While rival fans and even many around the NFL haven’t had the highest expectations for J.J. McCarthy, Michigan football fans know better, and now Minnesota Vikings fans are starting to learn the same.
Because McCarthy wasn’t in a pass-heavy offense, his stats weren’t on par with some others across college football. But when it comes to ‘wow’ plays, third downs, and general command of the offense, McCarthy was top-notch. He was just about the only Wolverines quarterback in the past 20 years where fans weren’t clamoring to see the backup — and with good reason.
His new head coach, Kevin O’Connell, appeared on the Rich Eisen Show, and naturally, the Michigan alum host had to ask him about what he’s seen from his newfound toy leading the offense. And O’Connell was quite enthusiastic about the No. 10 overall pick in this past draft.
“He’s had a great spring. He’s off to a really good start, transitioning into a new offense, a bunch of new teammates, new players, ” O’Connell said. “He gets a ton of work throughout, routes on air and even in 7-on-7, where we we’re going full speed — and all that stuff with some of the first group throughout the spring.
“So J.J. has gotten a good acclamation to what our offense is really all about. He’s starting to show some ownership of it and growing every single day.”
So, he’s coming along, that’s good. but has he lived up to expectations?
A lot of Ohio State fans (particularly) have particularly parsed every video that the Vikings have put out, trying to make it seem as if McCarthy is struggling — instead of leaving their rivalry at the NFL draft door. But O’Connell’s picture of what McCarthy has done is certainly much different than the picture being painted by the rival to the south.
“I can just tell you, everything so far we had hoped to get out of J.J. from the spring, confirming a lot of things we thought about him throughout the pre draft process, he’s done all those…
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