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April 29, 2024 • 13 mins
10th overall pick JJ McCarthy joins 92Noon to chat about being drafted, his hockey playing days, & more!
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Episode Transcript

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(00:00):
JJ, It's Paul Allen. Imet you on Friday when you were whisking
through the facility with Dallas Turner.Good to chat with you again. And
that song one Love? What doyou think about the old Bob Marley classic?
And good morning, Good morning,Paul. It's an honored to be
on your show. Thank you somuch for having me on. You know

(00:21):
what I think about that song isjust it's not what I think, it's
what I feel. You know,right when you've turned it on, I
just felt great vibes right away.And you know, what a beautiful way
to start this whole thing, andright I mean start metaphorically speaking, realistically
speaking, it's I mean it's it'sa new chapter of your life obviously,
and it becomes more professional and youknow, and consider this, JJ,

(00:44):
I mean, how how does itmake you feel knowing a team traded up
to get you? I mean,because some people look at it the other
way and be like, well theykeep passing and they passed and they passed.
I think it's cool somebody came upto get you, don't you.
Yeah. I mean, obviously,just being picked is a blessing in and
of itself, but when a teamyou know pretty much says indirectly, they

(01:10):
want you, and they want youto be a part of their football team
and me and so much more.And you know, I can't thank KLAC
and Coach O'Connell and the will familyenough for taking this chance on me.
And I can't wait to, youknow, prove them right. JJ.
Given interactions you had with fellow quarterbacksalong the way, yourself included, why
do you think they all felt Minnesotawhat was a great fit, whether it's

(01:34):
Williams through you, they all seemto think Minnesota would be a great place
to land. Why is that?I believe it's because, you know,
first, the organization is just sucha tremendous organization from the top down.
And then you go to coach O'Connelland him being a former quarterback and understanding
the position to a tee and playingat the highest level as well as coaching

(01:57):
at the highest level, so ableto be around a guy like that,
as well as coach McCown and coachUdinsky and coach O'Hara. You know,
it's just a great, you know, situation for a young quarterback to develop
and grow. And then you add, you know, the tremendous weapons that
are around you with all the receivers, you know, the tremendous offensive lineman
and you know, just to pickup with the Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler

(02:21):
like. It's just a tremendous positionto be in for a young guy coming
up into this league. And youknow, someone like Sam Darnold and Nick
Mullens and Jaren Hall like, thoseguys have been in, you know,
the same situation that I'm going through, and they have a lot of experience
that you know, hopefully I getto just to learn as much as I
can from them and be a sponge, and you know, it's just a

(02:45):
well rounded way of being a partof something as you know, a fresh
start. So that's kind of themost enticing thing about it. Beautiful answer,
JJ McCarthy And speaking of coaches,what what did you like about Jim
Harbaugh's coaching and how did you guysbecome as close as you have. Well,

(03:07):
I think it's exactly that, youknow, Coach Harball played at the
University of Michigan and then played ata high level in the NFL and being
able to have that experience and youknow the understanding of situations that might prevail
in a game or in a practiceand then him saying, hey, like
I've been there before, like Iget it, I understand. Instead of

(03:29):
just you know, screaming at youabout the outcome, they're more process driven
guys and process driven coaching, andyou know that goes such a further way
in your developmental process. And youknow, he's just such a great guy
too. He's got such a greatheart. He wants nothing but the best
for all of his players, especiallythe quarterback position, and he's like a
second father figure to a lot ofus. And just him being able to

(03:53):
be genuine and truly love us likehis own kids. You feel that and
that goes a long way. Whenwhen you guys beat Alabama on New Year's
Day in the Rose Ball, youwere sacked just once and it was by
your your now teammate, Dallas Turner. So like you know from what you
what you knew about Dallas from fromfrom breaking down the all twenty two into

(04:14):
the game and rewatching the game orgetting to know him. Now, what
did the Minnesota Vikings get in DallasTurner? Uh? They got a game
changer? You know for us,he was a game wrecker, somebody that
you always had to worry about becausehe can impact the game in such a
big way. And if you justgo, you know, if you're ignorant
to the fact of you know,his great skills and abilities and high motor,

