ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football has high, high expectations for the 2023 season, and it’s reflected in how the Wolverines are thought of nationally at this point.
The maize and blue came in as the preseason No. 2 team according to the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, behind only Georgia. But the Wolverines will likely only go as far as their quarterback will take them, despite being something of a complete team.
That’s because to win a national championship, you need enigmatic performances. But the whole of the team can propel Michigan, at the very least, to the College Football Playoff — if all goes to plan.
The good news is Michigan is using last year’s early exit in the playoff to motivate them, quarterback J.J. McCarthy says.
“It really is just a train that kept on rolling ever since TCU,” McCarthy said. “We ran into a little bit of an obstacle but that train kept moving and all the guys that came in — the young guys, the transfers — they hopped on and they kept helping us push all the way from the start of this winter offseason and it’s just been really awesome to build off of that. Because a lot of times it’s like you build everything up for the season. You get to a certain point then it goes back down, you’ve got to build it back up. It doesn’t feel like we went back down, we just kept going.”
What’s somewhat understated for the Wolverines is that this is McCarthy’s first time entering a fall camp as the bona fide starter. Last year, he split time in camp battling with incumbent Cade McNamara before winning the job outright in Week 2. Now McNamara is at Iowa and McCarthy has the benefit of being healthy while getting all of the first-team reps.
While that is a blessing in his eyes, McCarthy says he personally prefers to face a bit more adversity as it helps him elevate his game. Thus, he’s focusing on growing when it comes to things like reading defenses — something he now feels he excels at.
“I’m always a person that strives for the past the most resistance but it’s been the most fun in my entire life playing football right now when everything’s just clear everyone knows what’s going on,” McCarthy said. “And it’s just — things are effortless right now with the defense and with the chemistry of the guys. And like I said defense — I’ve been reading that defense for two, three years now so it’s so much fun out there going against those guys. But yeah, it’s just been so much fun.”
McCarthy is still young, entering his third season in college football. Michigan, of course, deploys a more run-oriented offense, something Jim Harbaugh has said he intends to change more entering 2023. Given the system’s limitations for passers the past two years, there aren’t a lot in national media who are giving McCarthy much credence in terms of his skill set and abilities.
Most returning quarterback rankings have him firmly in the top 10, but near the bottom end. He understands why, but isn’t concerned about having the type of stats that would earn him that national recognition as much as he’s striving toward having a zero in the loss column at season’s end.
“It’s a great question. I don’t get too caught up in the rankings and stuff like that, because most of them go off of stats, most of them go off of just like little stuff that’s out of your control,” McCarthy said. “The only thing that I focus on is to be the best quarterback I can be for this football team, because that’s all that matters, because that’s what’s gonna get the wins. Like, I don’t care about being top five, or top three, or top one. None of that because that’s not winning football games, I want to win football games. And when all that stuff pans out, it pans out. All that stuff’s out of my control. So I just try to focus on what I can control.”
Fans will get an opportunity to see McCarthy in action on Sept. 2 when Michigan hosts East Carolina for the season opener at noon EDT at The Big House.
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