Mindfulness over matter; McCarthy quietly fuels Michigan’s playoff run

He’s the quarterback, but he’s also a guru.

J.J. McCarthy isn’t just the leader of Michigan’s offense. He’s also something of a ringleader these days, helping others find a way to pre-empt all that controlled chaos and violence on the football field with a moment of Zen.

Because what started as a curiosity among the Wolverines has now become a full-fledged fad, as some of McCarthy’s teammates — and even a stray coach or two — has taken note of the sophomore’s remarkable poise and decided to strike a similar pose.

A couple of hours before kickoff for every Michigan game, home or away, you’ll find McCarthy sitting cross-legged underneath one of the goalposts inside the stadium. His eyes will be closed, his hands folded in his lap, and with the help of some noise-canceling headphones, he’ll hardly move a muscle as he practices his twice-daily meditation.

It’s a routine he picked up years ago at Nazareth Academy in suburban Chicago, where his high school coach, Tim Racki, and a team physician, Tom Nelson, introduced players to “self-activation” techniques through meditation, breathing exercises and the like. And it’s something that is now an essential part of McCarthy’s daily life as a 19-year-old college athlete whose always-sunny disposition hides what he describes as an “uber-competitive nature.”

“It starts with a 30- to 45-minute meditation in the morning, right when I wake up — that gets everything going,” said McCarthy, whose clear mind and steady hand are just one reason No. 2 Michigan (13-0) is back in the College Football Playoff this season. “Then towards game time, once I get under the goalpost, it’s just like a 10-minute tune-up, where I just try to focus on my breath, focus on my heartbeat, slow everything down and go to that centered place, where I could be anywhere in the world and I’m gonna feel the same way.”

And whether it’s after a rainstorm in Michigan Stadium prior to his first career start under the lights against Hawaii in early September, or in the calm before the rivalry storm at Ohio State in late November, “I feel like that 10-minute meditation is the most important,” McCarthy said, “because it just locks me in right before the time is needed.”

He’s not the only one using that key, though. You’ll also find McCarthy’s backfield classmate, Donovan Edwards, meditating under a goalpost on game days. Others will pause to center themselves on the sideline during warmups.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” said receiver Ronnie Bell, a fifth-year senior co-captain. “J.J. is one hell of a leader, and it’s obviously rubbing off. I’ve seen a handful of guys now starting to do the same thing now. And I feel like eventually you’re gonna see the whole Michigan team doing their own meditation, trying to get ready for these games.”

And why not, given the way McCarthy has played this season? Particularly in the biggest games, shrugging off the pressure and finding ways to execute in the clutch.

Take Ohio State week, as Michigan prepared to face its archrival in Columbus, knowing star running back Blake Corum likely wouldn’t be a factor due to a knee injury. McCarthy was a portrait of serenity leading up to “The Game,” quoting Chinese proverbs (“Better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war”) and talking about how he planned to “transmute” the power of 100,000-plus screaming fans in the Horseshoe and turn it into something useful. Then McCarthy went out and played his best game of the season, accounting for 290 total yards and four touchdowns to lead the Wolverines to a 45-23 rout of the Buckeyes, effectively securing this return trip to the playoff.

‘A spiritual team’

This is, as head coach Jim Harbaugh keeps saying, “a spiritual team.” And McCarthy is just one of the dozens of players on the roster who talks openly about his faith, while also citing the guidance of Robby Emery, a local pastor who serves as an advisor to the football team. But Luke Schoonmaker, a fifth-year senior tight end, says he, too, has turned to meditation, in addition to his quiet moments of daily prayer.

It’s something he picked up in the spring of 2020, when the pandemic “gave me a chance to find some new things to do.” And now it’s something he definitely won’t put down, even when he heads off to the NFL next year.

“I’d wake up before a workout and just kind of sit in my room and meditate,” Schoonmaker said. “And I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Others are newer to it, like Kris Jenkins, a junior defensive lineman. The 6-foot-3, 285-pound live wire —affectionately dubbed “The Mutant” by U-M strength coach Ben Herbert — credits McCarthy and Edwards for changing his mind about mindfulness.

“I can’t say I’m a consistent meditator, but they’ve educated me a little bit,” he said. “Breathing techniques, podcasts to listen to when I’m trying to get the mood, even incense. You know, J.J. got me hip to certain incense to use and all that.”

Even some of the coaches are starting to find enlightenment, and when I asked McCarthy about that Tuesday before Michigan hit the practice field here for Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl, he laughed: “I would love to get a little coaches’ meditation group going. That would be awesome.”

Sherrone Moore, U-M’s co-offensive coordinator and line coach, said he first noticed McCarthy meditating prior to the season opener against Colorado State.

“I saw him on the field and I’m like, ‘What is he doing?’” Moore recalled, smiling. “And then I just sat there for a couple minutes and watched him. And I’m like, ‘That looks pretty peaceful. I should start doing that.’”

So he has, albeit in the privacy of the Wolverines’ locker room before games.

“It doesn’t go as long as J.J.’s,” Moore said, “but it has helped. It has helped a lot. … I wish I could do it every morning, but I can’t. I’m too crazy.”

Crazy, though, isn’t it? The way a ripple becomes a wave like this, taking everyone for a ride? And the way McCarthy sees it, it’s just one more sign of what makes this Michigan team “special.”

“The most beautiful thing about it is I just have to tell them about it and they’ll go and learn on their own,” McCarthy said. “I’ve put on a couple meditation apps for people and (shown them) the guided meditations on YouTube and stuff like that. And I’ve had some really good conversations.

“But this team, I’ve never been around a group of guys like this, where they’re just so driven to do anything they can to get better. That (meditation) is one of the things that helped me the most, and they want it to help them. So, it’s been cool to kind of see it play out and more people grow from it.”

The Detroit News and The Star-Telegram are trading content leading up to Saturday’s college football playoff game.

This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 11:00 AM.