J.J. McCarthy delivering precise passes — and converts — for Michigan football

Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of J.J. McCarthy’s coronation as Michigan football’s starting quarterback, when he was handed the keys to Jim Harbaugh’s Sherman tank of an offense and told to simply stay the course. Gifted as he was, McCarthy didn’t have the experience and know-how at the time to take the Wolverines in a different — maybe better, certainly more exciting — direction. But he does now.

McCarthy has blossomed before everyone’s eyes into one of college football’s most intriguing players with his tantalizing mix of athleticism, arm strength and accuracy. All of it was on display again Saturday as the Wolverines tore through UNLV in a 35-7 rout, causing teammate Roman Wilson to marvel at the quarterback’s latest tour de force.

“Look at him, bro,” he said, shaking his head ever so slightly. “He’s playing really good out there…There’s nothing more to talk about. It’s been, like, perfect.”

U-M GRADES: Solid marks for pass game prowess, defensive dominance

So far this season, McCarthy has generated a completion percentage of 87.2% and averaged 279 passing yards per game, posting near-identical stat lines in his first two outings of 2023. On Saturday, McCarthy carved through the hapless Rebels with surgical precision, calmly cycling through his progressions, locating receivers in open zones and then delivering them one precise pass after another. He hit on 22 of his 25 attempts, flirting with flawlessness. On one of McCarthy’s most impressive throws, a 20-yard dart to Cornelius Johnson in the second quarter, CBS announcers Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson shouted in amazement

They were the latest ones to be awe-struck by McCarthy’s exploits.

In practice, trusted assistant Jay Harbaugh remembers so many of McCarthy’s passes zooming just beyond well-positioned defensive backs before arriving in the hands of their intended targets. Frustrating as it may have been for Harbaugh and the safeties group he supervises, he saw the bigger picture, imagining what Michigan’s passing attack could look like if McCarthy replicated this kind of performance in games.

“So, we saw this coming a little bit,” said Harbaugh, one of the Wolverines' two acting head coaches Saturday.

But few envisioned McCarthy’s development would be this marked, and his influence on the offense so pronounced, at this point in his career. The Wolverines, after all, cultivated a physical, old-school, smash-mouth identity with a ground attack that powered their run to consecutive Big Ten titles while seeding the program’s current golden age.

Last season, head coach Jim Harbaugh had opportunities to unleash McCarthy and give him the license to let it rip. Yet he rarely did. Look no further than Michigan’s dominating win over a wilting Nebraska team nearly 10 months ago. The Wolverines hammered the Cornhuskers by 31 points, but McCarthy played only a bit role in the rout, as he completed just eight passes for 129 yards. Asked why the passing game was so limited against an inferior opponent, head coach Jim Harbaugh replied, “There’s two ways to go: You can go by air, or you can go by the ground. Today was a day we chose to go more on the ground.”

Less than a year later, that decision doesn’t seem as obvious. Thanks to the rapid development of McCarthy, the Wolverines, in both mind and spirit, appear more flexible than they have been in their recent past under Harbaugh. They are eager to tap his vast skill-set and extract as much as they can. He has expanded the dimensions of an offense where the main source — the running game — hasn’t quite hit its stride and has been both outproduced and overshadowed by McCarthy’s contributions.

Never was that more apparent than in the second quarter, when McCarthy guided the Wolverines to the cusp of the red zone on Michigan’s third possession. It was during that procession when McCarthy sent Nessler and Danielson into a tizzy with his eye-popping throw to Johnson. But soon thereafter, the Wolverines were derailed when McCarthy reverted to a supporting role, handing the ball twice to Donovan Edwards and once to Blake Corum during a fruitless segment resulting in a turnover on downs.

As deflating as the outcome was, it provided a teachable moment: Give McCarthy the ball and let him work. So, the coaching staff did just that on the Michigan’s ensuing drive, and McCarthy delivered the desired results. After Michigan crossed into UNLV territory, McCarthy was directly involved in five of the next six plays, throwing and scrambling as the Wolverines advanced farther and farther. Then, as Michigan approached the end zone, he snapped off a pass to Wilson for a 13-yard touchdown that caused U-M fans to roar with delight.

“With every game, I just get more and more comfortable and it’s still going up,” McCarthy said afterwards. “I feel like there’s still a big gap for me to improve.”

But in the here and now, McCarthy is doing just fine. On Saturday, he once again reminded everyone how far he has come in a year, and also made many wonder what still could be in store for a quarterback who has claimed Michigan football’s center stage.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football finally trusting J.J. McCarthy's skills