The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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JANUARY 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 39 ❱ FOOTBALL RECRUITING BRYCE UNDERWOOD STAYS HOME Initially, Michigan failed to adapt to the NIL era. There is no way around it. The term "soon" became a running joke with promises of big NIL announce- ments never coming into fruition. After two years of recruiting losses, it was clear most of the Michigan community was in "We'll believe it when we see it" mode. U-M did start to make progress with NIL in the summer, thanks in large part to the new general manager of Michi- gan football, Sean Magee. The Wolver- ines had been making baby steps in the NIL arena and started to ramp things up in the fall along with its Champions Circle collective. Michigan's newfound approach helped flip Top 100 corner- back Shamari Earls away from Georgia and keep Top 100 wide receiver Andrew Marsh in the fold. Michigan was clearly making strides. But it wasn't until mid-November that Michigan went from baby steps to a full sprint. Spearheaded by billionaire Larry Elli- son, the fourth-richest man in the world according to the Forbes 400, and his Michigan super-fan wife, Jolin, as well as several other high-profile U-M donors sick of seeing a quarterback carousel with no solution in sight, the Wolverines went after the very best in the country — five-star-plus LSU commit Bryce Un- derwood from Belleville, Michigan. The "soon" jokes were over. The El- lisons helped pave the way for an esti- mated $10-12 million mega-NIL deal for Underwood. LSU couldn't compete with the life-changing offer from his child- hood dream team, and on Nov. 21, Michi- gan football and recruiting changed for- ever. The Wolverines flipped Underwood away from LSU. The Underwood commitment sig- nified a program-altering shift. The "transformational not transactional" mantra made famous by former head coach Jim Harbaugh was thrown out the window. Michigan finally arrived at the NIL table with its fellow blue bloods. Like it or not, recruiting has become a money game. Those that have it will stay relevant. Those that don't will fall into obscurity. Michigan made the choice to not be a program that could go decades without winning anything of consequence and become a relic talked about in high re- gard only by grandfathers. Calling it a necessary evil may be a bit overboard. Let's just say Michigan did what had to be done in this new climate of college football. "This is not a one-off," said On3 NIL expert Pete Nakos. "They are one of the better collectives in the country when it comes to being organized and having a fair share of boosters who want to do- nate. We had them as a Top 15 NIL col- lective. They are spending more than $10 million on their roster. "I think it has to do with Sherrone Moore going all in to build this roster. From talking to sources, this is the most- well-funded and well-positioned their NIL efforts have been. This is the start- ing point." In Underwood, Michigan is getting a special talent at the quarterback position who could come in and start as a true freshman. The 6-foot-4, 208-pounder has elite arm talent with pinpoint ac- curacy and the ability to make plays with his legs. He is the total package. Michigan did lose On300 2025 quar- terback commit Carter Smith, who signed with Wisconsin, and On300 2026 quarterback commit Brady Hart, who reclassified and flipped to Texas A&M, as the Wolverines went all in on Under- wood. But at the end of the day, Michigan locked up the best high school football player in America. There is also no better peer recruit- ing tool than Underwood. Blue-chip recruits want to play with other blue- chip recruits. Underwood will have a big impact on Michigan landing other highly touted national prospects as well as helping U-M keep the top in-state tal- ent at home. "Everybody looks up to Bryce," said Sound Mind Sound Body founder Curtis Blackwell II, arguably the most impor- tant recruiting figurehead in the state of Michigan. "He's the No. 1 overall player in America. He's a generational talent. Anybody that walks on campus is going to want to hang out with Bryce and want to sit down and talk to him. "When you're a coach, it's one thing when you're recruiting kids, but it's an- other thing when the kids do the recruit- ing for you. It's organic and natural, and that's what's going to happen with Bryce, Jacob Oden and Semaj Morgan. That makes for a comfortable atmosphere for top athletes that want to be a part of that type of camaraderie. "My guys all know Bryce. They've all 2025 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL SIGNEES Name Rating* Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown (High School) Andrew Babalola HHHHH OT 6-6 300 Overland Park, Kan. (Blue Valley Northwest) Jamar Browder HHH WR 6-5 208 Lake Worth, Fla. (Santaluces Community) Elijah Dotson HHHH DB 6-2 171 Detroit (Belleville) Shamari Earls HHHH CB 6-2 203 Chester, Va. (Thomas Dale) Avery Gach HHH IOL 6-5 287 Franklin, Mich. (Wylie E. Groves) Chase Herbstreit HHH QB 6-2 185 Cincinnati (St. Xavier) Julius Holly HHHH EDGE 6-4 224 Alpharetta, Ga. (Alpharetta) Donovan Johnson HHH RB 6-0 213 Savannah, Ga. (IMG Academy [Fla.]) Bobby Kanka HHH DL 6-4 289 Howell, Mich. (Howell) Andrew Marsh HHHH WR 6-0 175 Fulshear, Texas (Katy Jordan) Nate Marshall HHHH EDGE 6-3 240 Oak Park, Ill. (Fenwick) Travis Moten HHH DL 6-6 296 Louisville, Ky. (Fern Creek) Eli Owens HHH TE 6-1 223 Alcoa, Tenn. (Alcoa) Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng HHH LB 6-1 203 Hyattsville, Md. (IMG Academy [Fla.]) Jasper Parker HHHH RB 6-0 211 Marrero, La. (Archbishop Shaw) Benny Patterson III HHHH DL 6-2 240 Newburgh, Ind. (Castle) Jayden Sanders HHHH CB 6-1 181 Kilgore, Texas (Kilgore) Kaden Strayhorn HHH IOL 6-2 299 Novi, Mich. (IMG Academy [Fla.]) Chase Taylor HHH LB 6-2 213 Stockbridge, Ga. (Stockbridge) Bryce Underwood HHHHH+ QB 6-4 208 Belleville, Mich. (Belleville) Jacob Washington HHHH WR 6-3 183 New Orleans (Archbishop Shaw) Kainoa Winston HHHH S 5-11 194 Montgomery Village, Md. (Gonzaga [D.C.]) Jordan Young HHHH DB 6-0 177 Monroe, N.C. (Monroe) * On3 player rating as of Dec. 17