(04:36):
then he's gonna come and bite youin the butt. And you know,
Dallas is just such a great guybecause of his a great pick up,
because of his intangibles and the headon his shoulders and his desire to
be great, his desire to learneverything he possibly can. And you know,
it's those things that are inevitably goingto keep you in this league for
a long time. And Dallas hasa really bright future. JJ McCarry I

(05:00):
think rookie quarterback for the Minnesota Vikingsselected tenth overall last Thursday. He's on
the nine to noon Show. Andwhy didn't you you know, we we
we learned about in the state ofhockey, your your hockey background, and
you know, why why didn't youstick with hockey and football throughout high school?
So I had to stop hockey myfreshman year of high school because it

(05:23):
was my first year playing triple Ahockey. And if anyone has been around
it or you know, been init. They know how strenuous the schedule
is week to week and being ableto go play, you know, a
practice week, it'll be Monday throughThursday. Football you finish around you know,
five thirty six, and then Tuesdaysand Thursdays. I would drive an

(05:44):
hour to Scokie, Illinois and playhockey practice and have hockey practice at around
I want to say, seven thirtyeight, and then you don't get home
till about you know, eleven o'clockat night. So it was just doing
that and understanding, like, youknow, I have to make this decision
because you can't be a pro andboth you got to really you know,
stick to plan A and go allin. And you know, receiving a

(06:08):
scholarship all for when I was ineighth grade for football, that was something
that kind of gave me, youknow, that calling that this was my
purpose and what I was meant todo. And you know that's when I
made that decision. And I misshockey so much. I love it.
You know, I haven't been onthe ice since I stopped playing, just
because I want to get that itchagain. But holy cow, definitely being

(06:29):
in the state of hockey, I'llbe out there on the ponds or wherever
you know, stick and puck isbecause I miss it too much. See,
I never would have guessed that.I mean, I'm not saying you're
going to get in some rec leagueon Thursday night when you're trying to get
into THEO the NFL. But Imean those Wolverines teams, granted they're not
winning national championships, but like thoseseven first rounders, they had a couple

(06:49):
our draft picks, I mean acouple of a couple of years ago.
I mean the Wolverines hockey squad wasreally good while you were there, very
good. Yeah, they like somuch talent, like Luke Hughes was in
a lot of my classes, forinstance, and he's just such a great
guy. But you know the waythat they, you know, handle the
pocket, you know, just they'reskating in and of itself. It's something

(07:13):
different. And being able to watchthat, I kind of take a step
back in the stands and be like, yeah, yeah, this wasn't for
me. These guys are pretty darngood. And I don't know if I
was that good. But you can'tsay it wasn't for you, because I
mean you're fifteen, fourteen, fifteenyears old and you cut it off.
I mean, it's clear God hasgifted you with with a skill set that
that you know has no limits.I mean, shoot, you're going to

(07:35):
be throwing passes in the National FootballLeague in the relative near future. But
you know with hockey and football,man, and of course you know this,
but that they're similar in that they'reboth violent and team oriented, you
know, and just and I saythis on the radio all the time.
I mean, scoring a goals tough. You got to get a to b

(07:55):
to see then puck luck, We'llsee if it hits the stanchion. You
know, did somebody lose or dstuff like that. Football you need so
many things to go together just toget five to ten yards on a play.
So that does that fascinate you?Just really how similar those games can
be. Yes, it does fascinateme. And you know the connection between

(08:16):
the two is so real and it'sso there because you know, when I
take off into open fields and I'mrunning with the football, I'm literally the
lens I'm looking through is the samelens I'm looking through when I'm on the
ice. Your head's up. Yougot to make sure that you're seeing everything
around you. And you know,it feels like I'm skating up, you
know, down the boards with thepuck on my stick and just being able

(08:39):
to go through. Like you said, a sport that's so team oriented and
so tight and you know, beable to display that toughness on a day
to day basis when you're on theice. It carries over to football.
When you know a quarterback, youdon't have many opportunities to display toughness,
so when they do show up,you know, I've been there before,
and you know I love being putin those situations. So I just missed

(09:03):
it so much from from what youknow now, JJ McCarthy, what because
you're going to learn a lot moreobviously May ninth through the twelfth with rookie
camp than Mini camped and training campand here we go. But you know,
from what you know now, whatwhat is special about the ways Kevin
O'Connell runs offense? I would saywhat's special about it is how QB friendly

