Michigan has QB recruiting rolling after tough 2024 showing

Michigan had massive quarterback problems last season.

Davis Warren threw more interceptions than touchdowns. Alex Orji, now at UNLV, completed just 53 percent of his passes. Jack Tuttle medically retired midseason.

The Wolverines threw just 12 touchdowns all season, averaged just 129 passing yards per game didn’t score more than 17 points in losses to Texas, Washington, Illinois, Oregon and Indiana.

Even in its fourth-straight win over eventual national champion Ohio State, Michigan scored just 13 points in a defensive slugfest.

Something needed to be done and it was as Michigan flipped five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood from LSU in part because of a massive NIL deal put together by Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison.

Quarterback recruiting has surged since those low points.

Michigan landed Underwood, then in April got a commitment from four-star Brady Smigiel, a former Florida State pledge, from Newbury Park, Calif., and this week landed 2027 four-star Peter Bourque from Marion (Mass.) Tabor Academy.

Problem solved.

In typical rivalry fashion, Michigan has arguably out-recruited the Buckeyes at the quarterback spot as Underwood was ranked higher than five-star Tavien St. Clair in 2025, Smigiel out-ranks Ohio State pledge Luke Fahey in 2026 and Bourque and 2027 Buckeye commit Brady Edmunds are only nine spots from each other in the rankings.

One of the biggest reasons why Smigiel picked Michigan was because of new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, who has promised to throw the ball a lot more in Ann Arbor.

With weapons to do it, Michigan could open it up a little more.

“I felt that offense fit me,” Smigiel said. “Coach Lindsey does a really good job. He did a really good job at North Carolina. I had a really good relationship with him when he was at North Carolina. He was recruiting me pretty hard. I wasn’t able to get out there because I committed to Florida State but I had a really good relationship with him.

“When he took the job at Michigan, he hit me up the day after he got the job trying to start building that relationship again and re-spark that relationship. We loved Michigan, we loved everything about it before I committed to Florida State. There were some coaching changes and (Jim) Harbaugh left so that left the opportunity for me to go there. We love Michigan, we loved coach Lindsey and we didn’t really know coach (Sherrone) Moore very well so we wanted to get out there, build a relationship with him and it checked every single box I was looking for.

“Coach Moore is an o-line coach, he’s just like my dad, and o-line coaches want to run the ball, be on the field and tire you out, whatever it takes to beat them. Coach Moore is a run-first kind of guy and that’s why he brought in coach Lindsey. Coach Lindsey passes the ball, he’s very successful at it, he’s done it in the past and that’s one of the biggest reasons they hired him. He’s been so successful passing the ball and they want to bring that into the offense.”

Michigan’s bread-and-butter is running the ball. Power. Physical. Tough. Over the last decade, the Wolverines have run it 58.6 percent of the time. The only season in the last 10 where Michigan threw it more than running it was the COVID-shortened season of 2020.

Last season with all its quarterback struggles, Michigan ran the ball 61 percent of the time – exactly the same number as the 2023 national championship team that featured first-round NFL Draft pick J.J. McCarthy, the only former Wolverines quarterback currently on an NFL roster.

Michigan is going to run it. Everyone knows that. But Smigiel is also confident the addition of Lindsey will open up the playbook and he believes the receiver commits are certain of that, too, or they would have headed elsewhere.

So far, four-star Travis Johnson, four-star Matt Ludwig, four-star Zion Robinson, three-star Mason Bonner and three-star Jaylen Pile have committed as pass-catchers.

“Coach Lindsey is coming from UNC and he wasn’t scared to chuck the ball around there,” Bourque said. “Michigan is always going to stick to being their true self, they’re always going to run the ball, but I’m interested to see how that changes with coach Lindsey as well.”

The Wolverines  are still working to flip Calvin Russell from Syracuse (he picked the Orange over Michigan at the last minute) along with Missouri receiver pledge Jabari Brady among others.

The Air Raid isn’t coming to Ann Arbor. This is still meat and potatoes Big Ten football. But now with elite quarterback play back and an offensive coordinator looking to throw it, the Michigan offense could open up a little more – and it should help with recruiting.

“Michigan is known for having a really good o-line and running back but this is the highest level of recruiting at receiver in a really long time,” Smigiel said. “Guys wouldn’t be coming if they didn’t think they’d be getting the ball.

“Will Michigan still be dominant with a very good o-line and running back? 100 percent. That’s what they’re known for but I do think coach Lindsey is going to be throwing the ball more than in the past.”