Desmond Howard evaluates the play of Bryce Underwood in Michigan debut

Desmond Howard believes there’s a lot to be excited about going forward juding off of the Week 1 performance of Bryce Underwood. A true freshman QB at Michigan, Underwood led the Wolverines to a 34-17 victory against New Mexico in Week 1.

The five-star prospect had some big time moments, finishing an efficient 21-of-31 for 251 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. His longest completion was a 39-yard pass to Channing Goodwin on a drive late in the second quarter. Underwooded ended that drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to close out the first half.

Howard appeared on The Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday, where he took a moment to assess the play of Underwood. Ultimately, he came away impressed with the poise that the freshman played with, as well as the freedom that Michigan allowed him.

“It’s refreshing to see that they have that type of confidence in that young man in his first collegiate game,” Howard said. “They’re not gonna just have him turn to his right or turn to his left and hand the ball off. They let him go out there and play football and make some throws — make some big throws too. So it was nice to see. He’s a very talented quarterback, but he’s just a guy who I believe has that ‘it’ factor. His teammates, they all love him. He seemed very poised and he ran things at a very efficient level. He never came across as if he was flustered out there or anything like that.”

Underwood came in with high expectations as the No. 1 overall player in the country according to the On3 | Rivals Industry Ranking. He beat out transfer Mikey Keene for the starting job as Michigan believes it has a special type of player.

The Week 1 performance only affirmed those beliefs to Howard, but Underwood will face a big test coming up in Week 2. The Wolverines are scheduled to travel to Norman to face No. 18 Oklahoma, with Brent Venables calling the plays on defense.

We’ll see how Underwood works under that new type of pressure, but Howard has confidence in the coaching staff to put the young QB in a position to succeed. Saturday was only the beginning of what will hopefully be a career full of solid production.

“He seemed like a seasoned vet, which you have to give credit to the coaching staff, especially the offensive coaching staff, because they consistently put him in a position to succeed,” Howard said. “They made sure that he was comfortable. They helped to make sure his confidence was starting to build as the game progressed, and that’s what you want to do with these young quarterbacks. You want to start them off slow but make sure you’re putting in plays that can build their confidence as the game progresses.”