Michigan Quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s pregame meditation routine

McCarthy has meditated for about 10 minutes before every Michigan game, in addition to between 30 to 40 minutes each day in the morning, according to MLive. He also relies on Bob Marley tunes to pregame. 

“I meditate before the game just to really get my mindset into that calmness, that emptiness where I can allow things to happen and I can react from a higher perspective instead of reacting out of just straight impulse,” McCarthy previously said about his routine meditation practice. The 20-year-old, named an all-time best QB in the Wolverine’s history by head coach Jim Harbaugh, brought the team to a victory finish for the first time since 1997. 

McCarthy turned to the practice in high school during senior year at IMG Academy boarding school in Florida when he began feeling depressed. 

“I just kept stemming further and further away from myself and my true nature, and I feel like I was in a deep rut for about a month or two and I was like something has got to change. This is not who I am,” McCarthy said in a press conference about how he began meditation. “I started looking up different practices to help improve mental health, and meditation was the first one that kept popping up. I just gave it a try, and then the rest was history.” 

As countless local and national outlets have captured, it’s not a common sight to see a team’s star quarterback intensely honed in on something other than the football during warmups. However, there must be some magic to McCarthy’s meditation routine, which he credits to centering him and preparing him for success. 

“I was always studying all these athletes, studying their mindsets,…