Todd McShay didn’t waste any time letting Josh Pate know what he thought of a couple of Big Ten quarterback placements.
Pate’s preseason list had UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava down at No. 10 and Michigan’s Bryce Underwood up at No. 5, and McShay went straight at that five-spot gap. The former ESPN NFL draft analyst said the difference was too much to swallow, even if the two men were clearly grading from different angles.
“With all due respect, Nico at 10 with Bryce at five is bordering on criminal,” McShay wrote. “But to each their own. And FYI, I'm out west, so this isn't some weird 1:42 a.m. post.”
Pate’s response made the divide clearer. He wasn’t ranking the quarterbacks on what they had already done. He was making a bet on what they’d do in 2026.
“Based on resume thus far, true,” Pate replied. “This is what I expect this year. As we all know, there's no crime in expectation.”
That’s the heart of the disagreement. McShay was leaning on proven production and raw ability. Pate was projecting forward, treating the list as a preseason forecast rather than a reward for past work.
At the top of Pate’s Big Ten rankings sat Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, followed by Oregon’s Dante Moore and USC’s Jayden Maiava. After that, the field opened up. The next group - Indiana’s Josh Hoover, Underwood, Penn State’s Rocco Becht and Washington’s Demond Williams - can be shuffled in plenty of different ways.
Iamaleava’s spot at No. 10 is harder to ignore because of how his last two seasons have gone. In 2024, he helped Tennessee go 10-3 and reach the College Football Playoff, throwing for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns. After that came a split with the Volunteers amid reported NIL negotiations.
Iamaleava later said going back home to California was the main reason for the move and called the other accounts “false reports.”
The transition to UCLA didn’t go smoothly. The Bruins opened 0-3, fired coach DeShaun Foster and finished 3-9.
In 11 games, Iamaleava passed for 1,928 yards with 13 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He also completed 64.4% of his throws, led UCLA with 505 rushing yards and scored four times on the ground.
In a 42-37 upset of No. 7 Penn State, he accounted for five touchdowns and flashed the kind of ceiling that still makes him a compelling quarterback.
UCLA has made changes around him this offseason. The Bruins hired Bob Chesney away from James Madison to be their head coach, and former NFL quarterback Derek Carr recently joined the staff as a special advisor. Carr, who grew up in California, will be working with a 21-year-old quarterback from the same state.
Underwood’s case is different, but no less interesting. The true freshman started all 13 games for Michigan, threw for 2,428 yards and added 392 rushing yards and six touchdowns. His 11 passing touchdowns and nine interceptions showed the areas that still need polish, but just getting through that kind of season at Michigan mattered.
McShay’s pushback makes sense because he’s judging the quarterbacks by one standard while Pate is using another. Underwood’s ranking is a forecast of a big sophomore leap. Iamaleava’s lower slot suggests his recent trajectory matters more than his best moments.
And while Underwood might be the better 2026 bet, Iamaleava still has the kind of talent that could let him end up higher.
In Other News...
Dusty May Finally Opened Up About His Sudden Michigan Exit
Dusty May was back in Ann Arbor recently for a hip procedure, and the timing also gave him a chance to talk publicly about how quickly his Michigan tenure ended. In an interview with Brian Boesch, the former Wolverines coach looked back on a stretch that moved faster than anyone expected, even after he had just guided Michigan to a national title.
May said the shift came after the championship run, when the NBA came calling and the Dallas Mavericks made their pitch. He pointed to the leadership in Dallas, the young core on the roster and the chance to coach at that level as major factors, a combination strong enough to pull him into a move that arrived earlier than he had originally planned. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Chasing Another High-Upside Defensive Line Project
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The next step in that pursuit will come with a game-day visit, as Michigan plans to bring Mark in for a closer look in an atmosphere that should give him a feel for the programs pitch and development track. For a staff that has already shown a willingness to chase raw, toolsy defensive linemen early, the visit is another chance to make an impression before the recruiting battle gets even busier. Mark is also making the rounds at several major conference schools, so Michigan will need that visit to land well if it wants to stay in the mix. [Read more 🡒]
Bryce Underwood Just Landed In A Heated Big Ten QB Debate
The preseason Big Ten quarterback conversation is already getting testy, and Michigans Bryce Underwood is right in the middle of it. Todd McShay and Josh Pate turned in sharply different quarterback rankings, with McShay bristling at where Pate slotted UCLAs Nico Iamaleava and Underwood among the conferences top passers. The disagreement comes down to philosophy as much as personnel, with one side leaning on what has already been shown on the field and the other trying to project what these quarterbacks can become.
For Michigan fans, Underwoods spot in the debate is a sign of how quickly his name has entered a bigger conversation. The freshman season is the backdrop here, and so is the broader uncertainty around how to weigh upside against proven production in a league that is always eager to argue about quarterbacks. Iamaleavas recent career moves and uneven performance only add another layer to the discussion, but the real tension is whether rankings like these should reward present-day rsum or long-term expectation. [Read more 🡒]