J.J. McCarthy
Credit: Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
If you’ve watched new Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy prepare for a football game, you’ve likely noticed a common theme. Before the pads come on, before the reps start, you can find the talented signal caller at the goal post.
Legs crossed, headphones on, locked in. The former Michigan product sits with his thoughts as he practices a form of self-reflection. Meditation is something that has become synonymous with McCarthy’s pregame warm ups, and it’s something he found along the way to becoming on of the most polished quarterback products in the country.
Pandemic changed MN Vikings QB JJ McCarthy’s life
J.J. McCarthy was one of the most coveted recruits in the country coming out of high school. His final year though, was dramatically impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. It led him to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, leaving the comforts of home, and feeling a level of isolation. Ben Goessling peeled back what that isolation was like as he talked to McCarthy for the Star Tribune.
When darkness fell, the kid whose parents signed him up for football and hockey to keep him from wrecking the house was stuck in his dorm room alone.
“It was extremely isolating,” McCarthy said. “I want to be around people; I want to just be doing something.”
…The monotony and loneliness wore on McCarthy. He sought out a strength coach “and a couple different mentors” while researching ways to cope with depression and anxiety. “*He found meditation,” Jim McCarthy said, “and thank God he did.*”
The common pregame sight of McCarthy sitting at the base of the goalpost — with legs crossed, hands folded, eyes closed and headphones on — traces back to those lonely days in Bradenton. There he began the meditation practice he still performs each day. He leaned on it again last year, when his torn right meniscus cost him a season for the first time in his life.
The darkness, as he looks back, was part of his training.
“*I grew up a lot. I treat that as a special experience,” McCarthy said. “If you dig yourself out of a rut, that power you have is something you carry every single day.*”
Star Tribune
While Goessling went under the hood to understand what makes McCarthy tick, and how he has consistently been an extremely talented player, something revealed itself. This is a young man, about to become the youngest NFL starting quarterback at 22 years old, who has a level of maturity well beyond his years.
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The darkness that befell the world in 2020 was something we all had to grapple with. In sports, it presented a new set of challenges and circumstances. Rather than let it define him, McCarthy chose to let it shape him.
Training comes full circle for McCarthy and Vikings
On Monday Night Football, under the lights in primetime, J.J. McCarthy will lead the Vikings against the Chicago Bears. An Illinois native, it was Soldier Field where he first experienced a professional football game.
This time he won’t be watching from the sideline, and that meditation he has made part of his process, will be on display for the first time before a regular season NFL game. The stage is different, but the mindset and goal remain the same.
McCarthy will be prepared not to let the moment get too big. He’s seen this exact vision through the darkness, and he can carry that power with him. It’s just the first game in what will hopefully be a long and successful career.
No matter what adversity befalls him though, McCarthy is clearly prepared to face it head on.
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