Kyle Whittingham defines Bryce Underwood as Michigan's 'clear No. 1'

Michigan football has a new head coach, but the program doesn’t plan on making any changes at quarterback. On Tuesday, first-year Wolverines head coach Kyle Whittingham confirmed that Bryce Underwood will retain his spot as Michigan’s starting QB next season.

“Bryce is our clear No. 1. he’s QB1 without a doubt,” Whittingham said. “He has performed very well in workouts, not only with his athleticism but leadership-wise. He’s voted one of our team captains. He’s a guy that everyone looks to and the top 10% of your football team is critical because if they’re hard workers and doing things right, everyone else seems to follow along and accept the pace. Bryce has done a nice job of setting the pace.”

Underwood started in all 13 of Michigan’s games this past season as a true freshman. He completed 60.3% of his pass attempts for 2,428 yards and 11 touchdowns, compared to nine interceptions. He also recorded 392 yards and six scores in the ground game.

Underwood was the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings. While Underwood wasn’t an all-conference performer, he showed flashes of brilliance throughout the season.

Most notably, Bryce Underwood erupted for 349 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns in the Wolverines’ 63-3 win over Central Michigan on Sept. 13. Kyle Whittingham is hopeful Bryce Underwood will make significant strides this offseason.

“Last year, I thought he got a pretty good start, relative to the circumstances in college football,” Whittingham said. “He’d barely turned 18 and he was starting quarterback for a major Power Four football team. So, I think he handled it fairly well.

“Lots of room for improvement, he knows that, we know that. And, he now has some dedicated guys, quarterback-wise, that are working directly with him and we’ll see what kind of progress we can make in the next 15 practices.”

Whittingham has surrounded Underwood with several standout roster pieces. Most notably, Michigan reeled in transfer commitments from wide receivers JJ Buchanan and Jaime French.

Additionally, Michigan offensive coordinator Jason Beck and quarterbacks coach Koy Detmer are specifically working with Underwood this offseason. In February, Detmer revealed what areas of Underwood’s game the staff is focusing on improving.

“For him, this spring, just kind of sharpening up his toolbox, so to speak, whether it be with his feet or timing on certain throws and things like that,” Detmer said. “We’re spending a lot of time in the little bit that we get now to kind of work a little bit one-on-one with him before weights. That’s kind of what we’re working on.”