Michigan’s season has been messy from the jump, but the clearest answer the Wolverines have found at quarterback might be the one they didn’t plan on leaning on.
True freshman Tommy Carr has taken over the job and, even with the bumps that come with a young passer, he keeps giving Michigan something it hasn’t had much of lately: a chance to breathe on offense. That was on display again Saturday against Rutgers, when Carr played through flu-like symptoms and still helped Michigan put up 28 points - its highest output since Week 2 against UTEP.
Carr threw for 266 yards, ran for 54 more and accounted for three total touchdowns as Michigan went 12-for-16 on third down. Kyle Whittingham said Carr hadn’t missed practice time, but “he wasn’t feeling good at all”.
Still, the freshman looked steady enough to steer the Wolverines through another tense game. Whittingham pointed to Carr’s composure as a defining trait.
"Yeah, that's one of his strengths is he's unflappable," Whittingham said. "He never panics.
He is very calm and collected no matter what the situation. And that's a great quality to have going back to his recent head.
The moment's not too big for him. I think I said that last week.
And it showed up to me this week. His pocket presence was outstanding.
"I thought he moved around well in the pocket. Kept his eyes downfield a bunch of the time to find some receivers.
And tucked it in when he needed to. So a lot of good things by Tommy."
Carr’s path to this point has been uneven. He sparked Michigan in relief against Penn State, leading the Wolverines to 21 points in the final 30 minutes of a 21-18 win. Then came his first career start last week against Indiana, when he made freshman mistakes and turned it over twice in a 13-6 overtime loss.
That’s the tradeoff with Carr right now. The highs are real, and so are the lows.
Against Rutgers, he showed both sides a little bit. He also underthrew two passes to Andrew Marsh that could have become touchdowns.
"A little under-thrown," Whittingham said of Carr's misses to Andrew Marsh. "Both those balls were a little under-thrown.
If we'd have been right on the money, that's easy to say. He'll be right on the money with it.
But if he was able to drop it out there where it needed to be, I think they both would have been touchdowns or at least huge gains.
"And so I'm not sure that is indicative of his arm strength. I think he'll see the ball just a hair quicker and a little more on it. He's got an arm that's very capable."
That development has pushed Bryce Underwood further into the background after the No. 1 ranked prospect in the 2025 recruiting class was supposed to be the fix for Michigan’s quarterback issues. Instead, Underwood was benched in the second half against Penn State after struggling with turnovers this season. He has handled the demotion well, and Whittingham has called him a great captain.
What happens next is the bigger question. With four games left in the 2026 season, Michigan’s goals are basically out of reach, though a run to the finish would at least create a case for the College Football Playoff. The more immediate reality is that Whittingham appears ready to keep riding Carr and see where it goes, especially with Jason Beck still running the offense.
The next test comes against Michigan State, Carr’s first shot at that rivalry. For a young quarterback, he’s already shown a strong feel for the game, command of the huddle and the kind of confidence that lets him attack with both his arm and his legs.
If Michigan is going to find anything meaningful down the stretch, it likely starts with letting Carr work through the good and the bad.
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The bigger issue is that this was not an isolated escape. Michigan has been living in close games, and coach Kyle Whittingham pointed to that pattern after another narrow result. When the defense is doing enough to keep the team in front and the ground game still cannot separate from an opponent with a vulnerable front, the margin for error gets thin fast. Add in the ongoing issues around scoring and kicking, and the Wolverines are left with a problem that is becoming harder to brush aside. [Read more 🡒]