ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As Michigan football fans salivate over the potential of former five-star quarterback J.J. McCarthy — and rightfully so — the Wolverines appear likely to start the incumbent, Cade McNamara.
The thought process entering this season from the fan base tends to be: ‘Just think of how much better McCarthy will be now that he’s had a full year,’ while somewhat forgetting that while McNamara is entering his fourth year, last year was just his first as a starter. He can improve, just as McCarthy can, despite there being some who insist that we’ve seen McNamara’s ceiling.
In fact, according to McNamara, he has improved greatly this offseason, in more ways than one.
“I’m pushing the ball downfield, I’m throwing the ball with accuracy. My mechanics seem very clean right now, I’m not missing very often,” McNamara said. “My recognition of the defense right now, it seems very clean. And I think the more time we’ve spent with the receivers over camp, I’ve been able to gain even more chemistry with them. And just finding zones, whether it’s man coverage, zone coverage, how we’re dealing with those in our concepts, and everything.
“This team is really ready. I think we’ve done a lot of situational preparation, a lot of work together. And not just myself, but I feel that this offense in this team is extremely prepared for the season.”
Big Ten Network’s Dave Revsine, having seen Michigan’s practice a week ago, marveled at McNamara’s consistency and accuracy. Of course, he’s long been both consistent and accurate, but Revsine’s notion that the ball didn’t hit the ground when he was leading the offense could signal a major improvement over a passer who threw for a 64.2% completion rate in 2021.
As he noted, being more accurate is something that McNamara has worked on this offseason. But how does one get more accurate when the live bullets are flying?
“I mean, it kind of starts from the ground up,” McNamara said. “Your feet are a big part of what can lead to accuracy. Having a strong base. Really something I’ve been focused on is efficiency and not having any poor movement or any movement that I don’t need in my throwing motion or in my footwork. And so far, I’ve seen good results as I continue to work on it.”
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Now a team captain, as voted on by his teammates, dismiss McNamara at your own peril. There were many who insisted after Week 2 in 2021 that Michigan couldn’t beat Ohio State with him under center, and it did more than that, having won a Big Ten Championship to advance to the College Football Playoff.
Of course, many reading will further insist that it was in spite of McNamara, not because of him — something his teammates will quickly dismiss as foolhardiness.
And just because he was an above-average quarterback and not an elite one last year doesn’t mean he can’t get better year-over-year. In fact, he really feels like he’s taken his game to the next step.
“Absolutely. I think I’m by far playing my best football that I’ve ever had in my life right now.”
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