J.J. McCarthy arrives at long-awaited Vikings debut with trademark ‘contagious’ energy

Before every practice at the University of Michigan, J.J. McCarthy went looking for one man. Not a teammate. Not the quarterbacks coach. No, a behind-the-scenes Michigan football staple in his 70s named Fred Jackson.

McCarthy would find Jackson and give him a hug. Then one of the two would utter the same line: It’s going to be a great day.

“That was every day,” said Jackson, now 75. “We just had this thing about us.”

He can’t remember when they began the embrace or why it started. Both are immaterial. What Jackson, who played quarterback five decades ago at Jackson State, and who has been a fixture inside Schembechler Hall since the 1990s, wants you to know is how it made him feel. Seen. Respected. Valued. As if he, “just a little old longtime running backs coach,” as he called himself, was making a meaningful contribution.

Perhaps most relevant, Jackson wants you to know how common it was for the now 22-year-old McCarthy to evoke these emotions from others, regardless of their position or cachet.

“I’m telling you,” Jackson said, “he’s contagious.”

Ahead of the highly anticipated “Monday Night Football” matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, it’s almost eerie how many of McCarthy’s former coaches and teammates arrived at a similar observation. They raved about McCarthy’s arm. They marveled at his near-maniacal pursuit of excellence. They noted his athleticism and toughness. But then they homed in on the impact his energy had on others, almost as if that quality would be the most important factor in what McCarthy ultimately accomplishes as a pro.

Time is one of the critical components in the way Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell views quarterback development. There have been overnight successes in the NFL at the most important position. But are they typical? No.

This understanding shaped the team’s decision to sign free agent Sam Darnold last offseason. The more time McCarthy could spend learning — studying Minnesota’s complex playbook and working on layering passes — as a rookie, the thought went, the better chance he’d have to make it in the NFL.

But after the first preseason game last summer against the Las Vegas Raiders, McCarthy felt something strange in his knee. His torn meniscus altered O’Connell’s plan.

Still, as the Vikings prepare for what is likely to be an anxiety-filled Monday night at Soldier Field, O’Connell’s opinion remains unchanged about the path toward optimal quarterback growth.

A long-term approach is required. Making too much of the opener goes against everything the Vikings preach about what it takes for a quarterback to succeed.

“I want him focused on the little details of doing his job against a really good defense,” O’Connell said last week. “We’re going to make some plays. They’re going to make some plays. It’s just onto the next snap, and start banking some of this experience and using it for your benefit moving forward.”

McCarthy’s performance in training camp was up and down. There were great days. He dissected the New England Patriots defense with precision during joint practices. There were also countless teaching opportunities. He would boot out of the pocket on an early-down snap in an 11-on-11 drill and fire a dangerous pass into a cluster of defenders.

Will he be able to apply the lessons he’s learned amid the cauldron of electricity? Can he maintain his composure in and out of the huddle? Will he be able to differentiate the velocity on his throws? Will he make correct decisions when he’s flushed from the pocket? None of this will be easy.

McCarthy downplayed the emotion of returning to face his hometown team. But the magnitude of the moment is unmistakable. He grew up in La Grange Park, Ill., about 20 miles from Soldier Field. He attended a Bears-Vikings game in a Brian Urlacher jersey at age 4. His first NFL memory is walking through the entryway of the stadium that day and purchasing a program. Now, all of these years later, he is leading a talented team into that environment for his first NFL start.

When asked about going home, he quipped, “I feel like home is in Minnesota.” It was the perfect line. But maybe more telling is what happened afterward.

He finished his news conference. He chatted with reporters on his way to the locker room. He high-fived teammates. He joked with a social media staffer. There was not a person in his path whom he did not joyfully acknowledge in some way.

The results of these interactions are impossible to quantify. They might not tangibly matter in the calculus of what will happen when he’s under center against Dennis Allen’s new-look Chicago defense. But that magnetism is what those closest to him believe inspired his teams at Nazareth Academy (Ill.), IMG Academy (Fla.) and the University of Michigan, all of which won titles.

IMG Academy is one of the premier incubators of athletic talent in the country.

In 2020, when the school’s football coaches were cleared to play football during the COVID-19 pandemic, they set their sights on finding a quarterback.

The head coach at the time, Bobby Acosta, said they began with Caleb Williams, who was then ESPN’s top-ranked dual-threat quarterback recruit.

“I spoke with Caleb,” Acosta said. “I didn’t get the right vibe.”

Next up was Drake Maye, another highly touted recruit. Maye’s talent got rave reviews, but he was not leaving his native North Carolina.

Because Chicago high schools hadn’t been cleared to play, and because McCarthy didn’t want to miss out on another season of experience, he agreed to meet with Acosta. In that initial video call, McCarthy shared his thoughts on Acosta’s previous offenses.

“He wasn’t the top kid on our board,” Acosta said, “but he became the top kid when I was introduced to his personality.”

His first impression was verified by tales from others. He heard about the time the 13-year-old, hockey-loving McCarthy skated to the defense of a teammate who had been laid out by a hit from behind. He heard about the lead-up to the 2018 state title football game, when McCarthy banged his thumb on a teammate’s helmet and sank to his knees when reality settled in that he might miss the game. (Not only did McCarthy play, but also his team won handily.)

