JJ McCharthy on Harbaughffense, prep for NFL
https://youtu.be/jORlkO08RFo?si=l_IM4UAJ1FhBftCl
JJ joins Rich Eisen and confirms what many thought: Harbaugh never opened the playbook for him and kinda coaches conservative. JJ took it like a champ and leader he did what it took to win with a good attitude. The whole interview can be found on the Rich Eisen show, very insightful and honestly we were spoiled to basically have him and shelf him half the time. Kids gonna kill it in the league.
They call him MCCHARTHY because he's got a FLAMETHROWER for a right arm
I thought he was distantly related to Chardee MacDennis.
That’s exactly what came to mind for me when reading the op title! Always sunny ftw!
Chardee Macdennis 2 electric boogaloo
Imagine how many games we could’ve won last year if he had access to a fully open playbook
Well played.
But the other side of this is imagine what JJM would do next year if the coaches took off the shackles or if he needed to do more to win games on a much tougher schedule [le sigh]
Haha, yeah that really pisses me off since we los......
Oh wait, no it doesn't. National Champions. Yep, I'm fine.
No kidding, he could have left with nothing but wins in the Big House.
Think of it like Milton Berle in a dick measuring contest... you only pull out enough to win.
JayJay MaCharthey is my favorite Michigan athletics member since Jon Beelighne
I love that bit with Harbaugh juicing up Rich at the end. It's SO typically Harbaugh. I miss that weirdo. I really can't wait to watch JJ really rip it when he gets in the league. As a Pats fan, I'd love for him to do it on their team, but man, watching him throw it to Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and Hockenson would be a pure joy too. He deserves all of the good that's coming to him.
April 25th, 2024 at 12:49 AM ^
It’s an interesting world where being your own person instead of a scripted, cookie cutter coach like all the rest makes you a “weirdo.”
What is the percentage of original posters who can't spell our own players' names correctly? 35% More?
What is the problem? It's not like everyone's name is Tshimanga Biakabutuka. Even if it is, Google it and Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V.
Michigan fans misspelling the names of Michigan players grinds my gears.
When I first joined this board in 2015, It was jarring to see the number of times Jake Rudock's last name was incorrectly spelled even throughout the season.
Why be so angry about it? This isn't a published book that needs all references checked. It's a blog. And not everyone can be Spelling Bee champ. To be honest, I like mis spellings cause it gives all something to laugh about (i need laughs) and then we get to troll the person for a while.
As I understand it, Jake Rudock was the good QB who emerged as the season went on and “Jake Rudd(dddd)ock” his evil doppelgänger who couldn’t complete the deep ball.
The one that always blew my mind was people not knowing how to spell Beilein. The man was here a dozen years.
No one knows the future - but, it seems that JJ has as solid of a foundation as you could expect from a “just turned 21 year old”…
I’ll admit to being a Michigan “homer” - but, damn - he’s so talented, balanced, well spoken, and a natural leader.
Go Blue!
We were so damned blessed to have JJ as our QB and team leader.
April 25th, 2024 at 12:56 AM ^
Very much so, and his candid comments about what it was like to play in Michigan’s offense explains why Michigan will be choosing between Tuttle, Orji, and Warren for QB 1 next season.
I like that Sherrone Moore observed in the Penn State game that Chop Robinson was going to go off, and switched to 9 on 7 offense which he knew that PSU could not stop.
Conversely . . . I hope that when he faces a team that can stone our running game, he is just as willing to pass 32 straight times if that's what it takes.
I appreciated JJ’s approach to engage with Harbaugh and Moore in very candid conversations about his performance - play calling - scheme - etc…
What stirs my curiosity is - what does the playbook that we haven’t seen actually look like?
Always cracks me up that people remember that game as "Penn State couldn't stop our offense." They stopped us just fine in the second half: We got 10 points, 3 of which came after a fumble on their side of the field. The Penn State defense was good.
It was our defense that dominated that game, and what Sherrone Moore "observed" was that with our defense against their offense, we could play extremely conservatively on offense and still win.
But our offense did not "dominate" that game.
Yeah, the M defense DOMINATED. But the offense also kept track - 3&outs didn't really happen, and time clicked away quickly. No need to score a lot of points because the PSU offense was terrible. But their defense couldn't get us off the field without losing minutes each time JJ handed it off. It was a stroke of brilliance to realize that the PSU defense was going to get a pick 6 or a strip sack that decapitated JJ at some point during the game, and adjust in a way that PSU simply could not counter.
I have to believe that was game planned some... But to say they "stopped us just fine" is wiping away details that tell the story of the game, details that tell you why Michigan won that game far more easily than the score indicates.
It worked. And it was smart. But imagine what just four well placed passes in that second half would have done. Might have been even smarter to run 29 times, instead of 33 times...
April 25th, 2024 at 11:58 AM ^
We didn’t actually call 32 run plays in a row. We had at least pass plays in the second half. One drew a pass interference and on the other (on 4th down) JJ scrambled for the first down.
April 25th, 2024 at 10:47 AM ^
As long as you win, fans should not really care how you do it on the field. The win at Penn State was not sexy by any stretch. JJ didn't play a great game, but that was because he didn't have to.
Sherrone was smart enough to realize he didn't need to have JJ play a great game. He could trust his defense to shut down a rancid PSU offense, and just trust his offense to chew up some clock and not make mistakes against a really good PSU defense. And lo and behold, that allowed them to win. On the road in a really unprecedented situation. Everything else is just minor details.
OSU/MSU fans will look at that and say "See, see, see, JJ is garbage, it was all because of the sign-stealing, look how he regressed against actual competition." I'd much rather JJ go 7/8 for 65 yards, no scores and a W, vs. having him go 32/45 for 345 yards, 2 TDs, 2 picks and a big, fat L. All those big, sexy passing yards CJ Stroud had the last two years against Michigan, what did they get him? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I'd rather Michigan win ugly, or when "the old school" way then lose sexy. Let OSU worry about being sexy. That's probably why their program is where it is.
April 25th, 2024 at 12:07 PM ^
That’s a dangerous take IMO.
HOW you win games, again, my opinion, is of utmost importance. It takes nerves of steel to say “Penn State ain’t gonna score, so all we have to do is hold on”…but that’s dangerous because mistakes happen.
There’s a world of difference between “we don’t have to pass” and “we can’t pass”. Penn State was more the latter than the former, which wasn’t on McCarthy as much as the OL.
I’m always going to be in favor of a win over a loss (duh), and PSU had a top 5 defense. Context matters, and if it was just the one game I’d be fine calling it an outlier. But when JJ got hurt, the passing game basically shut down. For like 5 games, maybe 6. Our coaches were content to win with defense, which is fine I guess when you have literally the best defense in football.
But saying “we won” doesn’t mean that you can ignore an offense which had a material deficit in its ability/willingness to put up points.
April 24th, 2024 at 10:28 PM ^
Well, however Harbaugh may coach, it was apparently the right way for this team, as witness the four rings they just got.
April 25th, 2024 at 12:54 AM ^
I stopped reading at "McCharthy" because I just couldn't stop laughing
He may be off the “McCharts” on Sundays - I certainly wish him well.