Michigan Wolverines news: Jim Harbaugh wants J.J. McCarthy ‘gunslinging’, plus a drop in recruiting rankings

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh responds to J.J. McCarthy’s interceptions, plus more Michigan Wolverines news. 

Maybe the most troubling thing about the Michigan Wolverines’ 31-6 win over Bowling Green last Saturday was the fact that Michigan football QB J.J. McCarthy tossed three interceptions.

It was just the second multi-interception game of his career. The other was against TCU, but  Jim Harbaugh doesn’t seem worried at all about McCarthy. Here’s what he said on the “Inside Michigan Football” Radio Show with Jon Jansen Monday night via On3: 

"“Taking in all the film, everything that occurred — such great learning there. I’ll say this. A couple of the things are easily coachable, got ‘em coached — but I’m not ever going to make him a victim of over-coaching. I don’t want him to change. I want him gunslinging. This is a guy who’s an unbelievable competitor. I want him gunslinging. I don’t want anybody making a mistake that I’ve seen made before, where you break the stallion. To a man on our team, there’s nobody that wants to see J.J. McCarthy change the way he plays.”"

You need to have a short memory at times when you play the quarterback position. At least when it comes to the mistakes you make. You need to learn from them, but Michigan football fans don’t want McCarthy to be gun-shy.

The kid is as talented as any Michigan football quarterback since, well, maybe ever, so let him make plays. There will be some mistakes, but the great plays will overshadow those, and my concern level about McCarthy on a scale of 1-100 is about a 1.

My only worry is that those interceptions impacted his confidence, which is why I believe Harbaugh is saying that he wants J.J. to keep being J.J.

Recruiting rankings update for Michigan Wolverines

Recruiting is on the back burner a little bit for Michigan football right now, but following the flips of Jerod and Jacob Smith, as well as some ranking updates from On3.com, the Michigan Wolverines now have the 12th-ranked class via 247 Sports and the No. 15 class via the On3 industry rankings.

There are some quality players in the class, no doubt, but after back-to-back playoff appearances, Michigan football doesn’t have a single five-star committed and just three players ranked in the top 100 — Jadyn Davis, Jordan Marshall, and Brady Prieskorn.

The class still has 15 blue-chippers out of 25 commitments, but it shows how NIL (pay for play) is really impacting Michigan football recruiting and not in a positive way.

Michigan was supposed to be catching up to the Ohio State’s of the world and instead, the gap on the recruiting trail only seems to be widening.

And yes, Michigan football has won the past two years despite this. But they have also gotten big contributions from five-star players. Michigan had no prayer of winning last year in Colbums without McCarthy, Donovan Edwards, and Will Johnson last November and they were all five-stars.

The development and eye for talent at Michigan is second to none, which has helped close that gap with the elites, but you need elite talent too and the Michigan Wolverines aren’t getting enough of it right now on the recruiting trail.