For as long as he can remember, quarterback J.J. McCarthy, a 2021 Michigan commit, has had tunnel-vision focus on football, and that’s what he relied on the first few days after settling into his new high school and temporary life in Florida.
Away from his family back in Illinois, McCarthy, who announced in May he would transfer to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, for his senior year, is in the midst of preseason practice getting ready for the Ascenders’ season opener in late August.
McCarthy led Nazareth Academy in Illinois to three straight state championship games, winning one title as a sophomore in 2018, and he was motivated to lead the team back to another title this fall, but a few things altered that plan.