HOUSTON — It's no secret Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh loves Wolverines quarterback JJ McCarthy.
"You have to be sharp as a coach to keep up with him," Harbaugh said. "He comes into the meetings prepared. He looks at the cut-ups. He's already looked at the games. You could reference a cut-up and he knows it. He's already previewed the game plan."
Harbaugh even said the junior is the greatest Michigan quarterback of all time, even better than perhaps the greatest quarterback of all-time Tom Brady.
McCarthy is flattered by the comparison.
"Just hearing that just gives you that reassurance that you're on the right path and doing the right things," McCarthy said. "It means a lot, but at the end of the day, I don't like to compare myself to anyone. I just like to go out there and be the best version of myself."
McCarthy has done so much to become the best person he can be.
Back in high school at the IMG Academy, McCarthy went through a tough stint of depression.
"I was in a deep rut for myself, studying all the athletes, their mindsets, trying to adopt them in every way to forge the ultimate mindset as a competitor," McCarthy said. "I just kept going further from myself and my true nature. I feel like it just — I was in a deep rut for about a month or two and I was like, something has to change. This isn't who I am."
He then went online and researched how to get over depression. The first thing he saw was meditating.
"I gave it a try and the rest was history," McCarthy said. "It's a beautiful practice."
Since then, McCarthy has gone to a goalpost before every game to meditate. No matter how loud the stadium is or who Michigan plays. He feels like he has seen the results come to fruition.
"It's really hard at first, but I recommend that people continue to press on with it and stay disciplined because the effects are tremendous."
The effect on McCarthy has been more than just tremendous. As a starter at Michigan, he has lost just one game - the Fiesta Bowl to TCU in last year's college football playoff semifinal.
Now, he sits just one win away from bringing Michigan its first national championship since 1997. McCarthy hopes he can make it happen.
"Obviously it's the National Championship, but it's a football game at the end of the day and we got to go out there and execute each play, and that's how we're treating it right now," McCarthy said.
McCarthy and the Wolverines battle Washington for the national championship on Monday night. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
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