Sherrone Moore on Michigan QB Bryce Underwood: 'There are things he's got to continue to progress on'

Michigan Wolverines football freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood had a strong first half of the regular season but still has a ton of room for improvement as the Maize and Blue move forward.

The 6-foot-4, 228-pound Detroit native has completed 59.7 percent of his passes (92-of-154) for 1,210 yards and 5 touchdowns with 2 interceptions, adding 177 yards and 3 more scores on 32 rushing attempts.

On the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show heading into the Washington game, head coach Sherrone Moore assessed Underwood’s level of play, noting that there are pieces of his game he needs to grow.

“I think he’s in a good place, and he continues to learn and he continues to want to learn,” Moore said. “But there are things he’s got to continue to progress on. His footwork on the basic throws … some of them, he missed, and it was all footwork. They had nothing to do with his arm angle or hips. Those little things will help him.”

Moore gave an example of the fade Michigan threw to graduate wide receiver Donaven McCulley in the right corner of the end zone in the 31-13 loss to USC. Underwood overthrew McCulley, who had created separation in one-on-one coverage.

“Even that fade ball that he usually makes to Donaven, 99 out of 100 times, he makes it, and then he overthrows that a little bit because of his footwork,” Moore said.

Michigan was down 11 points following the 69-yard touchdown pass from Underwood to freshman Andrew Marsh. The Wolverines could have gotten a penalty because Underwood took his helmet off to celebrate but didn’t, and U-M chose to go for two, with the unorthodox decision being a big talking point among fans watching the game. Moore explained his reasoning.

“The reason we went for that is, statistically you look at it and we’ve looked through all the analytics of if you get that one you’re down nine and a field goal and a touchdown win the game. So, that’s why we went for that,” the Michigan coach said.

The decision didn’t loom large because Michigan didn’t get a stop, and USC extended its lead to 31-13, which wound up the final score.

Decision-making for Underwood, though, is something that has to get better. He took a sack that pushed Michigan out of field position, for example.

“The decision on the sack: It’s a free runner, which is part of the issue in protection — we’ve got to make sure we get that [fixed] — but get out of the pocket, throw it away and make sure to keep us in field goal range,” Moore said. “But those are all things he’ll learn.”

Michigan was down most of the game, but still ran only one more passing play (29) than runs (28 not including sacks). Moore was asked by host Jon Jansen if Michigan leaned too heavily on the run.

“Part of it is we’re leaning on them a bit, and you can see the line of scrimmage moving and those 5- and 6-yard runs,” the coach noted. That one drive, popped open a 10-yard or 15-yard run, so I think that happens.

“But we’ve got to do a good job of keeping balance, and that’s part of us as coaches evaluating ourselves and making sure we get better. That’s a big thing that we’re going to do as we go through this week.”

Underwood is young, and so is a lot of the Michigan offense, making the future exciting. Running back Jordan Marshall subbed in for junior Justice Haynes, who went down with an injury in the second quarter, making the group even younger.

“I looked out there on offense at one point, and the right side [of the offensive line] was both redshirt freshmen [in guard Jake Guarnera and tackle Andrew Sprague], the quarterback is a freshman, Jordan Marshall is a redshirt freshman — people forget that — and then Andrew Marsh is a freshman. So, there were five guys out on the field, at one point, that are freshmen.

“So, it does excite you about the future and what it can be, but we have to make sure we do what we can right now to get the best people in position. And those guys are part of the best people, so we have to continue to get them better.”

Haynes, meanwhile, may return for this weekend’s game against Washington at Michigan Stadium.

“Right now, I think he’s questionable,” Moore said. “There’s a chance he’ll play. Feel good, but we’ll see as we go through the week.”