Michigan Football: Junior Colson did JJ McCarthy a huge disservice

For years, Michigan football has made a bad habit of putting its quarterbacks on an unfair pedestal. Junior Colson just continued that tradition.

Clemson rubbing the rock, Penn State’s white out, Virginia Tech’s ‘Enter Sandman’ entrance, Michigan football comparing quarterbacks to NFL superstars.

Some of college football’s best traditions are creeping closer, but we can cross the last one off the list as the Wolverines made headlines on Sunday when Junior Colson did JJ McCarthy and the rest of the team a huge disservice.

Colson compared his quarterback (and potential backup) to Patrick Mahomes.

No, that’s not a typo. According to Saturday Tradition, Colson compared McCarthy to Mahomes in a roundabout way.

Although Colson didn’t come right out and say McCarthy is Mahomes 2.0, he did allude to the fact that his team’s potential QB1 is making those “Mahomes throws” in fall camp. That’s still a dangerous comparison to make, regardless of intent.

Colson may have done McCarthy a huge disservice without even realizing it, and it’s something that’s happened on and off in Ann Arbor for years.

Shea Patterson was compared to Mahomes by ESPN back in 2018, Joe Milton was given the Cam Newton comparison a couple of years ago, and now this McCarthy comparison to Mahomes.

How did all of these comparisons turn out? I’ll give you a hint: the first two did not live up to the hype.

Putting a quarterback who has thrown 59 career passes with a completion rate under 58 percent on a pedestal is just not a wise move. It makes things tougher on the quarterback to live up to that hype and the fanbase’s expectations can crush the aspiring star.

Colson didn’t mean to put more pressure on McCarthy to become a superstar, but he did and now the sophomore will have the weight of Ann Arbor on his shoulders.