Michigan OC Chip Lindsey weighs in on improving Bryce Underwood accuracy, production

ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Wolverines have a promising young quarterback in freshman Bryce Underwood, who has had his ups and downs early this season but has flashed the skill-set we thought he’d bring to the program.

His position coach and playcaller, Chip Lindsey, sees the promise. He is also upfront about some of the struggles, too.

“Well, I think he’s played really well for a freshman, honestly,” Lindsey said during a session with the Michigan media. “Again, there’s a handful of plays in each game that we all want back. They don’t care if you’re him or you’re a four-year starter or whatever. I think I’m really pleased with the progress he’s made. From where he was when he got here to now, that’s a big jump. And the best thing about him is that he wants to be really good, and he’s always trying to improve and get better.

“You see him here all the time, staying early and late, trying to get extra film and stuff. So, again, it’s just a maturation process of him getting more and more comfortable and being a first-year starter. And I think you see that around the country, whether you’re a freshman or you’re maybe your third year in school, and now you’ve become the starter. I think there’s some growth there that they all make. But, yeah, I like what he’s doing so far, for sure.”

Underwood has completed 59.6% of his passes so far this year, but some of that has been hampered by drops and a few misfires. Michigan’s offensive coordinator believes some of it just comes in cleaning up his footwork.

“His footwork the other night, I think he got loose in the pocket twice the other night, the week before, maybe another time,” Underwood. “So some of that, I think, you know, as a young guy, sometimes seeing rush or thinking you’re getting certain pressures does that. That’s something we’re working on every day, for sure. It’s not something that’s a total issue. You’ve got to remember, too, in practice those guys don’t get hit. Everything’s good in practice. Footwork’s good. Drop’s good.

“But as far as the type of drop he took the other night on certain concepts, whether it was quick game, intermediate, or drop back, they were all good. It’s just we’ve got to make sure we continue to work on pocket presence, which I think some of that comes with experience.”

Underwood is 18th in the Big Ten in both completion percentage and touchdown passes (5), but that does not tell the whole story. He remains a work in progress as he looks to live up to the lofty billing he had as a high school recruit and top overall prospect.

“You’re trying to evaluate and fix things,” Lindsey said. “That’s kind of your job and based on the best opportunity for your team to score points and so forth. I don’t really think about those things [statistics]… we’re trying to win the football game and put us in the best position. And there’s things that we can do to do better to do that if we’ll just execute a little better. And then maybe I think sometimes too, as a coach, you’ve got to figure out, okay, are we putting our guys in the best position?

“That’s something that’s definitely fair for someone to ask. I think we’re continuing to work through those things. But at the end of the day, every time you call a play, you have a plan where the ball should go and we’ve got to make sure we do that and we’ve got to make sure when we get the opportunity, we catch it and we’ve got to protect. I mean, it’s a lot of things, not just one person or one guy.

“At the end of the day, our job is to score points. We haven’t done a good enough job of that in a couple games here for sure. So that’s what we’re striving to do.”

Next up for Michigan is a showdown with Washington on Saturday. Kickoff is set for noon on FOX.