Michigan 'really encouraged' by J.J. McCarthy's first full game

Generally, when you throw a touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage eight seconds in to the game in your conference opener, it winds up being a good day. Michigan sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy did not prove to be any sort of exception to that rule on Saturday against Maryland.

After a fumbled kickoff gave Michigan a free possession and basically an instant 7-0 lead via a McCarthy touchdown pass to Luke Schoonmaker, things got bogged down. And while McCarthy was not immune to the occasional suspect decision, his performance left the Michigan coaching staff feeling confident after his first full game at quarterback.

“I think you said it, it’s his first real appearance. It’s the first time he’s ever played a full [college] football game,” Michigan co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss said. “So, I think for the first time playing a full football game, there’s a lot of positives to take away from it. I think he did a good job. Certainly, look at the stat line, it’s really good for guy playing his first football game.”

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McCarthy went 18-for-26 passing for 220 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. There were plenty of moments where he flashed his immense talent, like the first touchdown pass and a later deep ball that connected with Ronnie Bell on. But the same things that make McCarthy such a special talent can get the young quarterback out over his skis.

He overthrew a number of open deep passes early in the game — not severely, but noticeably. And while he did hold the ball and scramble around in a circus play that became a first down, another almost resulted in a turnover.

For Weiss, it’s encouraging to see the quarterback make mistakes that can be fixed. The good stuff is there and it’s a matter of reining in, or ideally cutting out entirely, the negative plays borne out of McCarthy’s desire to make something big happen every down.

Mistakes happen and Michigan’s staff surely wants to push the envelope with McCarthy helming the offense. It’s just a matter of getting cleaner and minimizing them each week.

“At the same time, I’m sure JJ would tell you there’s a lot of stuff that we can clean up. And we’re focused on process and we just, we love everything about JJ and the way he goes about it. And there’s so many things that we can fix, and work on, and so you come away from it, even when he did make mistakes, we’re encouraged because you can see it’s all fixable stuff. And really it just comes to coaching, more than anything else. … We’re really encouraged by his first full game. We were happy with it,” Weiss said.