J.J.McCarthy Addresses the Media for the First Time Since His Season-Ending Knee Injury

um first off I just want to thank all the fans all the love and support that I've received over these last couple weeks few weeks have been you know immense and tremendous and deeply appreciated so really appreciate all the love you know trainers um my fiance she's been doing a lot helping me out at home and you know really appreciate just everyone throughout this whole process it's new for me and you know I feel right at home here so uh you know we've exhausted all options on what we're going to do and you know there's three different types of miniscus tears you know mine was medial and Radial so 6 weeks of just no pressure and all that and you know we're go from there but I'm just focused on one day at a time doing whatever I can to help this team win and you know be successful each day how you working through it just mentally having not had this happened before and then after you played so well in the in the preseason game um honestly really good you know it's it's tough It's kind of you know kicking the balls but you know what you take everything that life throws at you and you find the positive in it you know good or bad and you know I feel like I've been able to you know gain those deeper connections with my teammates and really take a step back and learn the offense and you know a more relaxed kind of state of mind and you know I'm just appreciating every moment JJ was there a certain play in that game that you realized something was off or was it just a kind of gradual thing that you saw a couple days later you know the adrenaline was flowing so much throughout that 60 Minutes you know even when I was not playing I really didn't feel until the next day you know when my knee started to buckle going down the stairs and I was like I should get this checked out so yeah it was just uh Monday that's when we decided you know to get the MRI and that's what the results showed that medial and Radial tear did did you go back and think about when it could have happened or watch tape or do you want to know or like I mean there's a few different plays that you know I thought it could have been then but there's not one in particular that I really could point out and say yeah this is when it happened cuz you were walking down the steps I mean and it buckles I mean like did you process in that moment like uhoh something might be really messed up here yeah yeah because you know I haven't really felt that before you know I've had contusions and Bone bruises and all that but you know feeling the instability within my knee you know I just wanted to play it safe and play the long game and understand you know I can be a tough guy and toughen it out and you know try to grit out that first start that I was going to get in Cleveland but you know at the end of the day what's best for this organization and this team is me making smart decisions you know especially early on in my career and you know that was one of them to just you know let's figure this out before a land mine goes off in my knee so with that said were you shocked at when they told you what it was extremely shocked yeah like did you just think it was like a bruise or something or what did you think yeah I thought it was a bruise I thought you know at most it could have been a strain somewhere but you know when they told me like it's pretty serious tear uh yeah that was taken away by that Sam darnold says he sees you in you're you're looking at books and reading books and we ask to Playbooks he said what playbooks plus I think more he reads what is it that you're reading um well with my ADHD I read a lot of books at once so I'm reading three right now the invention of yesterday by tamim Ani um A New Earth by eart toi and stay sane in an insane World by Greg Harden and those are just all books that you know really kind of help me throughout this process of you know trying to strengthen this and you know I appreciate you know Sam saying that because he's been so great throughout this whole process just always checking in always making sure I'm good and helping me out throughout the way as well as me helping him out throughout the week JJ what was kind of the process of like when you went in for the operation not knowing like what was going through your head kind of and a lead up to that and then after um it was really just you know take it one day at a time you know it was tough that initial you know week of just understanding you know I'm going to be out for a while but uh you know it's just I'm not going to sit here and sulk and you know think about you know woo me and worry about the past and I'm just going to focus on how I can better and other ways of my life and you know that's what I've been doing every day and I'm seeing a lot of growth in a lot of different areas and yeah I'm just uh attacking it each day and that's all I'm worried about what was the inspiration for your use of the Latin phrase um and then I think Marcus Aurelius as well yeah you know I'm a huge believer and you know life happens for you not to you and you know that's pretty much what a moratti means and inspiration actually came from Becky schoke who uh came here I forget what day it was but was over camp in one of our rookie success meetings which uh you know I really appreciated um she talks about you know stoicism and how it could relate to a lot of the things you go through as an athlete and just as a human being in general and toor FTI kind of really stuck with me and just knowing that I could apply that in every aspect of my life especially throughout my football career J did you ever have to anything under the knee in Michigan like no sir so you've never had yeah it's a fresh one yeah so how long do you are you on the scooter has that been a A plus in a in a weird way has it been fun to be it has been and you know those crutches I've appreciated the crutch work because you know as quarterbacks we don't really get to work out the buys and tries so but uh yeah the cafeteria I'm sure sure you guys been there and see how far it is that's not fun on crutches so it's a nice sco is it true that you crash into okon's wall or is that a little bit it is true you got a little bit blown out of proportion here you know I was just backing up you know like put it in reverse ter and I just Ram right into the door frame a little paint chip but nothing serious need the beep beep coming out yeah exactly yeah we're thinking about clown horns and stuff as far as uh what you can learn in this uh first year I mean I guess what is your approach to trying to take everything you can from Sam and also Kevin with the how the scheme works well the biggest learning process is my routine throughout the week let me solidify what it's like to go through the week and you know with the benefit of not having pressure to perform on Sunday so by the time time I do play whenever that is next year following year whatever or whenever it is I'll be ready and it won't be like I played a game or or this is my first game so I'm just like kind of focusing on chunking things together whether it's the you know third down list the defensive strategies in the red zone it could be any sort of situation and just building a plan that you know helps me retain the information when it comes on Sunday did you go to pool right