Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy: 'It didn't feel right only putting one ring on my finger'
Michigan Wolverines football is solely focused on the upcoming 2022 season, but it took a little bit of time to bask in the glory of 2021’s Big Ten championship with a Friday night ring ceremony. Players from that squad who have moved on to the NFL or other places returned to The Big House to receive their jewelry and reconnect.
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This was the first of many meetups from the 2021 team, which will be celebrated for years and decades to come. The Wolverines were on their longest drought without a Big Ten title — since 2004, 17 years — and were able to snap the streak in improbable fashion. ESPN.com’s Football Power Index gave Michigan just a two-percent shot to win the league at this time last year, but the Maize and Blue defied the odds.
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Now that Michigan is less than 75 days until kicking off its 2022 season, the focus has completely shifted to the future and what’s ahead.
In an exclusive conversation with TheWolverine.com at ‘Wolverine Weekend’ in Traverse City, sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy explained how, now that the ring ceremony is behind them, the Michigan players and staff are looking at the next set of prizes.
“One hundred percent,” McCarthy said when asked if the page has now been turned to the 2022 season. “Last year was in the past. We’re going to enjoy those ceremonies while they’re there, but it’s all about the coming year and all about the practices and the plays in between that come before that. It’s all about next year.”
McCarthy and the Michigan players surely enjoyed the night. But even while doing so, McCarthy had a thought in the back of his mind: One ring isn’t good enough. He and the Wolverines checked off a lot of boxes last season — beating Ohio State, winning the conference, making the College Football Playoff — but they’re not satisfied.
“That was exactly it for me, seeing those guys come back, seeing where they’re at now,” McCarthy said of what he enjoyed most about the Michigan ring ceremony. “It was great having the whole squad back together.
“It didn’t feel right only putting one ring on my finger, so I’m just hoping to get three more next year.”
Michigan could earn three rings, of course, with a Big Ten title, bowl win in the College Football Playoff semifinal and national title game victory. The 34-11 loss to Georgia in the Orange Bowl was heartbreaking at the time, but is being used for fuel, McCarthy told WXYZ Detroit’s Brad Galli.
“It just set our perspective of what we’re able to accomplish,” McCarthy said. “Knowing that, it made us work even harder and harder, because it’s that much harder to even get back there and get past that threshold of the semifinal game against the national champions. It was extremely motivating to leave with that bad taste in our mouth, and it was the best thing for us, in my eyes.”
McCarthy told TheWolverine.com he expects to be fully healthy in roughly two weeks, which boosts Michigan’s chances of achieving what it’s setting out to accomplish. That’ll allow him to finish up summer workouts ‘full go’ before August’s training camp. Then, the real journey begins Sept. 3, with a home tilt against Colorado State.
