Ranking the top five Michigan quarterbacks. Is J.J. McCarthy No. 1?

Jim Harbaugh has already called J.J. McCarthy the greatest quarterback in Michigan’s history.

The argument isn’t difficult to make. Despite not making his starting debut until the second game of last season, McCarthy has built a résumé that is largely unmatched despite the Wolverines’ long list of notable college passers — even if some, like Tom Brady, went on to bigger and better things after leaving Ann Arbor.

In fact, there are enough contenders for the program’s Mount Rushmore that Brady doesn’t make the cut of the five best college quarterbacks to play for the Wolverines:

J.J. McCarthy (2021-23)

McCarthy is 26-1 as the starter, with the one loss coming to TCU in last year’s Fiesta Bowl. That winning percentage is the best in program history, the best of any Bowl Subdivision starter in the past decade and one of the best in FBS history. He’s also the program’s career leader in completion percentage, efficiency rating and adjusted yards per attempt. Should he come back next season, McCarthy could own a big number of the Wolverines’ career and single-season passing records. Winning a national championship would make it very hard to argue against McCarthy as the best in program history.

Rick Leach (1975-78)

Leach was a four-year starter who led the Wolverines to three Big Ten championships and, after dropping the rivalry as a freshman, three wins in a row against Ohio State. He went 38-8-2 overall as the starter and twice finished in the top nine of the Heisman Trophy voting, including a third-place finish as a senior. While his numbers are from a different era — such as that 46.3% career completion percentage — Leach finished his career with an NCAA record of 82 touchdowns accounted for.

Benny Friedman (1924-26)

You’ll need to turn back the clock a century to include Friedman, one of the inaugural inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. The only two-time All-America quarterback in program history, Friedman led the Wolverines to a pair of Big Ten championships and lost just two games in his final two seasons, one a 3-2 slog to Northwestern in 1925 and the other to eventual national champion Navy in 1926.

Jim Harbaugh (1983-86)

Harbaugh was the first Michigan quarterback to throw for 300 yards in a game and one of the most efficient passers of his era, leading the Bowl Subdivision in efficiency rating as a junior in 1985, finishing second nationally as a senior and graduating with an NCAA career record that lasted for more than 12 years. The Wolverines went 21-3-1 during his final two seasons with wins against rivals Michigan State and Ohio State in both years. Harbaugh finished third in the Heisman voting as a senior, which remains tied with Leach for the highest finish by a quarterback in program history.

Chad Henne (2004-07)

First, the bad: Henne went 0-4 against Ohio State and 1-3 in bowl games as the starter. But as one of the rare four-year starters in program history, Henne’s name is all over the Wolverines’ record book. He’s first in career attempts (1,387), completions (828), yards (9,715) and touchdowns (87), in the latter by 17 scores over second-place John Navarre. The career totals are enough to place Henne ahead of Brady, Denard Robinson, Elvis Grbac and others.