants Michigan to succeed and he truly loves the fanbase and the school. Almost any other QB would’ve entered the transfer portal by now.
Also, there’s the benefit of a secret weapon. Now that Cade had a year of starting under his belt, other Big Ten teams have more game film on him to scout and dissect, and be better prepared for Cade’s strengths.
With JJ, he still has the benefit of anonymity since he wasn’t utilized a ton last year, so there’s a lot less game film on him, and Michigan was pretty vanilla with him when they did use him last year, so that element of surprise also factors in.
If Cade still wins the starting job, hats off to him, because he earned it, as nothing is ever given, but JJ’s patience will eventually wear thin, and if Michigan eventually loses him to the portal, they can only blame themselves.
Again, this isn’t a Cade-hating post. I love Cade and want him to succeed for himself, but JJ can truly thrive in this offense and Michigan could finally have an offense that can keep pace with any team.