Timeline of Dave Portnoy, billionaire Larry Ellison's pursuit of Bryce Underwood

Bryce Underwood, the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 recruiting class, flipped from LSU to Michigan last Thursday. For nearly nine months, the top-ranked quarterback was locked in with LSU.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy started the efforts for the Belleville, Michigan, star to stay closer to home. In late September, Portnoy announced he planned to spend $1 to $3 million annually on the quarterback position for Michigan.

“That started the ball rolling on what will forever be known as the Renaissance of Michigan,” Portnoy said Tuesday on his Barstool College Football Show. “… It set off a series of events, a chain reaction. When we did it, I said I wanted to do it myself. I wanted to find the guy. I don’t want the NIL, and then they’ll do stuff with Barstool.”

In early October, the Wolverines ramped up their efforts to flip Underwood. A week or two after Portnoy’s initial proclamation that he was going to bring back Michigan football and fund the quarterback position, he received a phone call and some help.

“I got a call from the Michigan football team,” Portnoy said. “They said, ‘Hey, there’s this donor who wants to talk to you.’ I said I’m doing this [landing Underwood] by myself, and I don’t need to talk to anybody. And they said, ‘Please, this woman is a big fan of Barstool and you; she’d love to talk to you. Her name is Jolin.’ … They said, ‘Oh, her husband is a guy by the name of Larry Ellison. Have you ever heard of him?’ Oh, Larry Ellison? The No. 2 richest guy on the planet? Yeah, I’ll take that phone call.

“That night, we’re on a Zoom. And we’re talking. … She said, ‘I never want to live that era [Brady Hoke] ever again. We’re the national champs, I have two kids. I can’t stomach waking up on a Saturday knowing we’re not the best team on the field.’ And I said, ‘I’m with you. What do we have to do?’ And she said, ‘I know what we’ll do. Let’s set up a call tomorrow night with Bryce Underwood and his parents.’ I said count me in. This was a month and a half ago.”

When Underwood announced his commitment last week, the Michigan NIL collective Champions Circle stated that Jolin and Larry Ellison “were instrumental in making this happen.” Jolin, Larry Ellison’s wife, is a Michigan graduate. Larry Ellison co-founded the software company Oracle and has a net worth of $232 billion. Forbes lists Ellison as the second-richest man in the world, just behind Elon Musk.

Speaking to sources over the last week, Underwood’s contract with Michigan will pay him between $10 to $12 million over four years. Portnoy and the Ellisons did jump on the Zoom call with Underwoods, according to the Barstool founder.

“So we jumped on that call, and we talked and pitched Bryce,” Portnoy continued. “And I said, ‘Listen, Barstool and the marketing. But more importantly Larry Ellison and Jolin — nobody can match this. This guy is a legend.’ And we pitched and we pitched.”

Dave Portnoy details his involvement in flipping No. 1 overall recruit Bryce Underwood〽️👀

(via @stoolpresidente)

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— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) November 26, 2024

Those pitches led to Underwood taking Michigan and its financial offers seriously. However, Underwood visited LSU earlier this month, and all signs after his trip to Baton Rouge pointed to him sticking with the Tigers.

But with Portnoy and the Ellisons offering everything necessary for him at Michigan, Underwood kept listening. The quarterback spent two days on campus last week before his commitment, spending time with the coaching staff and sitting in team meetings. Future Hall of Fame quarterback and Michigan legend Tom Brady reportedly jumped on a couple of Zoom calls to assist Michigan’s efforts in landing the nation’s top-ranked quarterback.

LSU did not receive a phone call that Underwood was flipping to Michigan until after ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news, according to the Bengal Tiger.

“Jolin said on that first call, ‘I needed somebody from Michigan to step up and show they cared as much as I did. And then it was like the mega powers united,'” Portnoy recalled Tuesday.

Underwood finished his high school career with a 50-4 record, winning state championships as a freshman and sophomore. The 6-foot-4, 214-pound quarterback broke the Michigan high school football records for career passing and total touchdowns earlier this fall.

The day after his flip to Michigan, Underwood partnered with the Champions Circle and Valiant Management to release autographed trading cards priced at $1,900 and jersey T-shirts for $50, all available for preorder. Portnoy also announced that a collab with Underwood and Barstool will be rolled out on Black Friday.

“When our guy Larry Ellison zeroes in on somebody, it’s a done deal,” Portnoy said.