Michigan QB JJ McCarthy Talks NFL Draft, Jim Harbaugh & More with Rich Eisen | Full Interview

Michigan QB JJ McCarthy tells Rich Eisen how he was literally born to be an NFL quarterback, why it was a “bitter pill to swallow” at times putting his passing prowess second to Jim Harbaugh’s run-first approach, and reveals which teams have shown the most interest in him during the leadup to the draft.

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joining us to kick off hour number two of this program is one of the best of the best in the history of Wolverine football he is one of the top prospects available in this draft in Detroit and a national champion great to see you JJ McCarthy honored to be here Rich really appreciate you having me huge fan oh come on right back at you right back at you so what’s going through your brain right now day before the draft here in Detroit oh it’s really the Calm before the storm you know I’m just trying to soak it all in because you only get to do this once obviously you know making my rounds with Shen Becker Hall and just going to every coach and just telling them how much I appreciate them for everything they’ve done throughout this process and you know I was actually just talking to Greg Harden the other day and you know huge fan of the show he tells you or tells me to tell you that you’re one of the greatest human beings and true Michigan man and uh yeah we’re just going through this whole process of you know becoming a g a grown ass man and yeah it’s a fun process but I’m ready to get going that’s for sure well you’re already that as far as I’m concerned but uh so who have you taken personal visits with so I’ve taken personal visits with the New York Giants New England Patriots and Washington uh commanders now was that personal visit the one with 21 others was yes felt like a little you know back in the day college recruiting visit was that it’s because what was that what was that like it was it was a lot of fun I enjoyed it you know being around the guys the coaches like it’s such a laid-back setting and you know you get to show off the golf game a little bit I heard about that uh so what is your handicap what is it what you got man I don’t have an official one but I’m say I’m around a 10 yeah H so so but so you’re a top golf though with all these guys was it some sort of alpha male who can drive it the the longest something like that I’m not going to lie Drake Bay and I were going back at it just doing the trying to get it over the net that was the goal that was the yeah did uh did we succeed no no you know with those you know shafts they’re nice and flimsy so they don’t allow you to get over blame it on the equipment I like it I like it cuz that it just from from those on the outside looking in it just felt like a a a u a unique way to take a look at Prospect before the end of the journey it was the last one right for you yes but supposedly Adam Pierce was talking about this was something they did back in San France so right wasn’t super well it was unique to me and to the guys there because it’s obviously you know first time going through this but it was a lot of fun and I really like the way you know he went about that whole process because you know the owner was in for two days and he wanted to get everyone there in those two days so it was pretty special the way he handled that and now it’s kind of the end of uh an error for you here in this state you know obviously and an end of uh you know a prep SLC col career for you getting ready to go to the pros man like this is this is it this is it everything you worked for everything you dreamed of yeah in terms of working and dreaming about it um huh you sent me a video video before I boarded um the plane to get here yes sir um and this video is what JJ uh it’s pretty much long story short my dad manifesting my entire life and uh you know it was right before I was born and him just kind of saying you know going through the names and what my name yes with my mom and you know he was just like this is going to be daddy’s little quarterback and and we have that video you were and you’ve not shown this showing it you know he only showed me it like 6 months ago and I’m yeah so I was just like oh how come I didn’t see this earlier and he I was just waiting you know he’s a patient well everybody it’s going to get Dusty wherever you are here is so your dad shooting it on a camcorder yep on the day of your birth yes sir which is January 20th 2003 and you’ll see the time stamp in the lower right your mom Megan is is sitting in the hospital bed having a conversation with your dad check it out what other uh I I like Jonathan James and I want to call you [Music] JJ that’s I like those name call you JJ be dadd little quarterback I don’t know but if not that’s okay like football it’s okay it’s totally okay okay you see your room daddy’s little qu it’s crazy right crazy and then we’ve got the there’s the after photo right there there he is it’s a big dog right there there’s Daddy’s quarterback right there and Mom’s too dude man I’m getting all Misty just seeing that yeah I’m not going to lie I got a little bit too but you know it’s uh a lot you know from then to now that took place and you know so much they sacrificed and you know just unconditionally grateful for everything they’ve done for me and you know it’s only the beginning it is that and just in terms of the journey I know you had your own um Journey yourself about finding yourself and I the the number of times that we’ve seen you meditating before a game what what’s what’s the story behind all that so the story behind that I my senior year of high school it was during covid so you know a lot of people had similar experiences and I I went through a little form of depression you know straight up and you know I was sitting there on campus you know miserable not you know my normal self and I had to figure out a way to pull myself out of it and I started looking up you know great practices to improve your mental health and meditation was the first thing that popped up and you know once I put it into practice once I started studying it to a great extent I started realizing the benefits and I started understanding that you know you you have the ability to change your thought processes change the way you view the