Michigan is going to look different next season when it takes the field. Not only because Jim Harbaugh and assistant coaches left for the NFL, but also because the Wolverines will be without top contributors Blake Corum, Roman Wilson, Mike Sainristil, the entire offensive line, and star quarterback J.J. McCarthy, among others.
Depending on where you look, McCarthy is becoming a fast riser on draft boards. It’s looking more and more likely that the three-year Michigan man could become a top-10 NFL Draft pick in April.
Recently, an unknown NFC scout said they had McCarthy as QB No. 2 in the 2024 draft class. While it’s likely two or three quarterbacks will get selected above McCarthy, it’s just as likely that he will go towards the top of the draft.
FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt understands McCarthy’s game just as well as anyone that’s not on Michigan’s coaching staff. Klatt has called a ton of Michigan games during Big Noon Kickoff. Klatt recorded a podcast ranking his top five quarterbacks in the draft class.
Klatt slots McCarthy in at No. 5, but explained all five of the quarterbacks he ranked should be first-round selections in April.
McCarthy has similar elements to Maye, which I feel gives him a really high ceiling. He’s got elements of all five tools. They flashed at times.
The knock against McCarthy is going to be that we didn’t have to see it all the time. If Penix was asked to throw the ball from the pocket in a post-snap read down the field 15-to-20 times per game, McCarthy was maybe asked to do so just three-to-seven times per game. That’s something that Michigan didn’t do a lot and it didn’t need to because it always had the lead, and it was outside of its identity.
McCarthy will be required to make many more of those throws in the NFL than he did in college. So, there is a bit of a projection factor here, but he has played a ton of football. He was 26-1 as a starter at Michigan.
Does McCarthy’s game translate? Yes, of course it translates. He wasn’t running on a college offense. He was running Jim Harbaugh’s offense, which is a pro-style offense. He was handling protections. He was handling run checks. All of those things are going to translate and he did so by the way, in an incredibly unselfish manner. Name any other five-star quarterback who wouldn’t care what his stats were and do anything for the team. Michigan handed the ball off all the time. Blake Corum got all of the touchdowns even though McCarthy easily could’ve gotten more.
That attitude is unique. That’s going to be a huge plus for him in his evaluation, and when these evaluators are trying to rank him for the next level. He just turned 21 in January, so I thought his superpower was his unselfishness.
But there are these moments when you watch him on tape when he flashes high potential, a high ceiling that reminds you of the top two quarterbacks in this draft in the right fit. McCarthy could be one of the quarterbacks from this draft that we talk about and say, “Man, why didn’t we see that? Of course he’s having a ton of success.”
In Klatt’s first mock draft, he has McCarthy landing with the Seattle Seahawks under Mike Macdonald.
Klatt’s top five QBs were:
- Caleb Williams (USC)
- Drake Maye (North Carolina)
- Jayden Daniels (LSU)
- Michael Penix Jr. (Washington)
- J.J. McCarthy (Michigan)
