Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy has reportedly been hit with bad health news.

According to Barstool Sports’ Michigan Twitter account, the talented dual-threat quarterback “injured his throwing shoulder and will need surgery.” (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)

FanSided reported that Chris Balas also reported similar news on On3.

This is an absolutely huge blow for Jim Harbaugh and Michigan if it’s true that McCarthy is going to miss spring practice.

There is serious optimism in Ann Arbor that McCarthy could win the starting job coming into the season. He played a limited role last season as Cade McNamara led the offense, but you can tell he has a ton of potential.

However, I’m not sure how McCarthy is going to bump McNamara out of the starting role if he doesn’t take a snap during spring practice.

It was already going to be a dogfight between the two players. Now, it might not be much of a race if McNamara takes all the QB1 reps in spring.

That’ll leave McCarthy one hell of a gap to close. Anything is possible with his talent, but it’ll be incredibly tough if he’s coming off an injured throwing shoulder.

Best of luck to Harbaugh and all the fans. It sounds like they’re going to need it.