The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1544538
44 THE WOLVERINE ❱ MAY 2026 BY CLAYTON SAYFIE T here wasn't much scoring in Mich- igan's annual spring game, with Maize beating Blue, 7-6, behind a 44- yard, game-winning touchdown drive led by freshman quarterback Tommy Carr, who completed 5 of 6 passes for 39 yards before letting junior run- ning back Tomas O'Meara do the rest, plunging into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown on third-and-goal with 17 seconds left. Sophomore kicker Trey Butkowski, who had missed a field goal earlier in the game, knocked home the go-ahead extra point at The Big House, which featured its patented swirling winds all afternoon. That Saturday at The Big House was less about the score than it was about valuable game-like experience, mostly for Michigan's backups, in front of fans who got their first look at first-year head coach Kyle Whittingham's crew. "Spring game is always an interest- ing situation," Whittingham admitted. "The main thing is to get a look at ev- erybody, and it's as game-like of a situ- ation as we can manufacture, especially twos and threes that haven't had much game experience, if at all. "Offensive production today wasn't really good, obviously. [We] only found the end zone one time. But there were a lot of positives. I thought we did a good job taking care of the football. There were no turnovers. But, then again, when you're playing yourselves, it means the defense didn't create any takeaways. So, it's a give and take." UNDERWOOD STILL THE STARTER Sophomore quarterback Bryce Un- derwood looked shaky, completing only 3 of his 9 passes for 22 yards and taking 2 sacks while playing for both teams in the first quarter, but the scrim- mage wasn't live at that point (it was in the last three quarters), meaning he couldn't use his running ability, one of his best attributes, and he had poor pass protection in front of him with the starting offensive linemen split on two different squads. Whittingham and the staff certainly weren't going to make any changes based on what they saw in what ulti- mately is just a scrimmage, even if it was nationally televised, trusting what they saw all spring and sticking to that. The head man said that Underwood, who started all 13 games for the Wolverines last season, "progressed all through- ❱ MICHIGAN FOOTBALL Maize And Blue Game Highlights Freshman quarterback Tommy Carr was a standout performer in the spring game, going 21-of-30 passing for 143 yards and rushing 10 times for 67 yards while seeing action for both the Maize and Blue squads. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL 2026 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Sept. 5 — WESTERN MICHIGAN Sept. 12 — OKLAHOMA Sept. 19 — UTEP Sept. 26 — IOWA Oct. 3 — at Minnesota Oct. 10 — Bye Oct. 17 — PENN STATE Oct. 24 — INDIANA Oct. 31 — at Rutgers Nov. 7 — MICHIGAN STATE Nov. 14 — at Oregon Nov. 21 — UCLA Nov. 28 — at Ohio State Home games in ALL CAPS