now or I mean what do you do for cardio and you do upper body what do you try to do just to um they are doing their absolute best to get me to sit down and do absolutely nothing but make sure this is okay for after the 6 weeks because the 6 weeks is the most crucial time of the recovery process so knowing who I am you know I like to chop wood I like to you know just do things all the time so they're just really focusing on me recovering and then really getting after it after that 6 weeks go ahead as you think about training camp um what what are Maybe you what were you most proud of you think of like your progression from the spring to the fall um I think it would be a couple of things just earning you know the Trust From A lot of my teammates and coaches um being able to be that teammate you know the authentic teammate that I am and them understanding that is authenticity um being able to adapt a whole new footwork and really like get it to a spot where I feel really comfortable going out there and not thinking about it too much it's more instinctual and then just getting a better grasp of the offense because it slows down once you're not you know thinking of a million things or how to say the play call so all those little things that I worked on over the summer really paid off as Camp went on J you mentioned like building relationships with your teammates and obviously still spending a ton of time around the building I'm just curious if you've been able to glean anything even just organically from some of the Vets who have maybe been through injuries or had to rehab mhm um so I was actually having a Habachi night with uh gangles invited a lot of us over and David quesenberry told me he hurt his uh foot I forget what the injury was but he broke his foot his fresh or his rookie year and said you know a rookie I mean a vet came up to him and this is going to be you know your red shirt year so enjoy it and that's what he told me so I'm really just you know focusing on just making sure I learn so much mentally that when I go out there it's going to take care of itself JJ when you talk about finding the positives in situations like this like is that hard um you know it not really because you know just me standing here in front of you guys is a positive me being able to see you guys me being able to breathe so there's a lot of different ways that you can find the truly amazing things that we Overlook in life in times like this because you know just being able to walk is like such a blessing and I don't know that unless I don't have it so just going through stuff like that has been you know kind of what I've the doing just to to clarify you said when your knee buckled that was on the stairs of your house and then that was the day after the game uh days that was the day after and then pretty bad Monday so Monday is when you felt it so then that's when you told them about it yeah yeah mhm and then JJ just declare like when you wake up from the surgery that's like the first time you know that like I'm I'm done for the year yeah you go into it and it could be four to six weeks or it could be 6 to 8 months so you find out if you got a brace on your leg post surgery or you don't so there was a what was the first thing you thought when you saw the braise some profanity I don't want to say that I was definitely upset that's for sure was the four to six week surgery an option like through multiple surgeries you could undergo yes you could but then you risk later on in your career having bone on bone issues and nobody wants that you know even postc career it's just like you know at the end of the day you want to be able to be as healthy as possible and you know Dr Larson and his team did a fantastic job of making the proper decision and you know I trust them with my career and you know it's going great so far who' you lean on like in that moment when you woke up see the brace like first person you know my fiance for sure you know we've been together since I was 15 so we've been through a lot and then obviously everyone here you know coach oconnell my teammates uh coach Macau coach udinsky coach Wes obviously the boys in the room but uh yeah just everyone is so like you know it feels like home here it really does it's hard to describe it but you know they've been just truly awesome and I can't think of enough you knew there was a chance like even if without an injury that you might not play this year it could could have been a red shirt type anyway first part you knew there was a chance even if there was no injury that you might not play Just s see how how it goes did you did you have a hunch like after your Camp think were you feeling like I'm ready for this um did you not think that way honestly yeah I felt like you know as camp progressed on my confidence you know kind of evolved yeah I felt like I was ready to perform and help this team win in any way I could and you know yeah it sucks not getting that you know opportunity to start a game or two uh before you know that decision is made but you know what it just happened and you got to roll with the punches JJ the last year I mean really it's been something I mean Michigan and national championship and Coach suspended all that went with that to now um can you put that into words just the last year of your life and all that's happened uh roller coaster that's for sure but a lot of learning moments a lot of experiences that I could you know put on my tool belt and you know help me through these times and you know I'm just grateful for everything that's happened to me good or bad and uh yeah I'm excited to see what the future holds because you know there's something special in this Brew in this building brewing and you know I believe Coach O Connell when he says it because I'm excited to see those boys get after them on Sunday it's going be fun you think about the onfield time you'll miss from this what do you do to make up for for that just trying to get caught up for going back into next year yeah it's just making sure mental reps are you know of utmost importance whether it's VR being out there on the a field and just really you know hearing the play call saying it going through like all those mental mechanics you go through every single snap and uh we have this helmet camera now a little GoPro on Sam's head so watching film from that perspective is really good too so like I said they done they've done a great job so far with just this whole process JJ how similar is the mental toll of going through through this and maybe some of the the hardships you face at IMG um I would say you know this I've have a lot of support around me you know a lot of resources you know a lot of people that you know truly genuinely care and it means a lot and it's definitely making this process a whole lot smoother TJ how excited are you to watch Sam so excited I mean I've watched him since I was you know just picking up football I think in middle school I think yeah kind of old um he's not that old yeah he's not at all but I just like giving him crap but uh I uh I'm so excited because you know the guy works so hard he's so talented he's had such a you know amazing journey this far uh into his career and I feel like it's just about to start because you know he's done a lot of good things put it on tape this camp and I can't wait to you know for him to show the world