Opening statement:

"I want to congratulate Carol Hutchins on her amazing career and retirement … I think the winningest softball coach known to the entire world. It’s great that her legacy is going to continue under Bonnie and her team, and great to have another Michigan alum coaching a Michigan team. Can’t talk enough about Carol. Winningest coach in history. 22 Big Ten championships, on and on. I know she’s going to be around still. Great colleague. Good luck, and go blue!"

Continued:

"Camp has been good. We’re excited to start the season. Camp is over, it’s now game week. I really give a lot of credit to our players, the kind of shape they came in. The way our coaches developed; strength coaches, assistant coaches. Very healthy roster as well. Excited to let them have at it this week. We named our starting quarterback. Cade McNamara will start the first game. J.J. McCarthy will start the second."

On the timeline of QB battle:

It’s a process. No person knows what the future holds. That’s biblical. We’re not going to withhold any good thing. Both have been tremendous quarterbacks. We think that both are capable of leading our team to the championship. Cultivating that. Somebody asked how we came to that decision and if it was based on some NFL model. No. It’s biblical. Solemn was known to be a pretty wise person.

On late transfer addition DE Eyabi Anoma:

Graduate transfer Eyabi Anmoa has been practicing with the team for about 10-12 days. He’s been really good. He’s been a great teammate. We look forward to seeing what he can do this coming season. Hopefully, playing right away. He has some outstanding assets.

On if he wishes one QB separated from the other:

I can’t see it other than a good thing. They’re actually both playing their best football since they’ve been here. Cade is arguably one of the most improved players on the team. He’s playing his best football. J.J. didn’t have spring practice, but he’s ascended to where he’s at based on his performance. That’s a really, really good thing. It’s no demotion for Cade McNamara. He’s playing his best football. It’s a promotion for J.J. based on what he’s been able to do as well."

On both quarterbacks playing against Colorado State:

"Yes. You don’t withhold something that can help the football team."

On the second-team offensive line past Barnhart & Crippen:

Jeff Persi at left tackle. Gio El-Hadid is doing really good things. Reece Atterberry. Raheem Anderson. That’s probably our top 11 right now.

On the vetting process to bring in Eyabi Anoma, given his dismissals from multiple programs:

"Eyabi graduated from Tennessee-Martin. Very easy process talking to his former teammates that are on our team. Eyabi is someone out of high school I felt like we finished second for him. I always really liked being around Eyabi. I’m aware of the vague off-field issues that you refer to, but as it stands now, he’s a college graduate, really vouched for by his teammates, and just a great guy to be around. No man knows the future, but I think it looks very good and right for him."

On how the staff will evaluate the quarterback competition:

“Yeah, based on performance. There’s not one criteria that you can plug in and say this will be a factor, that will be a factor. I want both quarterbacks to keep playing their game. Keep enhancing what they do really well and improving some of the things that they need to work on but definitely not trying to play somebody else’s game or the other quarterbacks' game. It can’t be a metric or number that’s going to be the deciding factor because there won’t be one besides playing the best players based on performance. That’s the metric. Meritocracy."

On freshman DT Mason Graham starting:

"We’re taking that in the base package right now. He’s top of the depth chart right now as a defensive tackle. Rayshaun Benny is surging like you can’t imagine, both in the base and the sub fronts as well. Mason, from the day he got here, he’s been a really solid player. You saw in the spring game that he was really highly drafted, then he played really well. He’s earned it. Counting on him for a lot of snaps."

On judging both quarterbacks when they’re playing with two different defenses:

"Not to be exactly the same, but where we’re at right now, it’s practice vs. games. I think we’ll have a better understanding after the two play some games. This is something we have to withhold. There’s a great chance we play both of the quarterbacks this game, the next game, and the third game as well. I don’t know. You just don’t know. You can speculate, predict, but nobody knows the future."

On if the landscape of college football transfers weighed in on the QB decision to avoid a potential transfer:

"It’s specific for this team and the way these two players are playing. If your question is speculating, there’s no other intent or motive other than what’s good for our football team. I understand it. I understand the landscape—Here’s a landscape I do understand: If a coach gets up here and gives you the normal cliches, then you seem very offended as a journalist. But also, when a coach gives you really well thought out, honest, and tells you the truth on where they stand, there’s a tendency to question motive or intent. I understand, but I’m going to keep doing it the way I’ve been doing it, speaking the absolute truth as I know it and believe it to be."

