ANN ARBOR, Mich. — While there’s a lot of excitement for new starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy, it’s got to be tough for the incumbent starter, in more ways than one.
Not only did Cade McNamara lose his job as the Michigan football starting quarterback, but he did so in front of the world, with McCarthy coming in and playing awesome, while he, himself, struggled. What’s more, on Saturday night, when the Wolverines hosted Hawaii, McNamara had to deal with fans in the stands chanting for both J.J. McCarthy as well as true freshman Alex Orji once it was clear that McCarthy’s day was for sure done.
When McNamara threw an interception — the first turnover of the season for the maize and blue — the Michigan Stadium crowd booed. As far as senior left tackle Ryan Hayes sees it, that type of reaction is unwarranted, especially considering what McNamara did a year ago.
“Yeah, we hate that, we would hate for any of our brothers to get booed,” Hayes said. “I think that’s pretty ridiculous for our stadium to do that to one of our players that is a captain on this team, led us to all those victories last year. Cade was a big part of the offense last year in leading us to Ohio State, Iowa and into the playoffs. So we hate that stuff, to be honest.”
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One of the fan narratives this past offseason is that Michigan won big last year despite Cade McNamara, not because of him. From the Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line, to running back Hassan Haskins, to Aidan Hutchinson and the defense, even now, there are fans on social media blasting McNamara, giving him no credit for the team’s success in 2021.
We asked Hayes what he thinks of that, and he says it’s ridiculous. As he said before, McNamara was instrumental in Michigan’s big wins, and his influence in the locker room was what really held the locker room together. Of course, the players certainly feel that way, having voted him a team captain this year.
“Cade last year, and this year, just a great leader,” Hayes said. “He’s confident in himself, he doesn’t make mistakes. He’s just that solid quarterback that our offense needed — to keep us all together, to not turn the ball over, to make throws when needed. He just did all those things right last year, and he continued to do that in camp. These first couple of games, I don’t know quarterback play, but when he’s out there, treat him just the same. He leads our offense, he leads us, great leader, great captain, so we’d love Cade.”
That in mind, how is McNamara handling his demotion to backup quarterback, a job he held in 2020 before wresting away the starting job from Joe Milton?
Hayes says that he’s still battling, the same way he has since he arrived, no matter the circumstances.
“We all love Cade, he’s our captain still,” Hayes said. “He’s came into the building with a smile on his face every day. He’s gonna do what he can and we still are looking at him like a captain. He’s treating us just the same. He hasn’t changed his outlook at all. So it’s been pretty good to see.”
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