Urban Meyer’s latest read on Michigan’s quarterback situation didn’t exactly sound like a warning flare for Bryce Underwood.
On The Triple Option Podcast this week, Meyer said head coach Kyle Whittingham has made it clear he “loves” Underwood and that the issue is not about the quarterback’s coachability. Meyer also pointed to Michigan’s lack of a quarterback coach as a major factor in Underwood’s freshman struggles.
But the most eyebrow-raising part of Meyer’s comments came when he shifted from Underwood specifically to the larger picture around him.
“Everything you’re saying is dictated by something who’s behind him - it’s Tommy Carr,” Meyer said. “Coach Whitt really loves his kid, says he’s got an incredible future.
But he’s also underdeveloped as far as physically. So we’re making decisions without knowing what’s - your job as a head coach is to win the next game; whoever gives you the best opportunity, play that human being.
And I think Kyle will do that.”
Underwood’s uneven but ultimately heroic showing against Western Michigan brought the usual wave of criticism, with plenty of voices calling for a change under center. Tommy Carr, the backup, has started to draw attention of his own.
He is the brother of Heisman-contending Notre Dame star C.J. Carr and the grandson of Michigan great Lloyd Carr.
Meyer noted that Carr was lightly recruited and widely viewed as undersized, though there have been whispers that he may have more in him than people expected.
Meyer also said Michigan’s offensive line and run game matter when judging the quarterback’s performance, suggesting the overall mess says as much about the offense around Underwood as it does about Underwood himself. He then floated a scenario in which a loss could lead to sweeping changes.
”So there’s, I don’t know,” Meyer said. “If you lose the game, you’re right, you probably push that button down and implode the whole thing and start over.
And that means a new quarterback, maybe new other position players, but you just don’t know what’s around them. I would, again, say this.
They have to compete with Oklahoma.”
That’s not quite the same as saying Underwood is on the verge of losing the job. Meyer’s “push the button down and implode” line sounds more like a drastic reset of the whole operation than a direct shot at Underwood alone. Still, it does suggest Whittingham may not be afraid to make a change if he thinks it gives Michigan a better chance to win.
Meyer and Whittingham go way back to their days coaching together at Utah in the early 2000s, so Meyer is as plugged in as anyone when it comes to reading Whittingham’s thinking. That makes the comments worth paying attention to, even with the coach-speak and the odd suggestion that a loss to Oklahoma should trigger a full-scale reset.
Meyer ended by saying Whittingham will “put people on the field that (he thinks) can win the game,” and that Carr “is a guy that they feel can be a quarterback and lead them to a championship at some point.”
For now, Meyer’s takeaway seems less like a verdict on Underwood and more like a sign that Michigan’s quarterback picture could stay fluid if Whittingham decides the best path forward is to change things.
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