Within the next month, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy must make a significant choice.

Mel Kiper Jr., a draft guru, offers the following analysis on the Wolverines signal caller.

After the 2023 football season, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy will have to make a significant choice.

Will McCarthy enter the 2024 NFL draft or, like Blake Corum and other players this season, stay in Ann Arbor for one last ride?

There are many factors that could influence McCarthy’s choice. Is Michigan going to take home the national title?

In the event that the Wolverines lose, will McCarthy be even more motivated to return?

What is the outcome of the NCAA case involving Jim Harbaugh? Or is McCarthy just a young man hoping to

become a captain and leave a lasting four years at Michigan?

All those are good questions, and we will discover the answers someday.

However, for the sake of argument, Mel Kiper Jr., an NFL draft specialist for ESPN, and other

draft analysts produced a piece about the 2024 NFL draft on ESPN.

It’s abundantly clear that USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye are the top

two quarterbacks in the draft, but the QB3 spot is up for grabs. While draft experts, including

Kiper, were sold on McCarthy as that No. 3 QB earlier in the year, it appears Kiper isn’t all so certain any longer.

Kiper called McCarthy the biggest wildcard in the upcoming draft if he decides to come out. While it’s obvious McCarthy has plenty of talent, Kiper has him as his QB No. 7 as of now.

It’s Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, who has been one of the most difficult evaluations of this entire class. He has the tools to be in the mix for that No. 3 QB spot, but he just didn’t convince me down the stretch. Where were the “wow” throws? I didn’t see him go through progressions much. Sure, he only had four interceptions, but three of those came against … Bowling Green? Plus, he wasn’t asked to beat teams with his arm, partly because the Wolverines blew out all of their opponents until November.

McCarthy didn’t put up gaudy numbers during the regular season. He was 49th in the country throwing for 2,630 yards and tied for 51st in the nation throwing 19 touchdown passes.

But one thing about McCarthy is the fact he makes good decisions — only throwing four interceptions all year — and he’s extremely accurate.

The junior finished the regular season second in the country completing 74.2% of his throws.

Two other reasons you don’t see McCarthy putting up huge numbers like LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Oregon’s Bo Nix, or Washington’s Michael Penix is because Michigan enjoys running the football and it doesn’t ask McCarthy to throw the ball more than necessary.

In 13 games this season, McCarthy has thrown the ball 287 times, enough for 76th place in the country. His numbers would be far higher if you allowed him to air the ball out 100 more times, but the Wolverines don’t need him to do that. Additionally, McCarthy only participated in the first half of the season’s games, sitting on the bench for the third quarter to allow his backups to play.

There is no doubt that McCarthy is superior to quarterback No. 7, and he will have the opportunity to prove it against Alabama in the College Football Playoffs.

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