Harbaugh compares McCarthy-McNamara to 49ers' QB competition

Jim Harbaugh took it back to his NFL days on Saturday night.

Following Michigan's 56-10 win over Hawaii, the eighth-year head coach announced sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy would be the program's starting quarterback moving forward after outlasting senior captain and returning starter Cade McNamara.

In an unorthodox battle for the starting job, Harbaugh gave each signal caller alternating starts in the team's first two games of the season.

McCarthy, who has a 93.7-percent completion percentage and three passing touchdowns on 16 attempts, made Harbaugh's decision an easy one.

Asked to look back on his NFL days, Harbaugh reminisced on his last high-profile quarterback competition -- between Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick -- where a proven winner, like McNamara, was benched in favor of a more talented player, like McCarthy.

In Harbaugh's second season at the helm in San Francisco, the 49ers were winning and primed for a playoff spot for the second consecutive season.

Smith was accurate and effective, mainly in the short yardage underneath game, and didn't make mistakes. Limited with his legs and a low ceiling overall, Smith's floor was high enough to get the 49ers out to a 6-2 start.

Kaepernick had every physical tool to be a gunslinging dual-threat that inevitably took the NFL by storm with his ability to run a variation of the RPO that, in 2011, was unheard of in the league.

Harbaugh, similar to now, had a decision to make.

"It's (Michigan's QB competition) very similar to Alex and Colin because they were both playing great at one point in the season. We were 6-2 with Alex Smith, and playing great ball, led us to the NFC Championship the year before. Colin got his start on a Monday night against Chicago, and he lit it up," Harbaugh said in his post-game press conference.

Michigan's quarterback competition officially ended Saturday night, according to Harbaugh, but his decision to start the backup was about McCarthy's performance far more than it was about McNamara's lack thereof.

"It's not a matter of somebody losing it, as I've been saying, I think we've got two really good quarterbacks. Two starting quarterbacks. Two championship quarterbacks," Harbaugh said. "A lot like that Monday night game that Colin played against the Bears. It looked a lot like what J.J. was able to do out there tonight."

Kaepernick went 16-of-23 for 243 yards and two touchdowns in his debut as the 49ers starter, replacing a concussed Smith. He took over and never looked back.

McCarthy went 11-of-12 for 229 yards and three touchdowns in his debut as the Wolverines' starter.

Did Harbaugh find his next star quarterback at the cost of moving on from another long-time starter?

Once we see McCarthy in Big Ten play, we might have our answer.

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