Kyle Whittingham reveals he has already met with Bryce Underwood amid uncertainty on future

Kyle Whittingham already hit the ground running at Michigan, meeting with star quarterback Bryce Underwood one-on-one. The freshman started all 12 regular season games this year and came in with a lot of hype as five-star-plus prospect.

Naturally when a new coach comes in, there could be roster turnover, especially at the most important position. But it sounded like Whittingham and Underwood had a productive conversation.

“(I’ll try) to stay out of the way. You know, these guys have been coaching these guys the whole season, you know, I’m excited to be around, observe, but I’m going to stay in the background and and excited to start meeting with these players,” Whittingham said during his introductory press conference. “Already met with one player. You can probably guess who that was, our quarterback, Bryce Underwood. That was a great conversation. Spent about 45 minutes with him this morning, but mostly evaluating, meeting individually with players on the phone in the recruiting class, making sure they get to know me and feel comfortable coming in.

“And during the game, I’ll be up in the box, you know, out of the way from the coaching staff. And I did meet with the coaching staff as well, by the way, and you know, just was brutally honest with them that, hey, you know, they’re all experienced coaches. They know the deal. What really sucks is you can win nine games, possibly 10, and be out of a job. I mean, that’s just the reality of the profession. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the reality of it.”

In his first season as a starter, Underwood was hit and miss, but the potential to be elite was showcased at times. He had 2,229 yards, nine touchdowns, six interceptions, a 61.1% completion percentage, 323 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns.

“Well, I did a lot of listening (in my meeting with Bryce),” Whittingham said of meeting with Underwood. “I wanted to get feedback from him. I wanted to get to know him, you know, just everything from growing up, family, you know, what’s important to him. And it was a great conversation. He’s a he’s a special young man. Carries himself the right way.

“You gotta have a quarterback (that has) the ‘it’ factor. And Bryce has the ‘it’ factor. And along with a ton of talent, you know, big, strong kids, 6-foot-4, 225-plus pounds and so his ceiling is very high. And the offense we’re going to bring in here, I think is going to suit him to a ‘T,’ and I think he’s going to really, really excel and have a have a great experience here.”