'My team': How Cade McNamara is approaching Michigan football QB battle

INDIANAPOLIS — Michigan Wolverines football will hold an open quarterback competition, with a twist. Senior Cade McNamara, the incumbent, has the leg up and enters Aug. 3 training camp as the “starter,” per head coach Jim Harbaugh. Sophomore J.J. McCarthy is the challenger, and it’s not going to be easy to grab the belt from McNamara (though Harbaugh noted it’ll be tough for McNamara to beat out McCarthy).

McNamara is a senior leader and likely captain, with the latest proof being he was picked along with three classmates to represent Michigan at Big Ten Media Days.

In one week, for exactly one month, he’ll attempt to fend off McCarthy for the starting signal-caller job. After that, the battle could go into the season, and he’ll have to play his ‘A’ game to keep the duties throughout the year.

“I kind of have been in a competition every year with the exception of my redshirt freshman year,” McNamara said. “That’s something that’s not really foreign to me at this point.”

McNamara and McCarthy will battle in a competitive, not combative way, Harbaugh has said multiple times. And McNamara appears to be willing to oblige. He’s all about notching Michigan victories this fall, even if the competitor in him wants to be on the field for every snap of every game.

“Anything I do is going to be for the sake of the team winning,” McNamara said. “That’s what’s most important on my mind, and what comes with that is having good relationships with my teammates.

“For me, I take a lot of pride in what I bring to the team from a leadership standpoint. Allowing negativity or anything like that, I don’t think that’s healthy for the team or really for myself, either.

“Any quarterback’s job should be focused on to make sure the team wins. I think that whole group is confident that, that’s our mindset. If it’s not, then we’ll change it.”

Harbaugh has dealt with Michigan quarterback competitions differently each season. Last year, it was similar in the McNamara was the starter until he wasn’t. He never relinquished the job, so he stayed in his seat. In 2017, despite Wilton Speight leading the team the year prior, it was wide open between he and John O’Korn.

McNamara isn’t conceding anything, but he’s not comfortable, either. His approach is to pick up where he left off a season ago, work hard and see where the chips fall in September.

“I feel like it’s my team,” McNamara explained of his approach. “Nothing against anyone, I just think I’ve put myself in a position that, if I say something, it will be listened to. If anything, really, I’m confident in myself, and I just want to win. I think I proved I can help the team do that last season.”

During his hour-long media session, the Michigan signal-caller spoke at length about how he’s improved this offseason. He was asked if the competition with McCarthy has pushed him to get better. But McNamara didn’t totally agree that was the case.

“I have a lot of motivational factors in my life,” McNamara noted. “I rely on those to help me get better, and I think I’ve grown in many places this year. I’ll be able to put some good stuff on film, I think, this year, and most importantly all the work that I do is just to help the team win. Hopefully I can help do that again this year.”