On releasing a depth chart given past tendencies to keep team info internal:

"Just felt like, since we’re doing it with our team, we’ll do it for everybody. A lot of times, when you do it internally, it finds a way to get out there. So why? It gets out there anyway, so might as well release it."

On his team’s excitement for this season based on last year:

"Excitement is really high. Guys can’t wait to play. I’m excited to watch our guys compete and watch them play. Really looking forward to watching our guys compete and watching them play. Really looking forward to how they’re going to play. Really feel like we can cut it close, let it rip, and play with hustle. Constant hustle. Hustle at all times. One of the things I’ll be looking for the most guys running to the ball on defense and offensively, also running to the ball. Trying to get that second block. If you don’t have the ball, then have a block. No matter if it’s a run or a pass. I think they’re ready to do that. Prepared to do that. Highly motivated to play this game."

On why Harbaugh decided to make the QB situation public:

"Everybody knows exactly where it’s at. Inside our team, players, coaches, and reasonable people who have seen a lot of football look at it as neck-and-neck. And that’s what it is, so we’re sharing that. I know other players shared that with the media. It’s something that’s already out there, and it’s our approach. It feels like the best way to go. It’s got to play out. It’s a process based on performance. That’s what it is. And it’s a good thing. A lot of teams would like to have that. Would like to be in that position. I continue to, even though I see the things written, the adage that if you have two quarterbacks, you actually don’t have any. I see some heads nodding. Is that true? Is that a fact? Is that a fact? Is that a fact for anywhere? Or is that a fact on this team? I don’t know if that’s a proven fact.”

On the safety development:

"Safeties, in particular, R.J. Moten, Makari Page, and Rod Moore. Those three safeties have been outstanding. Also, Caden Kolesar will be in the rotation. Those first three I mentioned will be, depending on the package — dime, base, or nickel — those three will rotate as starters."

On why he said the defense will be a lot better than people thought:

"I said I thought it had a chance to be. We don’t know that yet. It has a chance to be based on the fact that David Ojabo last year, we didn’t know he would turn into the player he did. We see a lot of hungry guys at those positions and at the safety position. In particular, all four of those players have really been competing and battling for our football team. Same with outside backer, I see that thing place. Guys are hungry and want to play, based on that. It has a chance to be better. It has a license and the ability to be. Now, let’s go have at it and see if it can be."

On Mason Graham again, and if he entered fall camp as a starter:

"As it progressed, that’s where he moved, in the base defense. He wasn’t starting going into camp. Really, Kris Jenkins was the starting tackle going into fall. Now Kris Jenkins is the starting end. He moved from tackle to end. So in the base package, based on a base front, that’s who we think our starters are. Mazi Smith starting at nose. The three edge guys are Jaylen Harrell, Taylor Upshaw, and Mike Morris. All three of those guys are your starting edges."

On the extent the QB competition will go with both on the same roster:

"Nobody knows. One thing will factor in, someone was trying to allude to that question, so I’ll give you my thoughts on it. You’re talking about two gritty competitors and fighters in Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy. To answer the question if factored that one would transfer or not? No. My thoughts are both the kind of guys that don’t flinch, fold or quit at the slightest whiff of an adverse circumstance or something that doesn’t go their way. That’s not Cade McNamara. That’s not JJ. McCarthy."

On McCarthy’s performance in practice:

"It’s been tremendous. He didn’t have spring ball, but he continues getting better and better every day. Cade has done the same thing. They both elevated their game. Not only playing their game and doing what they’re good at but also working on things to improve. Cade has really been much improved in just about every area, including managing the pocket and extending plays. That’s one of J.J.’s fortes. I continue to see J.J. doing that well, continuing to do that well, but improving on going through the reads, taking what the defense gives him, and protecting the football. Both have really had great camps."

On how long Harbaugh is willing to take the 2 QB system:

"You just don’t know. If it’s exactly the way it is right now, today, coming just out of practice, and it continues to be like that in games. That’ll be up to us as coaches to utilize both players and what they bring to our football team for the best of the football team."

On if he will play both QBs similar to 2021 if a starter is inevitably named:

"That’s absolutely a possibility."