ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – It’s a situation that Jim Harbaugh loves…two quarterbacks that are in their prime. Harbaugh, who was THE quarterback for Michigan in the 1990s, is now bestowing his knowledge on both J.J. McCarthy and Cade McNamara. Both have received starts in games one and two and headed into game three against UConn Harbaugh has bestowed the start to McCarthy.

“We’ll start J.J. next week. He’s the starter moving forward on merit,” said Harbaugh.

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Receiving a grade of 93.7 by the Pro Football Focus College, McCarthy had a stellar game vs. Hawai’i in his first start. According to the MGoBlue.com weekly notes, it is the best single-game grade for a quarterback in the Harbaugh era. He is also averaging 6.1 yards per carry on the ground with three rushing touchdowns.

“J.J. had a nearly flawless performance and played really well against Hawai’I,” says Harbaugh.

McCarthy was 11-of-12 in passing with 229 yards and three touchdown passes against Hawai’i. He had passes of 13, 17, and 42 yards for touchdowns and now has 11 career touchdown passes.

The five-star quarterback from La Grange Park, Ill., is now getting a chance to really shine. He has directed seven straight touchdown drives on his last seven possessions this season. With his 229 yards passing, it is almost half of what he threw for last year with 516 yards passing.

Harbaugh is only starting McCarthy by merit, though. McNamara is right there pushing McCarthy after his start against Colorado State. The graduate student didn’t have the best game against CSU going 9-of-18 for 136 yards with one touchdown pass. He then was 4-of-6 for 26 yards and an interception in the Hawai’i game.

McNamara’s resume is one that can’t be overlooked after last year’s run to the Big Ten Championship. Throwing for 2,576 yards and 15 touchdowns, he was an All-Big Ten third-team selection that beat Ohio State for the first time in nearly a decade. So Harbaugh continues to have a good dilemma on his hands.

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“Our coaches and players embrace that we have two really good quarterbacks. This is a big edge for our team to have two really good quarterbacks and we as a team embrace that,” says Harbaugh.

For this week, McCarthy is the starting quarterback. Only Harbaugh knows if that will change next week.