How QB Bryce Underwood 'earned the respect' of entire Michigan team

Freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood flipped his commitment from Louisiana State to Michigan Wolverines football last November, and arrived on campus for bowl prep the following month. Since then, his level of play has increased, and his voice has grown to the point that he was named the Wolverines’ starting quarterback ahead of Saturday’s opener against New Mexico.

“It started from the day he stepped on campus,” head coach Sherrone Moore said on the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show. “I told him when we recruited him, I was like, ‘Dude, you’re not going to be given anything. You got to go earn it. You got to go take it.’ And that’s what he wanted to do.

“When he first got here on campus in December, he was a sponge. He did everything he could do right. He just attacked everything, and went from 212 pounds to 230 pounds in the weight room, and looks like he can play defensive end but still has that athleticism and speed.”

Underwood took all of the necessary steps to become Michigan’s starter, and he left no doubt in the competition. Sophomore Jadyn Davis will serve as his backup, while graduates Mikey Keene and Davis Warren work back from injuries.

“In spring ball, he continued to learn,” Moore noted. “He made mistakes, but continued to learn. In training camp, you could see the work over the summer, and he really took hold of the offense. He took hold of his abilities. He never tried to do way too much, and I think for a freshman that had the accolades and has the talent he does, he never tried to play above him. There are days when he made a mistake, but he never made a mistake twice.

“It’s been cool to watch him progress, and probably the most important piece is that he grabbed the team and earned the respect of not only the guys on offense, but the guys on defense. You saw that about midway through camp and you’re like, ‘OK, I think we got our guy.’ He just wanted to keep proving it and keep doing it and stay humble doing it — and that’s what he’s done.”

The No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class and a player who’s been under the microscope since he was in eighth grade, Underwood hasn’t just gone about his business. The team is his business, and he’s made sure to be a big part of it.

“The locker room is divided up into position groups, and he’ll be back there with the D-tackles and linebackers,” graduate defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny said of Underwood. “We all kind of move around.

“That’s the best thing, in my opinion, about our team. It’s not like you just talk to the people you’re used to being around. We all mingle with each other and work our way through the locker room and chill at different spots.”

Underwood is comfortable doing that, which is important because Underwood will have to set the tone during games for Michigan this fall, too.

“The No. 1 thing, as a freshman, you just have to do your job,” Moore said. “Don’t try to do too much. He has enough ability where, if he’s just him, it’s going to be pretty cool to watch. And if he continues to do that, he’s just going to get better and better and better. That’s the first thing.

“And then No. 2: When you’re the quarterback — regardless if you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior — if you see something, say it. You’ve now earned the responsibility because you are the quarterback at Michigan that you can say things that other things can’t say.

“A freshman left tackle or right tackle or defensive end or corner that is not the quarterback can’t say those things, but if the ball is in your hands every play on offense, you have the responsibility now to say something to people.”

There are two sides to the Underwood coin. Listen and learn as a freshman, but also lead. Through all of it this season, Moore and the Michigan staff will continue to push him and encourage him to grow, while hopefully stacking wins.

“For us as a staff, as a team — me, [offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach] Chip [Lindsey] — we’ve got to be patient,” Moore said. “We know there are going to be growing pains, because he’s a freshman. He just turned 18 last week, so he’s a kid. He was running around here at 17 years old, and he’s going to be out there as the starting quarterback at Michigan at 18. This is the first true freshman starter [at Michigan] since Tate Forcier in 2009. 

“There’s going to be something that he’s going to do that we’re like, ‘Ah, why’d you do that?’ And then there’s going to be something where it’s like, ‘No, don’t do it. Oh, nice play!’ Those are going to happen, so we just have to take it play by play and coach him from there.”