'Daddy's little quarterback' — J.J. McCarthy and his destiny
It was January 20, 2003, and Jim and Megan McCarthy were getting ready to celebrate their son’s birth. As many soon-to-be dads are, Jim McCarthy was already a step ahead in his dreams for his boy.
“It’s pretty much, long story short, my dad manifesting my entire life,” Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy told Michigan alum Rich Eisen on his show today. “It was right before I was born, and him going through the names with my mom and saying, ‘this is going to be daddy’s little quarterback.’ He only showed me this (video) like 6 months ago … said, ‘I was just waiting.’ He’s a patient guy.”
But he made it clear to his wife that it was just fine if he wasn’t, too. He was going to love his boy no matter what.
Everyone knows now how it worked out. His wish came true when Jonathan James (J.J.) McCarthy was born, became the starting quarterback at Michigan in his second year, and led the Wolverines to their first undisputed title since the 1940s. He’s now on his way to becoming an early first round NFL Draft pick this week, with multiple championship rings in tow.
More than that, he leaves a legacy as one of the finest people to have worn the winged helmet, an even more impressive feather in his parents’ cap.
“It’s crazy, right?” McCarthy said of the story of his birth and his progression since. “It’s a lot from then to now that took place, and so much [my parents] sacrificed. I’m just unconditionally grateful for everything they’ve done for me, and it’s only the beginning.”
Which is crazy to consider given what he’s already accomplished. But head coach Jim Harbaugh called it when he called McCarthy a “generational” quarterback. While some will point to the numbers and call the coach an embellisher, it’s clear his description encompasses everything about No. 9 — the leadership, the personality, just the overall great person he was while in Ann Arbor.
There was always confidence but not cockiness, pride but not conceit. He was more interested in giving teammates credit than accepting his, and those teammates loved him for it.
But even he had to go through some hard times before finding himself. One of them came during his senior year of high school at Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy at the height of the pandemic. That’s when he started his practice of meditating before games.
“It was during COVID. A lot of people had similar experiences, and I went through a little form of depression, straight up,” McCarthy said. “I was sitting there on campus, miserable, not my normal self, and I had to figure out a way to pull myself out of it. I started looking up great practices to improve your mental health, and meditation was the first thing that popped up.
“Once I put it into practice, once I started studying it to a great extent, I started realizing the benefit, started understanding you have the ability to change your thought processes … change the way you view the world, your perspective on things.”
That had started a few years earlier, he acknowledged, when he got some a boost from an unlikely source that led to the trademark “smiley face” found on much of his merchandise.
“My sophomore year of high school, I had a bad game,” he recalled. “A little girl came up to me when I was signing autographs riddling me with question … ‘why are you so mad? Why do you look like you’re not having fun out there?’ … I just told her I was playing a bad game. She said, ‘ you need to smile more,’ and drew the smiley face on my hand.
“It was pretty profound for a seven-year-old. But the nature of it … the more you enjoy something, the better you’re going to perform, whether it’s here, business, whatever profession you do. I kept it on my hand the rest of the year, we went undefeated, won the state championship. I said, ‘maybe this is something I should keep going.’”
He has, and he will. He’s already accomplished a ton thanks to the support he’s gotten from family and teammates. On Thursday, McCarthy will take the next step in his journey, one that seems destined to take him to even greater heights in an already impressive career.
