Michigan Wolverines news: More praise for J.J. McCarthy, a possible flip of Georgia commitment, and more

In our latest Michigan Wolverines news roundup, there is more praise for Michigan football QB J.J. McCarthy, plus an attempt by U-M to flip a 2024 recruit. 

A universal theme to start the 2023 Michigan football season has been the spectacular play of quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

The Michigan Wolverines signal-caller leads the FBS in completion percentage at 87 percent. He also has five touchdown passes and zero interceptions, as well as throwing for more than 275 yards in both games, even though he only played three quarters in blowout wins.

The praise for McCarthy has been effusive. Former college football and NFL head coach Dave Wannstedt, who is now a Big Ten analyst, said this about McCarthy’s accuracy percentage: “I had quarterbacks in the NFL that we couldn’t do that against air.”

McCarthy’s accuracy has been off the charts. You can see the elite talent he possesses. His Heisman Trophy odds are growing too, but he’ll need to do the same against some better opponents before he’ll really start to gain traction, and Bowling Green this weekend probably won’t cut it.

Michigan football trying to flip a Georgia commitment in 2024

The Michigan Wolverines have suffered some recruiting hits in the 2024 class recently. Elias Rudolph flipped his commitment to Miami, but according to EJ Holland of The Wolverine, Michigan football is working on flipping Georgia wide receiver commitment Nitro Tuggle.

Tuggle is 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, and ranked 109th overall according to the On3 Industry rankings. He’s a teammate of recent Michigan football pledge Jo’Ziah Edmonds.

Tuggle visited Michigan unofficially in March. But according to Holland, the Michigan Wolverines are working to get him back on campus for an official visit. Here’s what Holland said on the Wolverine YouTube Channel this week: 

"“If you guys remember, Tuggle was a guy that was high on Michigan early on and made a visit before he ended up committing to Georgia in the spring,” Holland said. “But with Edmond committed, Michigan is going to make an effort. In fact, those efforts are already in motion. The Wolverines have been working on Tuggle. He is open to taking other official visits. He wants to make it happen this fall. If he does make other official visits, the door is certainly open for Michigan to receive one.”"

Michigan football injury updates

The Michigan Wolverines have been dealing with some injuries in the secondary but there was some positive news from Mike Sainristil, who said that Will Johnson and Makari Paige were both practicing on Tuesday. Rod Moore wasn’t quite back, but there is hope he returns this week.

It’s been concerning to me that all three players have been limited. Will Johnson played eight snaps last week and I’d like to see these guys, at least if they can, play a half or so on Saturday going into the Big Ten opener versus Rutgers.