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Michigan football's J.J. McCarthy should be every NFL GM's 'dream quarterback'
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- Michigan football's J.J. McCarthy should be every NFL GM's 'dream quarterback'
INDIANAPOLIS — For most, the NFL combine is a chance to get one-on-one opportunities with professional teams, to highlight what they accomplished at the collegiate level and to sell themselves as individuals about what they can do at the next level.
That's not exactly the case for J.J. McCarthy, who continued to pitch himself as "the ultimate team guy," he told media Friday morning during interviews.
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Michigan football 's former quarterback has been on hand this week —interviews with the Raiders, Broncos, Patriots, Vikings, Buccaneers, Giants, Bears, Seahawks and more — and despite the questions about how much he threw the ball at the collegiate level, how much he was asked to do and if his 6-foot-1, 190-pound frame is too slight for the next level, McCarthy has sold himself in the same way to each team he has met with.
"I would say just let them know who I am," McCarthy explained of his main goal during meetings. "It's not just putting on a front. I want them to actually understand I love the game of football, I truly love my teammates and want to do nothing but win football games.
"That's who I am, being a team guy. It's not something I'm going to start being selfish now because I have to sell myself more. I'm gonna sell myself on how much I care about my teammates. I kind of goes hand-in-hand with who I am as a person. Being selfless, caring about the guy next to me more than myself. That's just something that's innate, I really can't change."
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McCarthy put as much on display throughout his collegiate career.
While nearly all of the other top quarterbacks in this class threw more passes than he did (332 attempts) this season — Bo Nix threw 470 passes, Drake Maye threw 425, Caleb Williams threw 388, and Jayden Daniels threw 327 times (but ran 61 more times) in three fewer games — McCarthy never stressed.
"Stats, for me, wasn't really the big thing," McCarthy said. "All I cared about was being the best teammate I could possibly be, be the best quarterback I can possibly be, whatever was asked of me.
"The only stat I care about is W's and we did pretty good in that category."
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McCarthy also focused on being efficient, completing 72.3% (240 of 332 passes) for 2,991 yards, 22 touchdowns and four interceptions, but as he said, the main aim was put the team first. One example came in Michigan's first top-10 road game of the season at Penn State , when Nittany Lions edge rushers Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac started creating problems.
The Wolverines' line struggled to stay in front of them, so acting head coach Sherrone Moore and McCarthy agreed they'd need to bag their passing game and lean on the run. The Wolverines ran 32 straight times to close out the 24-15 victory .
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"That's a big one that came up," McCarthy said of his recent meetings with teams. "Letting them know the process I took during that time. Saying to my guys 'hey, this is a huge part of our quest to become national champions' so not only saying I was the only selfless one...explaining situations like that and letting them know the first three things about me.
"I'm the ultimate team guy, I want to win games and I love this game more than anything."
His two leading receivers, Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson , both spoke in the hour that followed McCarthy and gave glowing reviews of their former signal caller.
J.J. McCarthy makes a pass during open practice at NRG Stadium in Houston on Jan. 6, 2024.
Johnson credited McCarthy's mindset, combined with his physical attributes, as the reason he is projected to be Michigan's first first-round quarterback since his college coach, Jim Harbaugh, went No. 26 overall to the Bears in 1987.
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However for Wilson, it's not the ordinary, but the extraordinary that separates McCarthy from his contemporaries.
"It's amazing, expect the unexpected," Wilson said of what he learned with McCarthy. "He's going to do whatever he can to get you the ball. It's really easy to be a receiver for. The unexpected is in a good way. Like, he throws a ball and it's like, holy (expletive) he just made that throw.
"He's an unreal guy, amazing arm talent, I feel like he should be every GM's dream quarterback."
McCarthy will throw at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, however he won't participate in the vertical leap or the 40-yard dash because of some recent hamstring tightness. While McCarthy does have a few numbers he wants to achieve and attributes he'd like to show, he kept those to himself, and instead said he's focused on the process.
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Of course there are some nerves getting ready to perform on this stage, however McCarthy said the big games he played in has helped prepare him for this moment. He went 28-1 as a two-year starter, won two Big Ten championships, defeated Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Washington in the national championship.
"When you actually win the game, you experience all the sensations," he said. "It gives you so much more confidence. With experience comes wisdom and that's invaluable."
Both of those Big Ten titles came on the very field he's performing on Friday. Despite being the winningest quarterback in college this season, with a potent arm and athleticism in the pocket, McCarthy hasn't been seen as a consensus can't-miss prospect .
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His former coach, Harbaugh, said there's nobody better at the college level, but that will be determined by NFL GMs and front offices in the next seven weeks leading up to the NFL draft in Detroit . However either way, being the top QB in the draft right now is not where McCarthy's head is at.
"For me personally, I'm not worried about that," he said. "I'm worried about being my best self and worried about later down the road eventually being one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
"At the end of the day I'm going to focus on myself, on grinding every day and hopefully being one of the best."
Celebrate the Wolverines' national title with our two commemorative books: "Blue Reign " and "Maize & Grand ."
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football's J.J. McCarthy 'should be every GM's dream QB'
