Jonathan James McCarthy (born January 20, 2003) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

. He became Michigan's starting quarterback in the second week of the 2022 season.

Early years

Born on January 20, 2003, McCarthy was raised in

La Grange Park, Illinois La Grange Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 13,475. Geography La Grange Park is located at (41.829831, -87.869233). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, La Grange Park ha ...

where he attended Nazareth Academy for high school. McCarthy transferred to IMG Academy in 2020 after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

led to the cancellation of Nazareth's football season.

College career

Rated as one of the top quarterback recruits, McCarthy had offers from 33 schools including

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. McCarthy committed to

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

in May 2019.

2021 season

On September 4, 2021, he made his Michigan debut against Western Michigan and completed four of six passes for 80 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown pass to

Daylen Baldwin Daylen Baldwin (born November 24, 1999) is an American football wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Morgan State, Jackson State, and Michigan. High school and recruiting B ...

. He appeared in 11 games during the 2021 season, completing 34 of 59 passes for 516 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions.

2022 season

Prior to the 2022 season, McCarthy competed with Cade McNamara for the role as Michigan's starting quarterback. Before the opening game, Michigan head coach

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh (; born December 23, 1963) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current and 20th head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines. He played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986. He play ...

announced that the competition was close and would continue at least for the first two games, with McNamara starting in the first week against

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

and McCarthy starting in the second week against

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. McCarthy started and played most of the first half against Hawaii, completing 11 of 12 passes for 229 yards and three touchdowns while leading the Wolverines to a 42–0 halftime lead. In his postgame press conference, Harbaugh announced that McCarthy would start against UConn in week 3 and added, "He's the starter moving forward on merit." McCarthy continued as Michigan's starting quarterback, completing 15 of 18 passes against UConn for 214 yards, 18 of 26 passes against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

for 220 yards, and 18 of 24 passes against

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

for 155 yards. Against Indiana on October 8, he completed 28 of 36 passes for 304 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception (on a ball tipped up into the air in the end zone). In the 2022 Fiesta Bowl, he completed 20 of 34 passes for a career-high 343 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. For the 2022 season, he completed 208 of 322 passes for 2,719 yards, 22 touchdowns, five interceptions, and a 155.0 quarterback rating.

College statistics

Personal life

McCarthy practices

mindfulness Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation, a skill one develops through meditation or other training. Mindfulness derives from ''sati'', a significant element of Hind ...

, and notably meditates on the field before football games.

References

External links

Michigan Wolverines profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, J. J. 2003 births Living people American football quarterbacks Michigan Wolverines football players People from La Grange Park, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois