The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1539777
❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS He might be Batman. We need to do a DNA test on him because he could be Batman." — Associate head coach Biff Poggi to the Big Ten Network on freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood 114 Rushing yards for freshman quarterback BRYCE UNDERWOOD in a 63-3 win over CMU Sept. 13, the most by a Wolverine signal-caller since Devin Gardner in a 43-40 overtime loss to Penn State in 2013 (121). Underwood carried 9 times, finding the end zone twice. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Most of all, his great gift is his mind. From all reports, he loves the game. Loves to study. Coaches have to kick him out of the facility at 11 p.m. or midnight. That is the single-most important part of his story. Many guys have talent, but the great separator is their knowledge of their offensive system, their knowl- edge of defensive schemes, their ability to recog- nize pressure looks, change protections and route concepts to then attack the weak points of the defense. It's also a given that every player makes mistakes. You make more when you're young and inexperienced. His commitment to film study allows him to learn exponentially quicker than the average QB. Helps him avoid making the same mistake twice." — Big Ten Network analyst Jake Butt on freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood I feel like it's coming as a shock to some people that Bryce Underwood wasn't a finished prod- uct and the offense wasn't a finished product by the second week of his freshman year. They give him more every week, and they can look at game film and see what he needs to improve on, what he's got a firm grasp of, and oh, he needs to recognize this defensive look that's being disguised, and he needs to see this pre-snap read that they wouldn't know about until they got some game film. On the other side of that is, when I talked to some people at Schembechler Hall last week, there was an acknowledgement that yeah, maybe we should incorporate a little more of this or that. I'm going to assume pretty safely that's him taking advantage of his skill set and making plays with his feet. So, a work in progress. Remember J.J.'s [McCarthy] freshman year compared to J.J.'s sophomore year, then J.J.'s junior year. But this kid, when all is said and done, has a chance to be absolutely special. We saw why." — Michigan radio play-by-play commentator Doug Karsch on freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood fol- lowing the win over Central Michigan Sept. 13 Don't pump the brakes on Bryce Underwood. He's going to be fan- tastic. I love this player. His release, everything looks fantastic. But true freshmen are not supposed to go on the road and win games at Oklahoma. The rest of the team was expected to go, and they didn't. … Now remember, it's a true freshman, but after Week 4 and Week 5, I would tell our true freshmen, 'I don't want to hear it anymore.' I'd tell the media, 'I don't want to hear it anymore,' because they'd tell a player he's a true freshman. You're not! You're a veteran player now; act like it and play like it." — Big Ten Network analyst Urban Meyer I couldn't imagine anything better than that. I said all week I was going to get an interception. I told my coaches. I told them if the ball came my way, I'm going to get one, so that's what I did." — Freshman cornerback ELIJAH DOTSON (22) after his first career interception against CMU Sept. 13 OCTOBER 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 17