The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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40 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2025 FOOTBALL PREVIEW a 113.1 passer rating with 2 TDs and 6 interceptions on the road. How will Un- derwood handle road games at Oklahoma and Nebraska in September? Fornelli: I doubt it. My guess is Sher- rone Moore will follow the lead of Jim Harbaugh and the way he treated J.J. Mc- Carthy as a freshman. With the experi- ence of [graduate] Mikey Keene transfer- ring in from Fresno State, I expect he'll be your starter, and you'll have a package of plays to get Underwood involved. There's always the chance Underwood is so suc- cessful that he takes over the starting role later on in the season, but I don't know how likely it is. We saw how well bringing McCarthy along slowly worked out, so I suspect that's the plan here. Lassan: I'm fascinated by Michigan's offense and how Bryce Underwood de- velops this year. I expect the true fresh- man to win the starting job right away but also think he will have his share of ups and downs. As is the case with any fresh- man quarterback, picking up the passing game will be the biggest challenge, but Underwood's mobility will create plenty of problems for opposing defenses. How Michigan's receiving corps and offen- sive line develop also looms large in how fast Underwood can develop this sea- son. Contending for All-Big Ten honors might be too much to ask considering the returning names in the conference at quarterback, but I expect Underwood to finish '25 as an upper-half quarterback in the conference and enter '26 as easily one of the best signal-callers in the nation. Staples: My assumption was that Mikey Keene would start. Then he might give way to Underwood if Michi- gan needed a boost or give Underwood a full season to learn. But Keene's injury prior to spring practice seemed to throw a wrench in that plan. Now my guess would be Underwood starts right away if he seems reasonably ready. What will new coordinator Chip Lindsey bring to the offense? Bender: The passing game can't re- semble Iowa again. The Wolverines aver- aged 165.4 passing yards per game in five losses — and had close shaves against Minnesota and USC where they aver- aged 59 passing yards per game. It could have easily been a losing season, and that model is not sustainable in 2025. How will Lindsey marry the talent Under- wood brings with Moore's philosophy of smash-football in the running game? In Lindsey's first year at North Carolina in 2023, he had a good balance in the passing game with Drake Maye and running game with Omarion Hampton. That made it easier to have a committee approach with targets in the receiving game. [Junior] Justice Haynes and [sopho- more] Jordan Marshall can be a dynamic tag team in the running game, too. There should be more balance to the offense. Fornelli: With Lindsey in charge, I expect you'll still see "The Michigan Of- fense." It's what's been recruited to for the most part, and it's proven to be ef- fective when there's an actual P4-caliber QB under center. The most interesting part of the Lindsey hire to me isn't so much what kind of changes he'll bring, but where he's been. Lindsey was the offensive coordina- tor at Auburn for two seasons under Gus Malzahn in 2017 and '18. His QB there was Jarrett Stidham, who was the very defini- tion of a non-mobile QB. However, when you work with Malzahn, you do so because you know the ins and outs of building an offense around a QB who can be used as a true dual threat. I sometimes wonder if Malzahn views throwing the ball as some- thing you do only to keep defenses honest when you use your QB as a battering ram. Anyway, my point is, Malzahn was pretty successful building an offense for that Cam Newton guy. I wonder if Chip Lindsey's primary responsibility in 2025 will be figuring out ways to use Bryce Un- derwood, while Michigan runs its more traditional offense with Keene, who is not nearly as mobile. Lassan: I think Chip Lindsey is a solid hire for Michigan. He's worked at four other power conference teams as a co- ordinator and developed productive of- fenses throughout those stints. At his last stop, North Carolina averaged over 30 points a game in back-to-back seasons and found ways to balance the offense between the ground and passing attacks. When he was hired to coordinate the Tar Heels' attack in 2023, it was hailed as a key move to help quarterback Drake Maye prepare for the NFL. With a long track re- cord of working with quarterbacks, Lind- sey has the experience and ability to mold attacks to strengths, which should work well with Moore. Three out of our four national analysts agree that freshman Bryce Underwood will be Michigan's starting quarterback out of the gate when the season opens Aug. 30 with New Mexico. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN