Better than Brady? Jim Harbaugh's praise for JJ McCarthy might not be hyperbole

HOUSTON — In the afterglow of Michigan’s breakthrough Rose Bowl win over Alabama, Jim Harbaugh casually tossed a comparison that most coaches would be too cautious to invoke and most players would be too intimidated to accept. 

"I think the last quarterback to win in overtime against Alabama was none other than Tom Brady," Harbaugh said. "I’ve said it before, but right here, this is the greatest quarterback in University of Michigan history."

Harbaugh is so full of hyperbole on a regular basis that he will sometimes say outlandish things that go largely unnoticed. But it should probably be a little bit more of a conversation piece when Michigan’s coach (who was also a great Michigan quarterback) puts current Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the same sentence as a former Michigan quarterback who happens to be the most accomplished football player of all-time. 

And the crazy part is he might be right – at least in the way Harbaugh is framing the argument. Though his passing statistics are rarely spectacular and may not resonate 30 years from now when people look back at this Michigan team without the proper context, McCarthy may well be at the top of the list if the Wolverines beat Washington on Monday to win the school’s first national title since 1997.

With a 26-1 record as a starter, a pair of Big Ten titles and a legendary drive to tie the Rose Bowl, McCarthy’s credentials in terms of college accomplishment would be historically unimpeachable if he can deliver one more win. 

But the discussion about the best quarterback in Michigan history is complicated by two factors. The first and most important is Brady’s presence. The second is that Michigan rarely asks McCarthy to do more than what’s necessary to win football games. 

Either way, it’s highly unusual for a coach to put that kind of praise on a player, especially in the midst of a season. It would be one thing to compare McCarthy to Elvis Grbac or Todd Collins, names who recall fuzzy memories of a different era in Michigan football. But Brady? A seven-time Super Bowl champion? A three-time NFL most valuable player? 

"I think he loves the pressure," said Michigan running backs coach and former player Mike Hart. “He loves being compared to that because he knows he has to show up to work every day. That’s just who he is. Really, really special kid."

Harbaugh may be an oddball, but he’s not completely crazy. When he puts McCarthy in the same category as Brady, he is clearly referring to what they did in college. 

Brady, famously, did not play much his first three years at Michigan and spent much of his final two seasons battling with Drew Henson for the starting job and even platooning on occasion. In his two years as the starter, Brady completed a smidge above 61% of his passes, threw for 30 touchdowns against 16 interceptions and led Michigan to final rankings of No. 12 and No. 5.

By that standard, there are a lot of college quarterbacks in the last quarter-century who were "better" than Brady. That’s a large part of why he fell to the sixth round of the NFL draft. Nobody expected him to become a legend.

"Tom Brady is the the greatest football player of all time," Harbaugh said Saturday. "He’s lapped the field. He’s lapped the field a full lap. J.J. has a long way to go to get to that. But in terms of who I think is the best college quarterback in the 144-year history of Michigan football, I’m nominating J.J. McCarthy. I’m not the maker of that list, but that’s my opinion."

Still, it’s hard to make a nuanced point when you bring a name like Brady into the mix. Harbaugh surely understands that. It would be easy for him to phrase his point differently or put McCarthy into a historical context without naming Brady at all. 

Instead, Harbaugh deliberately puts them side by side – and one can only assume it’s because he sees some of the same traits and an NFL future in which McCarthy eventually becomes one of the best quarterbacks in the league. And it’s a message that rings loud and clear through the entire organization.

"I don’t like comparing people because, you know, Tom Brady is Tom Brady and J.J. is J.J.," Michigan running back Blake Corum said. “But I see it. When I watched Tom Brady growing up, he was always just like no matter what happened in the game or the season he was always calm, cool, collected. He knew how to bring a team back and win. He knew how to face adversity. J.J. does the same thing. He knows how to handle tough situations."

Evaluating quarterbacks is probably the most difficult thing in sports, but you can squint and see a possible future in which McCarthy looks better in the NFL than his production at Michigan would suggest.

The way Michigan’s team is built, you can’t just look at the numbers with McCarthy. Because he only threw for 300 yards once this season – while throwing for less than 200 yards on six occasions – it’s easy to put him in the dreaded "game manager" category.

That seems unfair when you consider that Michigan won most of its games in blowout fashion, and Harbaugh’s coaching style is always going to emphasize running the ball, getting the lead and killing the clock rather than goosing statistics. Against Penn State, for example, McCarthy was asked to throw the ball just eight times because that’s all he needed to do. 

Instead, with McCarthy, it’s probably more instructive to look at his 73.2% accuracy rate while throwing just four interceptions this season along with his physical profile and intangibles. He’s not as big as Brady, but he’s 6-foot-3 and athletic with the polish and poise that NFL teams want to see out of a leader.

It also may say something about him that he handles those comparisons quite easily and without any trepidation, underscoring the confidence Harbaugh has in him to handle the moment and the pressure of the job.  

Asked about it Saturday, McCarthy naturally said he was flattered. Though he has never met Brady in person, they’ve built a text message relationship that McCarthy says has been valuable for the detailed advice he’s received.

"Everything about Tom, like every aspect of his life, every aspect of his game, you want to aspire to be like it," McCarthy said. "Personally, I don't like comparisons because we're unique and have different traits and aspects that makes us special. But just hearing that just gives you that reassurance that you're on the right path and doing the right things."

When it’s all said and done, odds are the only thing that will connect them in the future will be that they both went to Michigan. Getting anywhere close to Brady’s level is an almost impossible and unfair task. 

But when the chips were down in the Rose Bowl, you could almost squint and see a No. 12 in the Maize and Blue rather than McCarthy’s No. 9 leading the Wolverines down the field against the vaunted Alabama defense.

If he can do it one more time, greatest quarterback in Michigan history may not be a stretch after all.