Why J.J. McCarthy ditched his eye black for Ryan Day and Ohio State

J.J. McCarthy ditched his signature eye black for only three games in his collegiate career, and they were all against Ohio State.

Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

JJ McCarthy is already considered to be a Michigan legend to the Maize and Blue faithful, but there's a story you may not know about that even adds to his legendary status in Ann Arbor.

Throughout his entire three-year career with Michigan, McCarthy would wear black eye paint for every single game.

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But on just three occasions, McCarthy opted to skip the black eye paint—and all three occasions came against Ohio State. So why did McCarthy skip the eye black for the biggest matchup of the regular season? According to a story from The Athletic and apparently confirmed by his QB coach on Saturday, it was so that Ohio State head coach Ryan Day could see McCarthy's face clearly.

Via The Athletic:

"J.J. went on to become one of the most accomplished Michigan quarterbacks ever. He beat Day’s Ohio State team three times, putting away his usual eye black so Day could see him directly. "

That nugget was tucked into the story and didn't seem to get much attention when it was published a year ago. But on Saturday, as McCarthy was making his Vikings' return for a preseason matchup against Houston, the story surfaced again online.

A story about JJ’s eye black…

Since college, McCarthy has only *not* worn eye black for 3 games — the games vs Ohio St (below)

JJ’s QB coach Greg Holcomb asked him after one of those games why

JJ told him it was bc he wanted Ryan Day to see his face after he kicked his ass pic.twitter.com/NHImoT9Lqv

— Thor Nystrom (@thorku) August 9, 2025

And once that story was shared, McCarthy's QB coach appeared to confirm it.

Ryan Day stare down from both angles while Donovan Edwards takes it to the house. @jjmccarthy09 pic.twitter.com/zZpOVpLBy9

— Greg Holcomb (@QBCoachHolc) August 9, 2025

McCarthy's deep dislike for Ohio State stems from his recruitment. At one point during the process, McCarthy thought he was going to become a Buckeye. But as the process continued, McCarthy soon felt like he was misled by Ohio State's coaching staff, particularly head coach Ryan Day.

“Coach Day told me he wasn’t going to take (a 2021 quarterback) until the end of summer or anything like that because he wanted to make sure everything was all good, so I didn’t really worry about all that during my visit,” McCarthy told The Athletic, according to SB Nation. “But I didn’t get that feeling when I was there. I really didn’t, with all the coaches there and how they interacted with us, I didn’t feel the big family tradition part of it. It was either you’re good at football or you’re over here. That’s what I felt.”

The Buckeyes would end up taking Quinn Ewers as their prized quarterback in the 2021 class (who ultimately transferred to Texas) and Kyle McCord (who ultimately transferred to Syracuse), while McCarthy ended up in Ann Arbor with the Wolverines—and the rest is history. McCarthy led Michigan to its most successful three-year stretch in program history, one that included a 3-0 record against Ohio State, three Big Ten Championships, and a National Championship in 2023. He ended his career 27-1 as the starter and is widely viewed as the greatest QB in Michigan football history.

The fact that McCarthy opted to skip the eye black for those matchups against Ohio State so that Ryan Day could see his entire face is...well...the stuff legends are made of.

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