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Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh has nothing but praise for his starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
McCarthy is entering his third season at the University of Michigan and his second as the starting quarterback. Last season, he started 13 games and beat out Cade McNamara for the starting job and helped lead the Wolverines back to the College Football Playoff.
McCarthy has gotten better each start and some scouts view him as a first-round NFL draft pick if he does declare this year. Yet, Jim Harbaugh believes McCarthy is a generational quarterback and compares him to Andrew Luck.
"I hate to compare, right? Because he's very much like Andrew Luck, a quarterback that's once in a generation. I knew it first with Andrew Luck the way he took the field for his first practice as a true freshman. The way he walks on. You see it with other players."
He continued:
"Just the presence that they have when they walk onto the field and the first time getting into the quarterback position, the presence that they have you go, ah-ha, there it is. J.J. first day he walked onto the practice field here at Michigan, that is what came to mind. This is very Andrew Luck-like. The presence and the demeanor. The everything. Well-documented, I think J.J. is a once-in-a-generation quarterback here at Michigan or anywhere."
Immediately, many fans questioned the comparison as Andrew Luck is one of the best college football quarterbacks of all time.
J.J. McCarthy vs. Andrew Luck
J.J. McCarthy has played in 26 college football games and has now started 14 of them going 13-1. In his college career, McCarthy is 268-for-411 for 3,515 yards, 30 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
As Harbaugh says, McCarthy is smart and doesn't turn the ball over, and does have leadership and the ability to take control of the game, as Andrew Luck did.
However, Luck has put up better numbers as in three full seasons, he went 713-for-1,064 for 9,430 yards, 82 touchdowns, and 22 interceptions. His numbers led him to be the first overall pick of the 2012 NFL Draft and was inducted into the college football Hall of Fame in 2022 as well.
As of right now, it doesn't seem like J.J. McCarthy is en route to being inducted into the college football Hall of Fame, but Harbaugh has nothing but praise for his QB.
