A former four-star recruit out of La Grange Park, Illinois, where he initially attended Nazareth Academy before transferring to the esteemed IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, as a senior in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of Nazareth’s football season. In two seasons starting at Nazareth, he led his team to a 26-2 record with two appearances in the IHSA Class 7A State Championship Game; he seized victory in his sophomore season. In his lone season at IMG Academy, he led his team to an 8-0 record and a consensus High School Football National Championship.
247 Sports ranked McCarthy the 38th-ranked recruit in the 2021 recruiting cycle. Other recruiting services rated him a five-star prospect. McCarthy’s first sport of choice was hockey. He also grew up an Ohio State fan. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day reportedly told McCarthy that the Buckeyes would not take a quarterback in the 2021 recruiting class until the end of the summer.
Day accepted a commitment from Kyle McCord in the spring, and McCarthy felt betrayed by that decision; he went on to commit to Michigan the next month and said, “(Ryan Day) lied to my face…I used to love them (Ohio State). Now I want to kill them.
McCarthy went 2-0 as the starter against Ohio State after Michigan was 2-15 in the previous 17 matchups.
McCarthy beat out Cade McNamara for the starting role before the 2022 season. He earned Second-Team All-Big Ten that year. Michigan won the National Championship in 2023, with McCarthy earning the Rose Bowl Offensive MVP after he threw for 221 yards with three touchdowns against Alabama. He was First-Team All-Big Ten, the Big Ten Quarterback of the Year, and he was a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm and Manning Quarterback Awards.
He finished his time at Michigan with 28 starts in 40 games, ending his career 27-1 as a starter – the best winning percentage by any college quarterback since Toledo’s Chuck Ealy in 1971. In 2023, he set single-season program records for interception rate (1.20) and completion percentage (72.3) and finished second in pass efficiency (167.4) and touchdown passes (22). McCarthy skyrocketed his draft stock after an outstanding 2023 season. He has continued to rise up boards after reportedly interviewing well with NFL teams at the 2024 Scouting Combine. He’s smart, very athletic, and just turned 21 years old.
