Michigan’s quarterback conversation has reached the point where Tommy Carr is being floated as the answer to salvage a season that’s slipping fast.
Six years after Michigan was dealing with a COVID outbreak that threw its year off track, the same kind of uncertainty is back in 2026. The pressure now is on Bryce Underwood, and the question hanging over the program is whether Carr should step in and replace him in the lineup.
There’s a clear parallel to the 2020 situation with Joe Milton and Cade McNamara. Milton was struggling, and in a shootout win over Rutgers, Jim Harbaugh made the move to McNamara. A year later, that decision paid off in a major way.
McNamara gave Michigan’s offense a spark, and that’s the kind of lift the team needs now. Tommy Carr is not Cade McNamara, but he does bring a certain moxie that calls him to mind. The catch is that such a move would almost certainly send Underwood to the bench and likely push him toward the transfer portal.
Another possibility would be to borrow from Harbaugh’s approach with J.J. McCarthy and use Underwood in a limited role while Carr handles the bulk of the work. But that seems like a tough sell, because Underwood would be taking on a reduced role, and that could easily feel like the final straw for a frustrated quarterback.
If Whittingham does turn to Carr, the offense would probably lean more on quarterback scrambles and ask Carr to work through his progressions so he can read defenses better, unlike what Underwood has shown. That would also depend on the offensive line giving him more protection and the running game finally showing up.
The problem is that Michigan is in no position to waste a $12-million quarterback on the sideline. The boosters want better results now, and the margin for error is gone in a season that once looked promising after the Oklahoma victory, which now feels like a long time ago.
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