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On Friday, Sept. 4, for the first time, J.J. McCarthy will be out on the field, leading the prestigious IMG Academy as its starting quarterback in a game.
The longtime Michigan commit transferred this offseason from Nazareth Academy in Illinois, where he was the lone five-star — not just in his high school, but in the state.
Meanwhile, while McCarthy was a big fish in a small pond in La Grange Park (IL), at IMG Academy in Bradenton (FL), despite being a five-star, he isn’t even the top-ranked player on his team. In his class, 2021, he’s one of three five-stars, and there’s another in 2022, according to the 247Sports Composite.
Beyond that, there are 11 Ascenders ranked in the Top247 between the 2021-22 classes, and others — such as fellow Michigan commit Greg Crippen — who are rated four-stars but not in the first 247 spots of the rankings.
So to arrive on campus and take over the most prominent position on the field, it was going to take a little more than cache — though that certainly helps.
The thing about McCarthy, however, is that he’s willing to go in and do the work. The stars mean nothing to him. But, being one of the most visible high school senior quarterbacks in the country, he used that as a starting point to earn the respect of his teammates.
But to fully earn their respect, he was determined to prove that he deserves it.
“It’s one of those things where you come in there – I mean, the rankings do a lot for you,” McCarthy told WolverinesWire. “I came in, they gave me a little respect coming in, and other players respect me for that. But it was what I did once I was there and how down to earth I am. I’m always never above anyone else, so that’s what got me the total respect of my teammates and my coaches.”
— IMG Academy Football (@IMGAFootball) September 4, 2020
At 8 p.m. on Friday evening, as the Ascenders take on the Venice Indians, all of that offseason hard work will finally come to the forefront.
Though all eyes will certainly be on McCarthy and first-year IMG Academy head coach Bobby Acosta, others like fellow five-stars JC Latham (OL, committed to Alabama) and Lovesea Carroll (RB, committed to Georgia) will also look to shine on one of high school football’s brightest stages.
You’d think with so many top-rated players, that egos would rule supreme. But according to McCarthy, it’s quite the opposite. It’s a team rife with hunger, eager to prove themselves.
As McCarthy sees it, despite all the accolades, none of them have truly done anything. Thus, they have to earn whatever is given to them.
“Being around all the talent and five-stars – yeah, there’s a couple players here and there that talk about it – but nobody ever really talks about it, because we’re all focused on one goal and focused on winning week-by-week,” McCarthy said. “We all realize the potential that’s in front of us and the potential within us. We’re not gonna let a couple stars tell where we’re gonna go in life. We all just want to exceed all those expectations, exceed what people are thinking of us right and do so much better. And that kind of brings us all together and makes it really easy to be the quarterback of this team. Because no one looks at me – I can’t say that no one has that same perspective in Illinois, where it’s very uncommon for the five-stars to be in that area.”
Michigan connection
When McCarthy made his way down to Bradenton this offseason, he was immediately greeted by a familiar face: fellow Michigan commit Greg Crippen, the four-star center.
Crippen has been at IMG Academy for some time, and to have a friendly in his corner was certainly to McCarthy’s advantage. But there’s another advantage: the two can get on the same page now, a full year before they get to work in Ann Arbor.
It’s the second-time we’ve seen an interior offensive line-quarterback combo go from IMG Academy to Michigan, with Cesar Ruiz and Shea Patterson preceding McCarthy and Crippen. But Patterson’s route to Ann Arbor was a little circuitous, with the former five-star spending two years at Ole Miss before transferring to the Wolverines. The intention is for Crippen and McCarthy to have full careers together at the college-level, so building a bond now sets the stage for the immediate future.
And that’s precisely what the duo are doing, McCarthy says.
“Being with Greg for the past month and a half now, almost two, it’s been eye-opening with how similar we are and the type of mold Michigan is trying to bring in,” McCarthy said. “Being with him, we’ve already grown so much together and we’re talking ball together. We’re like best buddies. We’re best friends. He can come to me with anything and I can come to him with anything. He’s the best. He’s the absolute man. I’ve been around a couple people with the same sort of attitude he has. This kid has been at IMG for almost four years and he’s doing everything humanly possible to make sure he improves and gets better to live up to those expectations he has for himself and his team. So just being with him and just understanding his mindset is something that is so beneficial going into Michigan.”
But IMG opens more doors to McCarthy’s future teammates than just those in West Florida.
On Sept. 25, the Ascenders will travel to Brentwood (TN) to take on Ravenwood, home of four-star linebacker Junior Colson, also a Michigan pledge.
The two speak often on social media, but have never met in person. Colson told WolverinesWire that, considering he’s featured in a lot of blitz packages, if he sees an open lane to his future quarterback, he’ll hold up a bit as to not injure his soon-to-be teammate.
McCarthy doesn’t want to hear that. In fact, he wants to know more about the hype — or, rather, he wants to feel why Colson is hyped, from a physical perspective.
“Man, if I don’t feel it when he hits me, I’m gonna be very disappointed in him!” McCarthy said. “As long as he doesn’t go for my legs, I better feel something from him. I wanna know! This is football, this is football – I want him to hit me! I want him to get that and show out.
“Once we get to Michigan and he’s on the defense, he’s gonna be coming. So I want him to get out there and just play ball and whatever he needs to do. But it’s been awesome meeting him, because we’ve been Snapchatting all the time and he just seems like such a great kid and I can’t wait to just meet him and just talk and build that relationship from the start and build it so early that once we go into Michigan, we’ll be buds for life.”
IMG Academy’s Friday night game against Venice can be seen nationally on ESPN U at 8 p.m.
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