Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood has become an easy target, and the criticism is only getting louder.
The former No. 1 player in the 2025 recruiting class came into college with plenty of confidence and even more expectations. That didn’t exactly translate in 2025, when Underwood threw nine interceptions and 11 touchdown passes. His mechanics were shaky, and too many throws drifted off target.
Now the critiques are coming from inside the league. Anonymous Big Ten coaches recently spoke to ESPN about projected starting quarterbacks in the conference, and one was especially harsh on Underwood.
"I'm not impressed," one coach said. "He just misses and misses.
He's tall, so he's able to make certain plays that other guys can't, and he's big, so he can run. But I don't see him as someone that's dangerous at all.
He's a guy who can lose you some games."
Michigan fans had hoped the arrival of Kyle Whittingham and Jason Beck would help Underwood take a real step forward. But not every coach is convinced that change will be enough.
"He's a good head coach, but in 21 years, they haven't had a quarterback drafted," the coach said. "Just because you pay somebody money doesn't make them good. There's going to be a little reality check on that."
Underwood, a Michigan native, made it clear he wasn’t choosing Michigan because of its track record developing quarterbacks. He was originally committed to LSU, then flipped to the Wolverines after they offered him a major NIL deal.
That kind of spotlight comes with a price. From the moment he arrived, people expected him to produce like a finished product. But he was also one of the youngest players in college football last season, and the situation around him didn’t make life easier.
"The only reason there's mixed reviews, and that they're not talking about him still being young, is because of the expectations coming out of recruiting," a Big Ten defensive coordinator said. "We've really put a bull's-eye on a lot of these kids because of the exorbitant amount that they're paying them."
Underwood is in the same space as plenty of other college athletes now: if the money is big enough, the scrutiny gets even bigger.
Still, the harshest evaluation of his 2025 season isn’t hard to understand. He didn’t make the kind of progress Michigan needed, and the flaws in his game stayed visible as the year went on. Sherrone Moore didn’t exactly help him, but Underwood still had to handle the reads and make the throws.
At the same time, this isn’t a finished player. He was a true freshman.
He has room to grow, and Michigan needs that growth to show up fast. So the verdict on Underwood doesn’t have to be permanent.
The real test comes when 2026 starts, and the first few games tell the story.
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
Michigan has kept leaning into high-upside defensive line bets, and Jeremiah Mark is the latest name to surface on the 2027 board. A former basketball player who is still relatively new to football recruiting, Mark has already started drawing multiple Power Five offers, which is why his rise has begun to attract the attention of major programs across the country. Michigans recent commitment from four-star edge rusher Ifeanyi Emedobi, another player with limited football experience, fits the same mold and shows the staff is clearly willing to bet on traits as much as polish.
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 🡒]