The Minnesota Vikings say they consider J.J. McCarthy their quarterback of the future. But they really don’t know how that’s going to go. Neither does anyone else. The 21-year-old rookie remains unproven.

McCarthy is out for the season after surgery last month to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. Should the Vikings suffer a disheartening season, which appears likely, and end up with a top-five pick in next spring’s draft, it wouldn’t be a shock if they were to choose another quarterback of the future.

The Vikings took McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in April’s draft. Georgia’s Carson Beck is considered the top QB in next year’s draft, probably a top-five pick.

>> When Jimmy Johnson was in Dallas, he had Troy Aikman as his quarterback. But he also spent a first-round pick in the 1989 supplemental draft to take Steve Walsh from Miami via St. Paul. Once Aikman won the starting job, the Cowboys traded Walsh to the New Orleans Saints for first-, second- and third-round draft picks.

Nothing is certain.

Had McCarthy been healthy and able to play this season, the Vikings would have been better able to project his future.

Now it’s still uncertain.

>> In 2008, Gophers QB Adam Weber had surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee. Six days later, Weber led Minnesota past Illinois 27-20 in Champaign, Ill.

>> None of the three QBs the Vikings have to start the season — Sam Darnold (age 27), Nick Mullens (29) and Brett Rypien (28) — are young enough to be developmental projects.

>> The Falcons, who host the Steelers in the season opener next Sunday, are favored to win the NFC South division with ex-Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, 36, and his $180 million contract.

>> Ex-Vikings pass rusher Danielle Hunter, 29, now playing for his hometown Houston Texans, still drives a Nissan car despite having earned more than $90 million during his 10-year NFL career, he told si.com last week. The Texans are a legitimate Super Bowl contender after hitting on QB C.J. Stroud with the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft.

>> The Vikings’ release of QB Matt Corral was no surprise — he was signed only because they needed an extra arm for a couple weeks after McCarthy’s injury. The same for ex-Gophers running back Mo Ibrahim — the Vikings needed an extra running back for the final exhibition game against the Eagles because they couldn’t afford to have others get hurt.

Ibrahim was expected to get about $3,000 for his exhibition week with the Vikings.

>> Ex-Viking Josh Dobbs, 29, has made the 49ers roster as third-string QB and will play for $2.3 million this season.

>> QB Kellen Mond, 25, drafted by the Vikings in the third-round in 2021, no longer is in the NFL.

>> There was no chance the Vikings would sign Cowboys’ No. 3 backup QB Trey Lance. The Marshall (Minn.) High grad, 24, in his fourth season in the NFL, has a $34 million guaranteed deal.

>> Until last week, it appeared ex-Viking Greg Joseph would win the preseason kicking job with the Packers. Then he was released.

>> Ex-Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, the new defensive coordinator for the Cowboys, last week lured ex-Vikings DT Linval Joseph to Dallas to go along with LB Eric Kendricks, who the team signed in March.

>> The Vikings are still hoping to host a future NFL draft, which next year goes to the Packers in Green Bay.

>> The touring Waterford Crystal College National Championship football trophy, which costs $30,000, was on display Thursday at the Gophers stadium before Minnesota’s 19-17 loss to North Carolina. This week, the trophy heads to Ann Arbor for next Saturday’s big Texas-Michigan game.

>> Within six days last week, with a goal of raising $350,000, more than 3,200 well-wishers donated via a GoFundMe account $376,648 for courageous former football Gopher Casey O’Brien, 24, who has had a cancer relapse that is not covered by insurance. Michael Jordan has been the top contributor with $10,000.

>> There were 180 participants, including three females, who attended last week’s free baseball umpire seminar at the Saints’ CHS Field. Eight former major league umps, including Bethel University grad Jeff Nelson, headed the four-hour session.

>> Les Jepsen, 57, the 7-foot former Iowa and NBA center, each Thursday hosts a classic car display in the parking lot of the A&W restaurant he owns in Inver Grove Heights.

>> That was ex-Twin Corey Koskie, age 51, hitting a three-run, two-out, 10th-inning, 450-foot home run to advance the Loretto Larks to the state amateur baseball tournament. Koskie wears jersey number No. 47, the same number he wore with the Twins, Brewers and Blue Jays during a nine-year major league career.

>> North Oaks native Frankie Capan III is averaging 311 yards in driving distance on the Korn Ferry Tour, but that ranks just 56th overall. At No. 57 is Van Holmgren from Wayzata at 310.7 yards. No. 1 is Aldrich Potgieter from Pretoria, South Africa at 339 yards.

>> Thomas Lehman of Scottsdale, Ariz., son of former Gophers golfer Tom, was in a tie for 149th place after shooting 75 on Friday in the CRMC Championship in Brainerd, Minn.

>> Good guy former Gopher Kevin Hamm, who played split-end (1969-71) for Murray Warmath, passed away Friday due to leukemia.

>> At a memorial gathering last Sunday for Roger Erickson, some 150 admirers of the beloved Cretin-Derham Hall flexibility guru, including Joe Mauer, Matt Birk and Steve Walsh, turned out at Mancini’s Char House. Erickson died the other day at 71 of an apparent heart attack.

He was an amazing guy.

“Roger healed the body but also your mind,” said Mauer, the Baseball Hall of Fame former Twin.

Birk, the six-time Vikings Pro Bowl center who finished his career with the Baltimore Ravens, convinced Ravens coach John Harbaugh to hire Erickson for the Ravens’ 2013 Super Bowl championship season.

“In three days (after being hired by the Ravens), Roger had every single player totally bought into his philosophy,” Birk said. “That entire year, we did not have one soft tissue injury, not one pulled hamstring, not one pulled groin. Roger was absolutely the best at what he did.”

>> No, in case you’re still wondering, Gophers offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh is not related to Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh.

>> Minnesota high school hall of fame basketball coach Tom Ihnot, 76, suffered a stroke in February and underwent double-bypass surgery and heart valve replacement in May and is back shooting in the high 70s on the golf course. If Ihnot returns to coaching at St. Thomas Academy next season, it will be his 57th straight season on the bench.

>> Tom Mee Jr., 69, the former Gophers and minor league outfielder and son of late Twins Hall of Famer Tom Sr., was at Target Field for last weekend’s Twins-Cardinals series in his 37th year as St. Louis’ TV director.