Keepin’ It Real: Michigan’s JJ McCarthy Has Made Some Eye-Popping Comments … And He’s Probably Right

Keepin’ it 100 … yet another reason to root for Michigan.

For the majority of the season, the Michigan Wolverines football team has been surrounded by their sign-stealing scandal, and now that we’re heading into the national championship with “The Team Up North” being a centerpiece, it has only amplified.

While speaking with the media in a press conference Wednesday, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy was questioned about the saga, which led to the Rose Bowl champion claiming sign-stealing was a normal thing and around “80%” of college football programs partake in it. (RELATED: Roll…Bye?: Alabama Loses WR Coach Holmon Wiggins Just One Day After Getting Bounced From College Football Playoff)

“I also feel like it’s so unfortunate because there’s probably — I don’t want to say a crazy number, but I’d say a good number, 80% of the teams in college football steal signs. It’s just a thing about football. It’s been around for years,” McCarthy stated.

McCarthy also took the opportunity to take a swipe at Michigan‘s rival, Ohio State, claiming their sign-stealing was a result of the Buckeyes doing it somewhere between 2019-2020. He said the Wolverines had to “make it an even playing field.”

“We actually had to adapt because in 2020 or 2019 when Ohio State was stealing our signs, which is legal and they were doing it, we had to get up to the level that they were at, and we had to make it an even playing field.”