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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — With just two practices down, it’s a little difficult to really say who is or isn’t standing out on the team in spring practice. But all eyes are on one particular position, if not one particular player: former five-star quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Save for when Shea Patterson transferred to Ann Arbor from Ole Miss, there hasn’t been this type of hype or level of expectation for an incoming Michigan quarterback since either Chad Henne or Ryan Mallett. McCarthy verbally committed rather early in the process and his star grew from there, especially after he transferred from Nazareth Academy in Illinois to IMG Academy — perhaps the most visible high school program in America.
Now with the quarterback battle being between incumbent Cade McNamara and the new challenger in McCarthy, he’ll be a focal point of curiosity in town until the day he takes his first snap wearing a winged helmet.
“So we do have quite a few mid-year players, new players that have come in. J.J.’s doing extremely well,” Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said on Thursday via a Zoom press conference. “I can say that really — it’s been impressive, the mid-years.”
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While Harbaugh didn’t go into great depths on McCarthy — or any other early-enrollee, he did go down the list — mostly naming the bulk of the players who made it to campus for the winter semester in lieu of coming aboard in the summer.
Still, Harbaugh had high praise for his mid-years, not just in their two practices on the field, but what they’ve been able to do off, so far.
“Donovan Edwards doing really well. Junior Colson, Cristian Dixon, Greg Crippen doing a nice job. Tavi Dunlap and Tristan Bounds and Andrel Anthony — Willie Allen’s not a mid-year. Well, he’s come in at the mid-year, but he’s a grad transfer, doing extremely well. And Gio.
“The guys are off to a really good start, taking care of business in the classroom. Getting to know college and really just doing a good job of taking care of their business on and off the field.”
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