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JJ McCarthy shoulders blame, admits need for improvement on Michigan’s downfield passing attack
By Paul Harvey
Published:
JJ McCarthy has been a strong contributor for Michigan’s offense ever since he landed the starting quarterback job. However, he knows there’s a need for improvement in one area of his personal game and the offense as a whole.
Coming out of Week 10, McCarthy is completing 70.9% of his passes this season for 1,615 yards and 12 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions. In addition to being a highly efficient passer, McCarthy has a pair of rushing touchdowns and is lethal in the open field as a runner.
The one area McCarthy needs to work on? Connecting on the deep ball with Michigan’s group of receivers.
“Every single time, I’ll say it’s on me,” said McCarthy per Aaron McMann via MLive.com. “They’re getting open — I just have to put it on ‘em. I take 100 percent blame for all deep balls that are missed.”
McCarthy also noted that he understands the need to get more air on his passes when his man is in the open. He also believes things are still coming together after he missed the majority of spring ball recovering from surgery.
“I just gotta put more air on it and adjust when he’s that wide open,” McCarthy admitted. “A lot of those in-game shots are so brand new with everything that happened in the spring, and not being able to get those in-game reps during spring ball and early fall camp.
“It’s coming together, for sure.”
Hopefully, he finds his groove even more down the stretch. Michigan could use every facet of the offense at its disposal with games against ranked opponents in Illinois and Ohio State looming down the road.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.