world and your perspective on things and once I started you know having that awareness and growing that awareness it just was a practice that I could never stop because of the benefits that it gave me on and off the field and when did you start drawing a smiley face on your hand that happen yeah that was sophomore year high school it was my first loss against our Arch Rivals the Maris Red Hawks and um you know I had a bad game and this little girl came up to me after the game when I was signing autographs and after I finished signing her newspaper she was just drilling me with questions why are you so mad why’ you look like you not having fun out there all this good stuff and I just told her I was playing a bad game and then she goes like you need to smile more and then drew the smiley face on my hand and I was just like wow that’s pretty profound for a seven-year-old and then you know it’s just like the nature of it the more you enjoy something the better you’re going to perform whether it’s here whether it’s you know whatever business whatever profession you do so I kept it on my hand the rest of the year we went undefeated won the state championship so I was like huh maybe this is a little something I should keep going yeah there there there you are um throwing it so um so how many games did you lose in high school though just only two right so only one other than the one that caused her to draw a smiley face in your hand and I know the answer to three okay okay got it uh and I know the answer to how many games you lost in college yes just the one oh no just one and so the amount of winning that you’ve done and the amount of uh growing that you have done how do you respond to people who say you weren’t asked to do as much as a quarterback in the NFL needs to have done yeah to lead a team to a championship what I was asked to do was to adapt to coach hard ball system and it was a hard pill to swallow I’m not going to lie to you because I know the work I put in I know the confidence that I have in myself but you know this is a system that has worked for him ever since he got into coaching USD so like being able to put my personal motives aside and do what’s best for the team and follow my coaches orders because that’s what we’re soldiers on the football field we follow our you know top of the command and we do what they say and you know at the end of the day you know having that experience where you know I’m not thinking about myself I’m thinking about we instead of me is going to just carry over so much easier to the NFL because you know there is that out there but not as much in college and being able to have that experience in a pro style offense being able to understand you know situation of football how to control the game how to win the ugly games um that’s going to transition to the best because it really comes down to those two minutes at you know the end of the game U right before half all the little stuff that you know I learned playing at University of Michigan when you said it was a tough pill give me some examples seriously about yeah Penn State you know the one that everyone talks about that was really tough pill to swap follow but you know going into it it was a Monumental part of the quest to where we wanted to get to so you know whatever we had to do to win is you know what I’m signing up for and Coach Moore told me and the receivers is going to be one of those games and you didn’t hear a peep out of us you didn’t see us you know stutter at all it was just Roger that let’s go to work and you know I got in there a little bit with the running game and stuff like that but you know afterwards I asked Coach Moore like hey what was it um do you not trust me me um was it do you not have faith in my abilities to help play and he said absolutely not I just felt this number 44 chop Robinson was going to tee off and have a game so we had to adapt and you know do what they have a hard time stopping which is you know nine on seven football and just keeping it between the tackles and just you know willfully moving the chains and you know I totally get it with his you know all the pressure he was under everything that led up to that that game you know with Coach Harbaugh being suspended you know right when we touched down it just you know at the end of the day it was a hard pill to swallow but we won and that’s all that matters at the end of the day exactly and you wound up winning at the end of the day as well and I I just I have not heard you say by the way JJ McCarthy here on the rich Isen show at the draft in Detroit uh I’ve not heard you say you know it it was a tough pill to swallow I didn’t hear a bu rep peep cuzz I’m assuming you you you thought this could be my last run here and you know your draft stock is going to be in the balance in such a way sir and and that’s what we’re hearing so much is like well you know what he didn’t he wasn’t asked to throw so he can’t yeah not not not not not that you haven’t complained about it and just on you know on behalf of everybody at Michigan I I saw you throw it in the Horseshoe and the game kind of flipped when you started throwing it around yes sir so uh but when you hear Jim basically say you’re the best that’s ever done it here at Michigan that had to that had to remind you right of of of the plan the program right yeah and that just you know jogged my memory it was my it was week four after we beat Maryland and I was worried about the stats and I was calling them and saying like hey like I wish we could you know just you know open up the Playbook just a little bit more but uh he told me hey I just want you to know that the most important stat of a quarterback is wins and losses Tom Brady yeah obviously he’s got great stats but his most important stat is that seven rings he’s got on his fingers so just being able to hear that at such a young age and understand you know this is what football’s all about it’s winning and you know with the whole he can’t throw and all that it’s just all this is just projection we have no idea who’s going to turn out who’s going to be great so it’s just all based off of you know the intangibles and the tangibles and you know I feel like I’ve done a great job you know leading up to this process to make sure that those are dialed into a te have you spoken to