The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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FEBRUARY 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 61 W hen it's all said and done, flipping Detroit native Bryce Underwood from his com- mitment to Louisiana State in November 2024 could be one of the most important recruiting wins in U-M history. But for that to happen, or it to even be close to true, Underwood must stack great days over the next nine months. The goal: to be a much better player Sept. 5, 2026, the date of the opener against Western Michigan, than he was in a 3-interception performance against Texas in the Citrus Bowl Dec. 31, 2025. The 6-foot-4, 228-pounder flashed all sorts of potential during the season and even in the loss to the Longhorns, to be fair. He went through his fair share of struggles, but that's to be expected. Actu- ally, it's hard to even know what to expect from a true freshman quarterback, be- cause there are so few. In fact, Underwood was only the fourth in program history, joining Rick Leach (1975), Chad Henne (2004) and Tate Forcier (2009). Most of the time, quarterbacks develop behind the scenes in their first year. Those struggles are surely there, just not for the world to see. With Underwood, though, they were on full display, and the highs and lows truly did include some valleys. After 13 games, a 60.3 completion per- centage and 11 touchdowns to 9 intercep- tions don't jump off the page in a good way. Looking back, Underwood was abso- lutely a major upgrade from Michigan's quarterback play in 2024, when it started three players — if nothing else but for his legs, which produced 392 yards and 6 touchdowns even taking into account sacks. His passing needs a lot of work, though, including the fundamentals. "First of all, from my understanding, there was no dedicated quarterbacks coach working with him on a daily basis, which has to happen," new head coach Kyle Whittingham said on the "Triple Option" podcast. "You've got a young man, 17 years old — he didn't turn 18 until just before the season. He's a guy that re- ally could've been in high school last year, as far as his age. "There are some things in throwing mechanics and things to smooth out in his fundamentals and technique. We've already got a good start on that, and [of- fensive coordinator] Jason Beck and [QB coach] Koy Detmer [Jr.] are outstand- ing quarterback developers and coaches. We're already going down that path." Grasp the system, grow in his under- standing of situational football, make big strides on fundamentals. Do those things, and we're talking about a huge leap from freshman to sophomore year for Under- wood as well as the Wolverines. "You talk about a ton of upside," Whit- tingham said. "Bryce Underwood's got it all. He's 6-foot-4 and 225-plus and has a cannon arm. He's a whole package. We've just got to get him refined." 'LET'S GO!' After getting the job Dec. 26, Whit- tingham's first individual meeting with a player was a 45-minute sit-down with Underwood. Job No. 1 was to keep him on the team instead of letting him enter the transfer portal, and the Wolverines succeeded in locking him up for another season. That helped U-M get players back and secure transfer portal additions, es- pecially on the offensive side of the ball. "It was pretty much, 'Let's go,'" Whit- tingham said of Underwood's willing- ness to return. "There was maybe a little hesitation until he really got to know me and the rest of the staff. But once he got to know us, it was on a good trajectory from that point. And then he announced, of course … and really helped our recruiting. It was a stabilizing factor for us." Michigan has three starting offensive linemen set to return — all rising juniors — including tackle Blake Frazier and two that entered the portal but later withdrew in guard/center Jake Guarnera and tackle Andrew Sprague. With new position coach Jim Harding's pedigree, that group could be nasty in 2026. The weapons around Underwood could be better, too. With sophomore wideouts Andrew Marsh and Jaime Ffrench, a Texas transfer who ranked as a top-60 pros- pect in the 2025 class, along with versatile Utah transfer JJ Buchanan at tight end, the Wolverines should have more than enough in the passing game. Junior run- ning back Jordan Marshall racked up 932 yards despite missing time with injury in 2025 and leads a deep backfield, even after Justice Haynes departed for the portal. The defense has more question marks, though Michigan is adding to it. For the first time in a while, the offense may be the better unit — but there's confidence that all three phases will be humming. "One thing about Jason's scheme: It's very user-friendly," Whittingham said of Beck's system. "You don't have to im- merse yourself in it for a couple years before you get it. There's not much of a learning curve, but yet it's effective. "And in this day and age with the por- tal, when you have so many new guys, you better have a very user-friendly system on both sides of the ball. You can't be com- plicated anymore. You've got to plug in 40, 50 new guys, and they better be able to help you contribute right away. And if you have too much thinking going on, that's not a good situation." ❏ SAYFIE BLITZ ❱ CLAYTON SAYFIE All Eyes On Bryce "Br yce Underwood's got it all. … He's the whole package. We've just got to get him refined," said new head coach Kyle Whittingham. PHOTO BY TY KORNBLUE Staff writer Clayton Sayfie has covered Michigan athletics for The Wolverine since 2019. Contact him at Clayton.Sayfie @on3.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @CSayf23.