Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy first non-Buckeye to win Big Ten QB
ANN ARBOR – Michigan’s football team snapped an eight-game losing skid against Ohio State in 2021, but it ended another Buckeyes’ streak on Wednesday.
Michigan junior J.J. McCarthy was named the Big Ten quarterback of the year, becoming the first non-OSU signal-caller to win the award since Michigan State’s Connor Cook in 2015. McCarthy is the first Michigan player to receive the honor since its inception in 2011. Ten of the other 12 Big Ten quarterbacks of the year were Buckeyes: (Braxton Miller, 2012-13), J.T. Barrett (2014, 2016-17), Dwayne Haskins (2018), Justin Fields (2019-20) and CJ Stroud (2021-22)
McCarthy helped lead the Wolverines to their second straight undefeated regular season, finishing first in the conference in completion percentage (74.3%), third in passing yards (2,483) and fourth in touchdown passes (19). He also added 181 rushing yards and three scores.
The Wolverines finished the regular season No. 1 in the conference in scoring and No. 2 in yards per game. They had 11 offensive players receive all-Big Ten honors, including six first-team honorees: McCarthy, running back Blake Corum, tight end Colston Loveland and offensive linemen Zak Zinter, Drake Nugent and orum was named running back of the year for a second straight season.
McCarthy was among the Heisman Trophy favorites after throwing for 287 yards and four touchdowns against Michigan State on Oct. 21 before going through a cool spell. He went three straight games without a touchdown pass before threading the needle to Roman Wilson last Saturday in a 30-24 win over Ohio State.
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