Jim Harbaugh taking a risk by delaying picking starting QB

By RJ Young
FOX Sports College Football Writer

Let's talk about Michigan’s quarterback situation.

In a statement released on Saturday, a week before the No. 8-ranked Michigan Wolverines play Colorado State in their season-opener, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said Cade McNamara will start Week 1 against the Rams and J.J. McCarthy will start Week 2 against Hawaii.

Harbaugh also said he will then decide who starts Week 3 — against traditional juggernaut Connecticut — but made no mention of whether that player would remain the starter for the foreseeable future.

Harbaugh clearly doesn't believe there is any separation between the two players at the most important and singular position in football.

There's also the slight matter of the transfer portal, which could beckon McCarthy if McNamara comes out as the clear No. 1 on the depth chart in 2022.

In what is likely McNamara’s final season of college football, Harbaugh's decision to give each player a start in the first two weeks against competition the Wolverines should beat is interesting. In effect, he's extending the deadline to decide between a player he truly loves (McNamara), and his presumed future starter (McCarthy).

And that is the rub.

I sent a text to a source close to the program asking him to help me make sense of this. And he unequivocally told me, "It’s a win-win-win" for Michigan.

For him, both QBs will have to focus on not making the mistakes that lead folks to look to the sideline.

In McNamara’s case, he can’t just check down most of the game. He must show he can drop dimes downfield.

For McCarthy, he must show he can protect the ball and still make those explosive plays through the air and with his legs in the first night game of the season.

That contest against the Rainbow Warriors will also be McCarthy’s first chance to show what he’s made of as a starter.

Will it work? Recent history shows that it could.

In 2014, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz played two QBs. He liked Jake Rudock — who took most of the snaps — but C.J. Beathard was the more talented player.

After Rudock took most of the snaps that season, Beathard’s father told The Tennessean he hoped his kid didn’t have to transfer if he didn’t start against Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Bowl.

"He's really hoping he doesn't have to transfer," C.J.’s father Casey Beathard said. "I said [to him], 'Hopefully it'll be obvious in this game, one way or the other.'"

Turns out, it was Rudock who left Iowa City and ended up at Michigan as a grad transfer, and the move worked for Iowa. With the QB position settled, Iowa improved from 7-6 in 2014 to 12-2 in 2015 with Beathard under center.

But the two-QB system might have done more to hold 2014 Iowa back than help them succeed based on how the Hawkeyes played with Beathard as the unquestioned starter in 2015.

Among others, Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier have made two–QB systems work.

But even on Ohio State’s last national title team in 2014, which featured perhaps the most successful two-QB system in the CFP era (Cardale Jones and JT Barrett), Barrett said they didn’t enjoy it the following season.

"We would switch every series," he told Eleven Warriors. "As a quarterback, it's kind of rough to do, being that you can't get a real vibe off the defense and how they're trying to play us. They're not playing a quarterback as an individual, they're playing the offense.

"With that, it was hard at times, or more difficult at times, so I don't think it would be the best idea."

In Ohio State’s case, Meyer had two QBs with similar skill sets. In Michigan, it’s a much easier assessment.

McNamara was good enough to upset Ohio State, win the B1G title and make the CFP.

Now he could be who Kelly Bryant was to Clemson in 2018 — the guy who would cede the starting spot to a guy named Trevor Lawrence.

However, in the case of Meyer at Ohio State and Dabo Swinney at Clemson, they'd proven they can win the national title and deserve the benefit of the doubt.

In McCarthy, Michigan might have the means to push a step farther — if not this year then the next.

His ability to turn a scramble drill into a positive outcome, and to flip the ball 50 yards downfield into a shoebox, are two reasons he's a more talented player than McNamara. You don’t have to take my word for it.

McCarthy is rated five-star, according to the 247 Sports Composite, and ranked as the No. 25 player in the 2021 class. McNamara ranked 268th in the 2019 class.

On the other hand, McNamara has Harbaugh’s confidence, his blessing.

When I asked about McNamara at Big Ten Media Days, Harbaugh left no doubt about what he sees in him — a little of himself.

"I often think about that — like a young Jimmy Harbaugh," he said. "I can just see it."

He referenced McNamara’s ability to lead the team to wins by unearthing a stat that showed how many drives McNamara led that resulted in points.

"Cade’s is off the charts," he said. "It’s over 50 percent. Now, J.J., I haven’t figured out what his is, but it feels like every time he leads a drive [the team] ends up in the end zone as well."

There’s no chance of McCarthy winning the team’s confidence if they know he’s not the guy, or if they think he'll get the hook after a bad drive, a turnover, or a stalled offensive outing.

Harbaugh says he believes the Wolverines can win games with either one of those guys at QB. He had better hope so.

McCarthy and McNamara would benefit from knowing their team and their coach has their back until they prove they can’t play the position at a high level. Name a starter, and then let that man grow into the next great Michigan quarterback.

It wasn’t that long ago that Harbaugh finished 2-4 and took a pay cut. He flipped the program into Big Ten champs, but then openly flirted with NFL opportunities when he should have been focused on securing signings of letters of intent. 

Now it seems he might squander even more goodwill while testing the patience of his locker room and the Wolverines fan base. He'll have less time for a team to rally around the guy as he continues to split reps into the season, and that can do more harm than good.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The Number One College Football Show." Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young, and subscribe to "The RJ Young Show" on YouTube. He is not on a StepMill.