The Most Interesting Things Jim Harbaugh Said: Sept. 5, 2022

Jim Harbaugh spoke about Cade McNamara's performance, Trevor Keegan's versatility, JJ McCarthy's speed and more on Monday following the win over Colorado State.

Michigan beat up on Colorado State over the weekend and is expected to do the same thing to Hawaii in week two. Because of that, Jim Harbaugh fielded a lot of questions about his own team, the quarterbacks, the ever-changing offensive line and the new-look defense on Monday morning. Here are a few things that stood out from Harbaugh's Monday morning presser.

"I thought Cade [McNamara] had a really solid game."

I applaud Harbaugh for how he always talks about his players in a positive light, but no. Cade McNamara completed just 50% of his passes (9-for-18) for 136 yards and a touchdown. Of those 136 yards, 61 of them and the touchdown came on a bubble screen to Roman Wilson. I'll give Cade credit for getting the ball to Wilson in a hurry and right on his numbers, but the rest was all Wilson and perimeter blocking by Ronnie Bell and Cornelius Johnson. Throw in the fact that he's a complete non-factor as a running threat and I just don't know how you can call what he did, "really solid". If you take away the play to Wilson, his day was quite a bit below average at best.

"[Trevor] Keegan graded out the highest, played the best."

The only reason I found this interesting, is because Pro Football Focus had Keegan graded the lowest out of all linemen. I know PFF isn't the bible, and I also understand that Harbaugh is going to pump his guys up, but I would like to see a breakdown explaining the drastic difference in the two grades. I think Keegan is one of the more complete linemen on the team, and the fact that he bumped out to left tackle for the majority of the game on Saturday proves it. However he graded out against Colorado State isn't all that important, but I found it intriguing that PFF had him scraping the bottom of the barrel while Harbaugh gave him the game ball.

"The headsets were clean and smooth. The whole operation — signaling, communication — it was A++."

That's a pretty strong endorsement for Jesse Minter and well deserved, in my opinion. The defense forced two turnovers, which we learned during fall camp was a focus, and sacked the quarterback seven times without Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo. I think it's also noteworthy that the sacks came from nine different players and several levels of the defense. Nickel corner Mike Sainristil got one, Mazi Smith got his first career sack, Braiden McGregor finally looked like the big time recruit he was and even late-transfer Eyabi Anoma got in on the action. All in all, the defense looked sharp, fast and ready to compete against anyone, not just Colorado State.

"If they can be in the two-deep we’ll play them in over four games but if it’s going to be something equivalent to not-important time in the game, then we’ll just play them up to four games."

I just found this interesting because I'm not sure Harbaugh ever spelled it out this clearly. It's obviously not a weird concept or a controversial approach, but to hear Harbaugh speak about his exact plan is always encouraging.

At least 15 true freshmen played in the game on Saturday and a few of them will definitely surpass the four-game limit when it comes to maintaining redshirt status. Cornerback Will Johnson, defensive tackle Mason Graham and defensive end Derrick Moore all appear to be locks to earn meaningful snaps all season. Tight end Colston Loveland really isn't needed, but he looked damn impressive on Saturday and might have to get a look all season long. The same goes for wide receiver Darrius Clemons. He didn't necessarily do much in terms of production on Saturday, but he's physically ready and could help out even though the wide receiver room is loaded. Linebacker Jimmy Rolder showed that he's ready for the big time and running back CJ Stokes also looks poised to get some freshman Donovan Edwards-like run this season as the No. 3 back. Everyone else who played is probably going to battle it out for the next three weeks to earn the right to play beyond that.

"When a quarterback can run in the 4.5s, that gets to be faster than linebackers. You’ve got to have a plan to contain that."

I'll say. 

Harbaugh is referring to JJ McCarthy in the quote above and the 4.5s speed was apparent on Saturday. McCarthy carried the ball just three times but piled up 50 yards in a hurry including a 20-yard touchdown where he erased an angle as a defensive back severely underestimated No. 9s wheels. If McCarthy is running a 4.55, that would make him faster than all but three starting quarterbacks in the NFL — Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson and Justin Fields. That's electric, that's dynamic...that's QB1.