What happened to Joe Doyle "J.D." McCoy (Jeremy Sumpter), the Dillon Panthers’ prodigiously gifted quarterback, after Friday Night Lights season 4? The high school football drama went through something of a reset for season 3, with many Dillon High students graduating and thus leaving the Panthers behind. This necessitated some fresh blood for coach Eric Taylor’s (Kyle Chandler) team in Friday Night Lights.
That included McCoy, who was seen as the next Jason Street (Scott Porter): an incredible talent who could take the team to further glory, and was destined to play in the NFL. Of course, things were never that simple in Dillon. J.D. had an attitude problem and ego, compounded by his father’s abusive treatment of him and the pressure on his young shoulders. While J.D. continued as West Dillon’s quarterback even after Coach Taylor left and East Dillon’s team was formed in season 4, the character ultimately faded from view.
After Friday Night Lights season 4, in which he’s a bit-part player in Luke Cafferty's (Matt Lauria) storyline and the ongoing rivalry with the Lions, J.D. McCoy is never seen again. It’s not revealed what happened to him, but given the drama surrounding the family and Dillon no longer being in the thrall of Joe McCoy (D. W. Moffett), it seems likely they left town. This notion was supported by showrunner Jason Katmis in a 2011 interview with TV Guide, where he said: “I think he and his dad went back to Dallas. I think they could never really conquer Dillon the way they thought they were going to. So that's where J.D. is.”
Even at that point, Joe’s goal would’ve been getting his son to the NFL. It’s telling that in Friday Night Lights season 5, the Panthers’ head coach is Mac McGill (Blue Deckert), rather than J.D.’s former personal coach Wade Aikmen (Drew Waters), who held the role in season 4 following Taylor’s exit. This supports the notion that J.D. left Dillon, and perhaps did go back to Dallas. One theory is that he’s the quarterback for the Hudgin Hawks, the team the East Dillon Lions beat to win State, since he also wears #12 and plays a bit like him. It’s certainly plausible, but feels like the kind of thing Friday Night Lights would’ve made a bigger deal of. Given McCoy’s ability he may well have had a bright future, and perhaps further shots at a championship, though it’s also very possible he burned out or decided to stop playing (maybe on account of his father’s actions).
Either way, it wasn’t unheard of for Friday Night Lights to drop characters. Besides J.D., the most notable example is in the mystery of what happened to Santiago Herrera (Benny Ciaramello), who never returned after season 2. In that case, the sudden ending of the show due to the writers strike (and the poor reception to season 2) made the many dropped storylines more understandable. Friday Night Lights certainly wasn’t hurt for not seeing the end to J.D’s story, but it would be been fascinating to see what became of him.