(09:26):
it is, you know, beingable to have a lot of peer progressions,
have a lot of great you knowfootwork that marries up with the concepts.
It makes it so much easier onthe quarterback and obviously with the weapons
around you. But he's been therebefore, He's ran this offense for a
long time, you know, beingfrom the McBay tree and just being able

(09:48):
to, you know, be inthat system. I am extremely thrilled.
And that was another thing I wasextremely enticing for all the quarterbacks in this
class was being a part of thatsystem. And I just can't wait to
get rolling, then get into theplaybook, because it's gonna be a fun
ride at JJ. At at anytime, like up to the draft last
Thursday or even last Thursday, atany at any time, did you think

(10:11):
there was a chance you would bea Denver Bronco. Yes, I did
think that. You know, thatwas kind of my two spots that I
really felt like, you know,I was going to go after seeing the
first six picks and you know,both great spots. But I'm extremely excited
to stay in the Midwest and playfor coach O'Connell. And it couldn't have

(10:35):
turned out any more perfect. Oh, what what's your plan from rookie camp
forward? I mean, if youwere able to construct the plan, do
do do you expect a fair chance? Fair chance to win the starting quarterback
job into the twenty twenty four seasonor is it just that'll take care of
itself and you want to improve JJMcCarthy. Yeah, that's all I'm gonna

(10:58):
do. You said it exactly there. I'm just gonna try and be the
best version of myself every single day. Get to know my teammates, get
to know the playbook in and out, and just be around the guys and
focus on the now like I wantto dominate the now of every day.
I want to win the daily battleswithin each day because that's gonna shape my
future. I'm not gonna sit hereand put expectations on myself and try to

(11:20):
be you know, the starter dayone or anything like that. It's gonna
be I'm gonna be the best teammateI could possibly be. I'm gonna learn
from Sam, Nack and Jaren andjust try to be the best version of
myself and be better than I wasyesterday. And you know that's gotten me
so far and I'm gonna continue todo that. Are you? Are you
perchance a Blackhawks fan having grown uptwenty minutes away from United Center? Unfortunately,

(11:43):
yes, right now the boys arestruggling, but yeah, I'm excited
to be a converted wild fan,that's for sure. Well it's not unfortunately.
I mean seriously, you're twenty oneyears of age, so you're like
nine ten eleven with Patty Kine andTate's and Duncan Keith, and I mean
that, you know, granted wewere on the wrong side of a fair
amount of those postseason battles the wild, but I mean, those those Blackhawks

(12:05):
teams were immortality. Man, theywere. They were like I wouldn't say
they were the Bulls dynasty at thetime, but for hockey it was.
It was a dynasty for sure.And being able to be around that and
go to the games, and youknow, my buddy that I played hockey
with, he was, you know, every car ride we were in the
same car, and his dad workedfor the Hawks and you know, tape

(12:28):
their sticks and all that. Sohe used to get to go down there
and you know, see the guysand take pictures with Tay's and Kate and
Keith and Seabrook and Hosa and allthose guys. And it was, you
know, a true blessing to youknow, be in a city that had
a successful hockey team at the time, because that's kind of where most of
the love for the game derived fromand uh, you know, just hopefully

(12:50):
Binard could get those guys going andget back on track. But I'm gonna
have mixed feelings whenever they play thewild. Yeah. Well, because here
we're like hopefully Caprice Off and uhand Zukarello and who and whomever can get
this thing going a little bit.And you know what, ma'am. Lastly,
you know they're going to get youover to Excel Energy Center. You're

(13:11):
gonna meet Coroll, Caprice Off,You're gonna get it. You're gonna get
a sweater probably due let's play hockey, and that may test your Blackhawk's faith
just a little bit. Hey,I'm all in. I'm all in with
Fried right. And speaking of wearingsweaters and jerseys, what any idea what
number you're gonna wear when you playfor the Minnesota Vikings. I'm gonna wear

(13:37):
nine, going back to all nineright, Oh man, that's perfect.
This is nine nine to noon,And it was great having you on the
radio show man. Look forward toseeing you again at at rookie camp.
Congratulations. God bless you and yourfamily and we'll stay in touch, all
right. God bless you and yourfamily as well, Paul can't wait to
see you so
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