Michigan‘s J.J. McCarthy knows the edge he has over other top college football quarterbacks headed into the 2024 NFL Draft — a winning record.
The national championship-winning quarterback is self-aware when it comes to his stats compared to other prospects, and he’s using his proven track record as a winner to woo prospective teams at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine.
McCarthy, a projected first-round draft pick, made it very clear what sets him apart from his competition.
“The only stat I cared about was W’s,” McCarthy said Friday, “and we did pretty good in that category.”
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The 6-foot-3, 202-pound former Wolverine star may have had fewer passes and touchdowns compared to other QB prospects, but he’s still very proud of what he accomplished in his two years as a starter.
“Stats for me aren’t really the big thing, and all I really cared about was being the best teammate I could be and being the best quarterback I could possibly be,” McCarthy said.
As Michigan’s starter, McCarthy made 654 pass attempts and finished his collegiate career with a total of 713. Comparatively, USC’s Caleb Williams had one season with 500 attempts and Washington‘s Michael Penix Jr. had at least 550 in each of the past two seasons.
In addition to the national championship title win over the Huskies, McCarthy had the best winning percentage for a starter in five decades, winning 27 of his 28 career starts. He finished the 2023 season with 2,991 passing yards, 22 passing and three rushing scores with only four interceptions, and he led the Big Ten last season with a 72.3 completion percentage.
McCarthy says he has met with most of the teams in the upper half of the first round of April’s draft, but because of hamstring tightness, he will not be able to fully show off his skills at the combine workout. When asked to give a scouting report on himself, McCarthy said: “Tough, gritty guy who only cares about winning at the end of the day. Loves the game of football with a burning passion, loves his teammates, pretty much everything you want in a starting quarterback.”
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