All the pressure is on Michigan star J.J. McCarthy to be the best quarterback in the Big Ten this season.
With former Ohio State star C.J. Stroud having turned pro, that likely means Michigan's J.J. McCarthy is the best returning quarterback in the Big Ten.
ESPN's Greg McElroy certainly feels that way. He spoke glowingly on a recent episode of Always College Football about the Wolverines' signal-caller. While I would tend to agree with the former Alabama star, there are other high-quality quarterbacks in the Big Ten to keep an eye on for this season, whether that be guys like Taulia Tagovailoa at Maryland or Cade McNamara, now at Iowa.
Here is what McElroy had to say about the Wolverines quarterback heading into his third season.
Outside of McCarthy, McNamara and Tagovailoa, keep an eye on Drew Allar at Penn State, as well as whoever ends up winning the starting job at Ohio State between Devin Brown and Kyle McCord.
Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy faces great expectations to become Big Ten's best
If all goes according to plan, McCarthy will lead the Wolverines to their third straight Big Ten title. They will be going back to the College Football Playoff, possibly as the biggest challenger to Georgia, or whoever comes out of the SEC, whether that is Alabama, LSU or somebody else entirely. McCarthy will head to New York for the Heisman Trophy and then enter the NFL Draft.
That is what the best quarterback in the Big Ten should do this season. If he plays up to his five-star potential, McCarthy could conceivably be the third quarterback taken next spring behind USC's Caleb Williams and North Carolina's Drake Maye in that order. He also needs to keep an eye on guys like Washington's Michael Penix Jr., Texas' Quinn Ewers and Florida State's Jordan Travis, too.
As far as who could be better than him in the Big Ten, Brown and McCord play for the right program to potentially do that in Ohio State. Tagovailoa plays for a great offensive-minded head coach in Mike Locksley, as well as having NFL pedigree from his older brother Tua. As for McNamara, he did lead the Wolverines to their first Big Ten championships during the playoff era.
I may like McCarthy's chances to be the Big Ten's best quarterback in 2023, but he has to earn it.