J.J. McCarthy’s legacy at Michigan: McCarthy has risen up the program’s record books.

HOUSTON — When Michigan takes the field for its biggest game of the season Monday night, all eyes will be on J.J. McCarthy. They usually are.

The junior quarterback will walk into NRG Stadium and go through his usual pregame routine, one that includes sitting on the field under the goal posts, legs folded, meditating. It’s a practice he first started in high school and later, with the help of former Michigan punter Brad Robbins, refined once he got to college.

He credits the cool, calming sound of music — “you can just look it up,” he said recently, “963 hertz frequency on YouTube” — with regulating his breathing, clearing his mind and blocking out all the outside noise

“It does some things that I can’t even really describe,” McCarthy said. “You’ve just got to experience it for yourself.”

On the field, McCarthy has done some difficult-to-describe things, too. He often fits the football into tight windows for his receivers and has remarkable accuracy and precision.

How accurate? In his two seasons as the Michigan starter, McCarthy ranks No. 1 in program history in career completion percentage (.679) and career efficiency rating (161.6), beating out the best the Wolverines’ best — Elvis Grbac, Todd Collins, Tom Brady and, yes, Jim Harbaugh himself.

It’s no mistake why Harbaugh has nearly fallen over himself to compliment McCarthy this year. Over the summer, the Michigan coach compared his quarterback to that of two of the NFL’s best, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, when it comes to skillset and relationship with his teammates.

But as the 2023 season has progressed, as McCarthy has risen up the program’s record books — the praise has only grown. At one point Harbaugh called McCarthy the best quarterback in college football (he would later finish 10th in Heisman Trophy voting,), and in mid-October said he was on his way to being the best ever at Michigan.

Well, that time came on Monday night after Michigan’s 27-20 overtime win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl, a game in which McCarthy helped engineer a game-tying, fourth-quarter touchdown drive that not only saved the season — but further solidified Harbaugh’s feelings about his quarterback.

“The last quarterback to win in overtime against Alabama was none other than Tom Brady,” Harbaugh said. “I’ve said it before, but right here: This is the greatest quarterback in University of Michigan college football history.

“Got a long way to go to get to where Tom Brady eventually got to (in the NFL), which is GOAT (greatest of all time),” Harbaugh continued. “He lapped the field when it comes to that.”

But Harbaugh’s penchant for sticking up for McCarthy, propping him when times went south (like his three-interception game against Bowling Green in Week 3) and letting him play unabated have gone a long way in allowing his quarterback be him.

Who is McCarthy? A winner, first and foremost: He has a 26-1 record as the Wolverines’ starter, an impressive stretch that helped turn the tide for Michigan — into three straight Big Ten titles, three straight College Football Playoff appearances and, this year, a chance to capture the program’s first national title since 1997.

“The team was just not going to be denied,” Harbaugh said, thanking McCarthy for his leadership. “J.J. said it when he walked off this same podium last year in the semifinal game. He said, ‘we’re going to be back.’ What he told me was not only are we going to be back, we’re going to win.

“And there he did.”

While the future remains uncertain, and Monday’s result still pending, this much we know: McCarthy has thrown for 6,086 passing yards and 49 touchdowns, rushed for 601 yards and 10 touchdowns, was named Big Ten quarterback of the year and voted team MVP by his teammates.

His peers consider him the best. The Big Ten coaches did, too. And his own coach? Well, we know where he lands.

“There’s been nobody at Michigan better than J.J.,” Jim Harbaugh said. “I know we talk about an amalgamation of quarterbacks. He is that guy.”