Michigan Football: 5-star QB commit J.J. McCarthy changing high schools

The second-rated quarterback in the 2021 class, J.J. McCarthy, is transferring high schools for his senior season before joining the Michigan football team in a year.

J.J. McCarthy is the 15th overall high school prospect in the country, and the No. 2 overall quarterback prospect is set to join the Michigan football team in 2021.  Until then, the highly touted prospect is headed South from the state of Illinois to finish his senior year of high school in the state of Florida.

McCarthy is a five-star recruit that made his decision to transfer from Nazareth Academy in Illinois to IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL.  McCarthy states his decision was due to the uncertainty of sports in Illinois due to COVID-19, he’ll head to Florida where it appears right now to be a bit more lenient. In turn, allowing the young prospect to continue to develop starting this summer as he prepares to make the leap from high school to college.

Here is McCarthy’s official statement via Twitter;

https://twitter.com/jjmccarthy09/status/1262444993303568385?s=20

McCarthy has been committed to the Michigan football program since May of 2019.  Although he’s transferring to Florida, he isn’t leaving Nazareth Academy empty-handed; McCarthy led Nazareth to a state championship in 2018.  It was a tremendous season for McCarthy after throwing for a whopping 2,820 yards, 34 touchdowns, and eight interceptions via Mlive.com.

McCarthy will be Michigan football’s highest quarterback recruit since Jim Harbaugh‘s taken over as the school’s head coach.

We’ve often knocked Harbaugh for failing to develop a quarterback he’s recruited.  He’s often sifted through the transfer portal for a college veteran quarterback to roll out onto the field.  Both Jake Rudock and Shea Patterson were transfer quarterbacks.  Rudock clearly developed in his senior year, but it wasn’t enough for the Wolverines to win a championship.  Patterson sort of plateaued and played better in the second half of last season, but his inability to hit receivers in stride along with a plethora of inaccurate throws served as his biggest downfall.

Hopefully, things change with the offense entering their second season under the guidance of offensive coordinator Josh Gattis.  The Wolverines have plenty of offensive weapons at their disposal entering the 2020 season if either Dylan McCaffery or Joe Milton can operate the offense with better success than Patterson saw last season.

I expect the 6-foot-2, 200-pound McCarthy will compete down the road with Cade McNamara for the starting job in 2022 if Joe Milton can solidify the position through his senior year.