The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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QUARTERBACKS THE WOLVERINE 2026 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 47 Fowler-Nicolosi coming to Ann Arbor via the transfer portal. Fowler redshirted this past year, appearing in three games. The previous two seasons, he started for the Rams. Over the course of four years, he threw for 6,938 yards and 38 touch- downs, with 29 interceptions, connect- ing on 60.2 percent of his passes. Detmer On Development Underwood will face a schedule that appears even tougher than last year's. The slate features home showdowns with Oklahoma, Iowa, Penn State and defend- ing national champion Indiana, along with road trips to Oregon and Ohio State (with a trap game against UCLA sand- wiched between those two). Underwood will certainly not lack chances to improve his big-game performances from last season, including a 9-completion effort in a loss at Oklahoma, 8 completions for 63 yards in the home loss to Ohio State and 3 interceptions in a Citrus Bowl defeat at the hands of Texas. Whittingham's staff will look for first-year breakthroughs in some of the prominent games on the '26 docket, and that means making Mich- igan's overall offensive performance against strong defenses much better. It also means channeling Underwood's natural talents into solid showdown numbers, with the help of a strong rushing attack and an upgraded corps of receivers. Detmer came to quickly appreciate Un- derwood's upside, discussing it in an "In The Trenches" podcast hosted by former Michigan captain Jon Jansen. "Bryce holds himself to such a high standard, and he has big goals for him- self," Detmer commented. "And what I love about Bryce is the kid works his tail off. A lot of players have high expectations and high goals for themselves, but maybe their actions and what they do on a day- to-day basis don't align. Bryce shows that every single day. "Bryce wants to be a great player, and he works his tail off, both in the film study and then in the weight room. He's working really hard. For him, this spring, it's just sharpening up his toolbox, whether it be with his feet or timing on certain throws and things like that. We're spending the little bit of time we get now to work one- on-one with him after and before weights. The kid is super, super driven, and I'm thankful to be able to work with him." The work remains essential for all of Michigan's quarterbacks, Detmer stressed. He's seen what's there through the spring, and each of the QBs knows what needs to get done through the off- season, heading into fall camp. "You've got to put in the extra time," Detmer said. "You've got to put in the extra work. You have to find more time than what is asked of you to do extra study and extra film study, extra training in the weight room, extra training with your guys on your team that you're going to play with in the fall. "You've got to be the toughest individ- ual on the team. When teammates see you getting hit on the field and you're popping right back up, that says a lot. "Being the toughest both physically and mentally is important and is a non- negotiable for us in the quarterback room. Every single day when you walk into that weight room, you're giving everything you've got not just for yourself but for every single guy in that room. Those are some non-negotiable habits that I try to instill in our guys." Michigan Passing Game In Last Five Seasons Season Passing Big Ten National Yds./G Rank Rank 2025 186.8 14th 107th 2024 129.1 18th 131st 2023 213.7 6th 82nd 2022 219.9 7th 83rd 2021 228.7 7th 68th QUICK FACTS Position Coach: Jason Beck (1st year at U-M) Returning Starter: Bryce Underwood (13 career starts) Departing Starters: None Projected New Starters: None Top Reserves: Tommy Carr, Brayden Fowler- Nicolosi (28, at Colorado State) Newcomers: Carr, Brady Smigiel Moved In: Fowler-Nicolosi Moved Out: Jadyn Davis (East Tennessee State), Mikey Keene (Arizona State), Davis Warren (Stanford) Rookie Impact: None Most Improved Player: Underwood Best Pro Prospect: Underwood QUARTERBACKS 14 Tommy Carr (6-4, 185), Fr. — Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi (6-2, 200), Gr. 15 Chase Herbstreit (6-1, 198), So. 17 Brady Smigiel (6-5, 215), Fr. 19 Bryce Underwood (6-4, 228), So. [FYI] ❱ Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jason Beck worked with signal-caller Devon Dampier each of the last two seasons at New Mexico in 2024 and Utah in 2025. Dampier became the first-ever New Mexico quarterback to be named first-team All-Mountain West, putting up a conference-best 3,934 yards of total offense, including 2,768 passing. Last sea- son, the 5-foot-11, 210-pounder was recognized as the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year and third-team all-conference, standing as one of five FBS quarterbacks with 2,400-plus passing yards and 800-plus rushing yards. ❱ Last season, Bryce Underwood passed for 2,428 yards, the second-most by a Michigan fresh- man in program history behind only Chad Henne. In 2004, Henne completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 2,743 yards and 25 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. There have been two other freshman starting quarterbacks at Michigan — Tate Forcier (2,050 passing yards, 13 TD, 10 INT in 2009) and Rick Leach (680 passing yards, 3 TD, 12 INT in 1975). ❱ Underwood rushed for 392 yards last season — the most by a Michigan quarterback since Devin Gardner posted 483 rushing yards in 2013. Underwood notched 88 carries, averaging 4.5 yards per attempt, and totaled 6 touchdowns. ❱ One of the most experienced signal-callers the Maize and Blue have had in recent years, Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi spent the last four seasons at Colorado State, where he racked up 6,938 passing yards, 38 TD and 29 INT. He has more career passing yards than any Michigan player to take a snap for the Wolverines since Shea Patterson in 2019. His 28 career starts, meanwhile, are the same amount as J.J. McCarthy had in three seasons of college football.