Whoever has the temerity to sit down and rank every starting quarterback across all 131 college football teams, good on them. But Michigan sure isn’t going to make it easy.
The Wolverines have a high-profile quarterback battle currently ensuing, with incumbent Cade McNamara doing everything he can to hold off upstart, former five-star J.J. McCarthy. The duo helped propel the maize and blue to the College Football Playoff last year, and with the bulk of the offense returning in 2022, whoever ends up being the man under center is working towards an even brighter season than last year.
Athlon Sports did rank all of the quarterbacks across the sport, but given that Michigan’s situation is far from settled, they lumped McNamara and McCarthy together. Still, the Wolverine duo came in at No. 27 overall among the 131 college football teams.
27. Cade McNamara/J.J. McCarthy, Michigan
We are going to cheat a bit and list both Michigan quarterbacks here. Although there’s a battle between McNamara and McCarthy in fall practice to start, both are likely going to play a lot in 2022. Essentially, we are ranking the quarterback room here, but if one starts and plays the bulk of the season snaps, the guess here is that signal-caller ends up earning second-team All-Big Ten honors (and ranks higher on this list). The combination of McNamara and McCarthy worked well for Michigan’s offense last fall, as the two signal-callers combined to guide coach Jim Harbaugh’s team to the Big Ten title and a trip to the CFB Playoff. McNamara threw for 2,576 yards and 15 touchdowns to six picks, while McCarthy added 516 yards and five scores through the air and 124 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Both quarterbacks are capable of guiding this attack, with McNamara more of a steady option and McCarthy bringing more big-play ability into the offense.
Along with this ESPN article, it’s refreshing to see at least some sort of optimism surrounding this Michigan team, given that other Big Ten schools — Wisconsin, MSU, Penn State — have been seen by many as being tougher candidates than the Wolverines.
For some, the starting quarterback is the sole link to the overall team health. But Michigan is loaded from top to bottom, even if the defense has a few question marks.