HOUSTON – J.J. McCarthy didn’t put up gaudy stats during Michigan’s run to the national championship, but nobody who follows this program will ever forget how he helped lead it back to the pinnacle of college football.
The legend of McCarthy began long before he ever even suited put on the Winged Helmet. A five-star recruit famously snubbed by rival Ohio State in favor of Kyle McCord, McCarthy made it his mission to return Michigan to prominence.
He captained a recruiting class that included other major championship contributors like Donovan Edwards, Rod Moore, Junior Colson, Rayshaun Benny, and Tommy Doman. And he kept that class together through some very rocky times.
While McCarthy was committed to Michigan, the program wasn’t in a great place. Ohio State had just pounded the Wolverines 56-27 at the Big House to finish the 2019 season. Jim Harbaugh had yet to beat the Buckeyes. He had a losing record against Michigan State. And the trophy case was empty.
The low point was November 2020. After a shocking home loss to the Spartans and the program’s first loss to Indiana in 24 years, Michigan hosted Wisconsin for a primetime Saturday night game and got drubbed 49-11.
Michigan fell to 1-3 on the season, and many fans began to loudly wonder if it should be the final year for Harbaugh in Ann Arbor.
While that cloud of uncertainty and toxicity shrouded the program, it was a 17-year-old high schooler who stood up and spoke reason to the millions of adults who live and die with the Maize and Blue.
From 2020 ---> Michigan star QB commit JJ McCarthy holds recruiting class together despite losing streak
“I want all Michigan fans to do this: Take 3 deep breaths and have faith,” McCarthy tweeted the morning after the Wisconsin game. “Faith that every single coach, player, employee in that building is doing everything they possibly can to be great.
“This great university demands excellence. This great fan base demands excellence. Everything that surrounds this university is simply just pure drive for excellence. Know that every single person associated with the football program is striving for excellence.
“There is always light at the end of the tunnel. They will not reach that light if it is being clouded by darkness. Support is the only thing that they need right now. EVERY single one of you has the power to contribute to the GOAL. We are all in this together.”
At the time, it seemed like a simple gesture, one that could discourage decommitments through the adversity. But it was actually a sign of so much more.
McCarthy’s leadership was about to become an important pillar of Michigan’s next golden era.
How many five-star quarterbacks would dutifully sit behind a game manager like Cade McNamara for an entire year? In today’s college football landscape, almost every player in his situation would transfer, especially since McNamara had three more seasons of eligibility remaining.
But McCarthy didn’t transfer. He didn’t cause problems in the locker room. While the veteran starter grumbled about sharing a few snaps with a freshman, the freshman did what was best for his team.
We found out the following season just how much better McCarthy was than McNamara, but the stabilizing force who took over at the end of 2020 was what Michigan needed in 2021, and McCarthy was willing to put the team ahead of himself.
Even though he was clearly the better option, McCarthy didn’t complain about McNamara getting the first start of 2022. When he won the quarterback competition fair and square, McCarthy said all the right things in support of his less graceful teammate, even though he didn’t always receive the same courtesy in return.
He threw for 2,719 yards and scored 27 total touchdowns that season -- again, not numbers that jump off the stat sheet. But what did stand out: a 13-0 record, a Big Ten championship, and a blowout win over Ohio State in Columbus.
McCarthy is the unique college football player who genuinely cares more about winning than awards or draft stock. Most players repeat what they’re told to say in front of a microphone, but McCarthy actually meant it.
Critics doubt Michigan because of its passing game, but that doesn’t bother McCarthy. He just wins a whole bunch of football games. Twenty-seven of them, to be exact (out of 28 starts).
After he threw two pick-sixes in a playoff loss to TCU, McCarthy went to the podium, took responsibility, and promised that Michigan would be back. That’s not an easy thing to do, especially for a teenager with the weight of college football’s winningest program on his shoulders.
McCarthy’s presence is one of the reasons Blake Corum, Zak Zinter, Mike Sainristil, Michael Barrett, Kris Jenkins, Jaylen Harrell, and others decided to come back for one more ride. And what did they do? They put together the best season in Michigan football history.
But it wasn’t always easy. Michigan faced an incredible amount of adversity during the sign-stealing fiasco. Instead of focusing on their quest for a national title, Michigan players were forced to constantly field questions about Connor Stalions and their head coach’s suspension.
The Wolverines were incredibly fortunate to have leaders like Sainristil and Zinter and Corum. And, of course, McCarthy.
Michigan’s first true on-field test came at the height of the controversy, when the Big Ten suspended Harbaugh the night before the Penn State game despite no evidence of his involvement. At that time, McCarthy was among the betting favorites to win the Heisman Trophy.
It’s the single most prestigious individual award in college sports, but McCarthy was willing to sacrifice his candidacy to make sure Michigan beat Penn State.
He threw just eight passes for 60 yards while handing it off to Corum and Donovan Edwards 36 times. It’s the antithesis of C.J. Stroud padding stats in blowouts for Ohio State or LSU buying billboards to promote Jayden Daniels.
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That game epitomized what made this era of Michigan football so special. McCarthy buried his Heisman dreams six feet underground so his dreams of a national championship could live on. And he did it with a smile on his face.
The Wolverines are the first team in the history of the playoff to win a championship without any relevant top-10 recruiting classes. They’re nowhere close to Alabama or Ohio State on the team talent composite -- heck, they even rank behind Penn State.
So how does a team like that find a way to beat Ohio State and Alabama and win a national title? It takes experiences like losing to TCU, and a togetherness that can’t be built in just one season. But most importantly, it takes selfless leaders -- those who will switch positions like Sainristil or forfeit individual accolades like Edwards and McCarthy.
From the moment McCarthy stepped on campus, it was clear he had a special connection with Harbaugh, and now we know why. Harbaugh had found not only a special player, but a unique leader for his football program.
One who could, and did, lead Michigan back to the mountaintop.
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