Brady at all uh not during this process but I have over the years extensively for sure but not during this entire process you’re saying no I actually spoke with uh pton Manning he was kind enough to reach out and you know give me some pieces of advice going into this thing you’re willing to share what do you say um you know not to you know obviously this was the biggest thing he said respect the NFL respect the speed you know changes respect the just immense amount of talent that’s on the field every single day but don’t overr it don’t like he got in trouble speeding up his footwork and trying to make decisions too quick and not being patient enough understand you know CJ Stout perfect example he was that great balance of respecting but not overring so that was something that was huge because going into it I’m already over respecting everyone on that field you know whether it’s at practice or on game day yeah wow I kind of know how it feels to be in your shoes with Jim Harbaugh a little bit cuz I had my charity run at the Rose Bowl this past Sunday and you know you know what it’s like to win at the Rose bow um and so I I was having a I was having a good day getting ready to run my 40- yard dash and Jim was there cuz my my wife had reached out to him to be to shoot a video in support of the run to help promote it and he with Sarah and his kids showed up they were there and and I’m like hey would you mind taking part in this thing and Chris was there as well and you watched him basically grab a bullhorn took over he took over he took over and I said do me a favor before I run can you treat me like you treated JJ by you know slamming me on my on my shoulders and whatever and and and here’s that here’s that moment you’re going to see on NFL Network this weekend I want to show it to you first let’s go go ready to go yeah let’s go you got this mine in a good spot yeah you’re the greatest you’re the best of all time all right I’m the I’m the greatest let her rip let her rip let her rip hey identical is that right identical although I gotta tell you when he was jabbing me like oh yeah he really was jabbing me one thing about Coach Harbaugh he’s not gonna have ass anything anything so that remind you of that that’s the real deal yeah him saying that stuff did that get you fired up or you’re just like I’m good coach I got it I mean his whole thing with that is you know when he was in Chicago he was super nervous before his first game and Walter Payton goes up to him and say hey just get hit you’ll be fine and all the butterflies would go away and that was always thing you know get that first hit and he tries to get ahead of it you know he tries to give you that first Contact to kind of cool the butterflies down but you know you’re you’re already so locked in before the game that’s just like a routine thing that it’s like all right it’s time to go right kind more for him I guess maybe than it is for plus it’s also pretty cool that you could say well Walter Payton once told me I would love to start any story with that uh so you’re here on behalf of sleep number which is the official sleep and wellness partner of the National Football League uh this is this may be awkward and weird so be quiet guys my sleep number setting is 60 what 60 m 50 not too far off damn it I wanted to have the same sleep number as JJ is that weird you got to experiment with it that’s what they were telling me so yeah it could change it could change I’m more on the stiffer end too so it’s adjustable it’s adjustable um and so um you’re you’re you’re hanging out with sleep number and being part of their their sleep and wellness prr yes it’s been amazing you know such great people with Sleep Number obviously thousands of former and current players you know sleep on a Sleep Number bed and you know just the quality of sleep is so key to your performance on the field and just being able to make that partnership and get rolling with one of those smart beds it’s going to be amazing well uh I’m sure they’re rooting for the Vikings draft in year cuz that’s where they’re located right they’re probably they’re probably they’re probably you know before they hit their sleep number at night praying to the football gods that you go to do you have any sense at all before I let you go where you’re going any idea you think I mean I have somewhat of an idea New York Giants I’ve spent the most time with you know they’re a phenomenal staff love coach dble love you know Mr Shane love coach Cherney coach Kafka Chicago guy um just being able to go in there pretty much know like most of the install because he came coach dble came from Alabama and Coach gtis came to Michigan from Alabama so it’s similar formations motions uh plays all that stuff so so being able to get that installing was been great you know I met with them twice it’s been amazing uh just throwing on Easter never done that before but that was sweet um but then you know New England and Washington just came from there and just love the energy that’s in that building and you could tell the sense of urgency to rebuild and be on top and be competitive and obviously Minnesota and Denver you know tremendous coaches coach pton coach oconnell um it would be an honor to play for any of these teams but it’s just going to come down to you know that’s the funny thing about this process they get to choose and you know I’ll be grateful wherever I go and make the most of it brother you are the best I’m so thrilled that you’re here on this show it’s a thrill for me to look you in the eye and say thank you man seriously thank you for everything you led and the way that you carry yourself is exactly what we talk about from my end of the thing with the alumni Bas is being a Michigan man so truly appreciate you and thank you for coming on this show and I can wait to see what’s next for you my man thank you so much JJ you brought him so much joy you have no idea no he does it’s the former Michigan men that paved the way for us so thank you for always having our back throughout this past year and thank you guys for you know always just you know kind of rooting for us obviously he’s rooting for us like crazy but you know it’s great that’s what I do and uh thanks for being here catch the rich eyes and show every single day on the Roku Channel 12 to 3 Eastern for free