Greg Holcomb gives Rooster & Lynnell the breakdown on JJ McCarthy

Forget moms Twitters and agents and the like – Chris Russell went right to the source for some info on JJ McCarthy: Greg Holcomb, JJ’s personal QB coach and trainer!

Holcomb has worked with McCarthy since JJ was in seventh grade, and the QB you saw at Michigan is the somewhat-finished product of a teenager Holcomb saw as a diamond in the making.

“I just saw this really fluid, smooth-throwing 13-year-old kid, and I said to him, like, listen, there's not a lot of things that you don't do well mechanically, you do everything very fluidly and smoothly, so I'm not gonna mess with your mechanics very much,” Holcomb told Rooster & Lynnell on Thursday. “I said we're gonna clean up a few things, but you've got a clean stroke and you're a natural thrower, so you're gonna be easy to work with – and you know, he's just been easy to work with since then. I think that goes to what kind of pro he's going to be, because he's a tireless worker. He's the first guy in and last guy out, that whole thing; extra film work, on the side…he checks all the boxes, man. It's almost obnoxious, really, but that’s truly who he is.”

That said, Holcomb isn’t surprised how McCarthy has risen from a second-round option to a possible Top 5 pick in a few months.

“It’s honestly, swear to God, not a surprise. Last year, I'm watching the NFL Draft, and the guys walk up on stage and get a cap from Goodell and get a jersey and all that, nd I sent him a text that said next year, I’m gonna see you walk up on that stage,” Holcomb said. “He replied back to me, ‘coach, it's already happened, time just hasn't caught up with it yet.’ He was 20 years old at the time, and so I truly felt in my gut that he was going to be that level draft pick. I knew that he would do all the things that he needed to do post-Michigan. The knock is he didn't make these dynamic throws or throw for this many yards or this and that, and that's selflessness of him being in the Michigan offense, but I've seen him make all the throws that people are asking to see and I've seen him do all of those things in training, so I knew when he got to his pro day and the combine, he was going to absolutely kill it. And I also knew that he was gonna walk into all the meetings and all the dinners with owners and GMs and head coaches and just absolutely nail all of those, because that's his DNA; he's the franchise-type guy off the field.”

Holcomb’s work with McCarthy was more about fundamentals and mechanics than playbook-oriented stuff, but they did do drills that mimic some of the unconventional things you might need to see in the NFL, because ‘we need to be able to rep that so often in our training that when it happens, you're familiar with it, and you're gonna be able to make the throw.’

There’s why or how you’ve seen McCarthy’s talent outside of Michigan’s scheme – but where does Holcomb see JJ fitting best?

“There's a handful of teams I think would be really good fit for them – I mean, I love Kevin O'Connell’s offense in Minnesota, and I think JJ would fit into an offense like that very well, but at the same time, I don't think you're gonna be able to put him into a situation where he's not going to be able to adapt to whatever that is,” Holcomb said. “If he would have gone to LSU or Oklahoma or somewhere like that that throws the ball 40 times a game, he would have been lights out and throwing for Heisman Trophy type statistics.
But, he went to an offense that's not really focused on throwing the football all over the field, and his selflessness and being team-first and wanting to win a national championship were at the forefront of that. So wherever he goes, I think he'll be able to pick up whatever they ask him to do. Some places that might be a little bit more to his strength, but he's such a well-rounded person in general and as a football player that I think whatever playbook he's given he's going to excel.”

And that’s because, Holcomb says, McCarthy is wired to be able to learn what he needs to do, but is also capable of doing so on the fly.

“I think he's wired in a way where he would accept responsibility right out of the gate. When he got to Michigan, Cade McNamara was the starter, and I think everybody knew at some point JJ was going to take the job from him, but he walked in there and he didn't expect to take the job,” Holcomb said. “He learned from Cade and the other guys that were there, and so when his time came, he was able to shine and do all the things that he needed to do. Wherever he goes, he's gonna learn and absorb as much information as he can so that when the opportunity presents itself, he's going to take advantage of it, whether it’s Game 1 or next year. I do think he would be able to handle the pressure of being a first-year starting quarterback, because he's a faith-based guy and very strong mentally, so there's nothing mentally that's going to rattle him; it'll simply be him learning how to be a pro and how to handle the professional life as a football player, as a quarterback, and what you need to do. That’s really the only weakness in his game, but there's a mental side to him that I think is going to just continue to carry him into whatever he needs to do. Could he start from Day 1 and succeed? Absolutely.”