The deeper Acosta dug, the more concrete his convictions became about how McCarthy’s standard — both for himself and others — would raise the expectations at IMG. His intuition was correct. Before McCarthy even came to campus, he was on videoconference install sessions, scribbling plays on a whiteboard in his room and describing small details to teammates.

“A lot of people play quarterback,” said Kurt Gould, McCarthy’s quarterbacks coach at IMG. “J.J. is a quarterback. Like, he just couldn’t turn it off. The motor was always running.”

In a game against Duncanville, he trotted to the sidelines and told Acosta that the opposing defense knew their plays. He suggested he call plays at the line of scrimmage. Acosta allowed it, and IMG destroyed them. Against Miami Central, McCarthy waved to his coaches to call a timeout. Begrudgingly, they did. On the sideline, he suggested the team implement a concept in which a receiver would mimic an out-breaking route, then push vertically. The defense, McCarthy maintained, would have no response. They went along with the idea. He threw a touchdown.

There are seemingly endless instances like these. In one practice, McCarthy refused to throw an easy short pass and opted instead to throw a deeper-developing route. Frustrated with his decision, the coaches pressed him the next day. McCarthy explained his reasoning. He knew it was the wrong read, but he had noticed earlier in practice that his receiver was not running hard enough. Ensuring that the receiver knew the ball could come his way in the future would fix the issue.

This is a prime example of his unseen effect on the team. That he had the bandwidth for it at one of the more difficult times of his young life speaks even more loudly.

McCarthy has discussed the challenges of being away from his family members and his fiancee, Katya Kuropas, as well as mainly being confined to a dorm room. Lonely nights and a racing mind spiraled him into a deep depression. That period gave rise to his belief in meditation.

Even superiors like Acosta, who acknowledged the isolation of that season away from his family took a toll, said they absorbed strength from McCarthy’s presence. Once, amid Acosta’s stewing in the football offices, McCarthy pulled him aside, drew a smiley face on his hand and said, “Coach, it isn’t that bad.”

“He glows,” Acosta said. “And when you’re around him, you glow also. It’s the J.J. effect.”

One of the main reasons McCarthy won so many games at Michigan? According to those who were a part of the program, which went 27-1 over three seasons with McCarthy as the starter, it was Jim Harbaugh.

It wasn’t the eccentric coach’s scheme. It wasn’t what he taught McCarthy about footwork. No, it was the way Harbaugh made McCarthy feel: like he belonged. Like he had the license to lead the way he’d always led. Like he was everything he believed himself to be, regardless of the external narrative.

Long before Harbaugh was smacking McCarthy’s pads on the sideline before games, he was texting and calling when McCarthy needed a confidant who empathized with what he was navigating at IMG.

“The relationship between those two was like nothing I’ve ever seen,” said Josh Sinagoga, now Michigan’s assistant quarterbacks coach. “It was so special. So real. So genuine. When the guy running the program is with you every day, and you know he has your back no matter what, that is one of the more powerful things I’ve seen being part of a program.”

In many ways, O’Connell wanted to generate a similar feeling in his quarterback.

He could have allocated all of his attention last year to Darnold. He didn’t. The play-calling coach and young quarterback met privately for an hour each week.

O’Connell also could have delayed McCarthy’s starting opportunity for the 2025 season. Instead, all offseason long — even when McCarthy was emerging from another difficult mental test amid the rehab of his torn meniscus and the Vikings hadn’t seen him in live action for months — O’Connell remained committed.

Not just to the player the Vikings picked 10th in the 2024 NFL Draft, but to the person beneath the purple No. 9 jersey.

There is almost a defiant sense of empowerment in the Vikings’ approach for 2025. O’Connell and company could have had veteran center Ryan Kelly hold McCarthy’s hand against defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ defense this spring. But they didn’t. It was like they were saying to McCarthy, The keys to the car are yours. Go do your thing.

What McCarthy has done with his voice thus far is what he’s always done. He has propelled teammates like right guard Will Fries to say things like, “No matter what, he is going to give it his all. You want to play your ass off for him. He’s one of those guys where you want to go to battle for him.”

How McCarthy performs Monday night and beyond might affect his ability to lift his teammates the way he always has. Lose for an extended period of time, and it’s fair to question whether McCarthy will be able to maintain his positive outlook and aura.

But perfection is not a realistic goal, especially at the outset.

As a sophomore at Michigan, he threw two interceptions in the College Football Playoff semifinal against TCU. There were times he misfired or made the wrong decision. But Harbaugh and the Wolverines did not waver in their commitment, and the result of their allegiance will live on forever.

Once he found his footing, McCarthy was back to his old self.

He was spotted limping through Schembechler Hall, days before a game against Maryland, asking teammates what they, too, were willing to give. He was approaching acting coach Sherrone Moore on the sideline at Beaver Stadium against Penn State, saying things like, “Whatever it takes. I don’t care what it is. Let’s run the damn ball. I just want to win this game.”

He was leaving 75-year-old coaches like Jackson saying things like, “People don’t know how different that boy really is. But they’re getting ready to find out.”

(Top photo: Jeffrey Becker / Imagn Images)

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