Rece Davis claims Bryce Underwood reminds him of John Elway

The Michigan Wolverines pulled a coup last offseason, landing Bryce Underwood after he had previously been committed to LSU. Now, in what has been an intriguing freshman season, he’s already drawing some incredible comparisons.

Recently, ESPN’s Rece Davis boldly compared Bryce Underwood to NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway. In particular, the arm strength and way they both throw the football, which he explained on the College GameDay Podcast.

“You know who Bryce Underwood reminds me of? Just when he throws the ball,” Rece Davis said. “When I watch it come out of his hand, he reminds me of John Elway.”

Coming out of high school, Underwood was one of the top-ranked recruits in the country. In fact, he was a five-star recruit and the top-ranked recruit nationally in the Class of 2025. So, raw talent was never a question. That raw talent and arm strength is certainly something that Elway also had to offer.

“I don’t know,” Davis said. “It comes out and it comes out nice and it comes out hot… you have two choices sometimes when Underwood throws it like Elway. You catch it or you wear it. It’s up to you. I think at Stanford and the Broncos they would call it the Elway cross. It would get through your hands, hit you in the chest, and the seams of the football would leave a cross in your chest and stuff. He can make his legend.”

In just his freshman season, Underwood has gone through some growing pains this season, but he’s also flashed plenty of talent too. Through 11 games, he’s completing 62.2 percent of passes for 2,166 yards and nine touchdowns to five interceptions. That’s 196.9 passing yards per game. He also has 322 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns.

Earlier in November, Michigan offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey spoke about Bryce Underwood’s development. In particular, by focusing on the fundamentals throughout the season.

“We really focused on trying to detail everything we’re doing, from ball security to the basic stuff we did the first bye week as well. You get a chance to go back and really emphasize that. Obviously, that showed up in the last game and kept us from scoring a couple of touchdowns. So, really emphasizing the fundamentals. I think you go back to that during a bye week when you have time to do it. You have more individual time than usual, which is awesome,” Lindsey said.

“Each position group goes through that and tries to improve its fundamentals. [Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore] has made a big emphasis on that with the team. Even for us, on the practice schedule, we made sure we were working on fundamentals and improving during this last stretch run.”

Now, Bryce Underwood is preparing for his biggest test of the season. The Wolverines are set to host Ohio State this weekend with a potential marquee win for the College Football Playoff on the line.