Michigan Football: How J.J. McCarthy can win the starting job

With the recent news of both Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy starting separate games, McCarthy will go against Hawaii. If you’re McCarthy, this is the opportunity you had to be hoping for. Let’s break down some of the things McCarthy has to do to win that starting job for Michigan football and not look back.

In any other situation where there was a quarterback competition where one played and just led the team to one of their best seasons in the past 10 years it wouldn’t really be a competition.

The fact that there is a struggle to name a starter for Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh just proves how good of a player McCarthy is and how good he can become.

Do I think McCarthy is better than McNamara in this moment, no. Do I believe he can be miles and miles better than him in a couple games, hell yes.

Why J.J. McCarthy should be Michigan football’s starting QB

McCarthy does a lot of things that tick Harbaugh’s boxes, he can make something out of nothing, he has crazy arm talent, he is a sneaky athlete and runner. All of these things and more and you would think he would already be the starter by now.

What doesn’t come to light when talking about McCarthy is the growing pains that are inevitable, this was shown in the fourth quarter against Michigan State this past season with the fumbled exchange between him and Corum, that was a turning point.

This will happen though with young quarterbacks, and sometimes as a product of trying to do too much. This could happen to McCarthy as he has the ability to be a scrambling QB and as a result put the ball in harm’s way. McCarthy has not necessarily put the ball in harm’s way in the past it just may happen based on his play style.

McCarthy will have to prove to coach Harbaugh that he can run this team and manage the game as well as McNamara has. Making the right decision, knowing when to live for another down, clock management skills.

All of these things sound basic and kind of lame but they are very important for a quarterback to know. With the opportunity to start and play a whole game McCarthy will be able to control all these aspects in a way he hasn’t be able to in the past.

McCarthy needs to prove to Harbaugh that he can put the team in his hands moving forward, and he can do that September 10th against Hawaii.