Michigan’s season has already taken a sharp turn, and Bryce Underwood is right at the center of it.
After Saturday’s loss to Minnesota, the Wolverines fell to 3-2, dropped a game to the Golden Gophers for the first time since 2014, and lost on the road at Minnesota for the first time since 1977. The defeat has sent blame in several directions, but the offense and Underwood’s play have become a major talking point.
Michigan went all in to flip the Detroit native after he spent a long time committed to LSU, and the Wolverines eventually landed him. Two years later, with a four-year NIL deal worth $12 million, the fit looks a lot messier than anyone in Ann Arbor expected.
Underwood arrived with the kind of hype that can swallow a program whole. He was treated like the player who would drag Michigan back to the top of college football. Instead, his performances have left plenty of fans asking how he was ever ranked the No. 1 recruit in his class, and talk of a benching is starting to build.
That creates a problem Michigan can’t easily solve. Four-star true freshman Tommy Carr is waiting behind him, but Underwood is making $3 million a year, about $250,000 per game whether he plays or not. The NCAA does not allow athletic performance contingency clauses in NIL contracts, so the money keeps rolling in even if the quarterback is stuck on the sideline.
There is still the possibility of Underwood entering the transfer portal after the season, but that raises another obvious question: why would he walk away from the kind of money he is making in Ann Arbor?
From a football standpoint, his play has not matched the billing. His footwork has been shaky, he has had trouble working through reads, his decision-making has been questioned, and while the arm strength is there, the accuracy has not been.
Minnesota was hardly the only game where the offense had issues, though Underwood did get little help from his offensive line in that one. He did flash some of the potential that made him such a prized recruit against Iowa, but Michigan still could not finish drives in the red zone. One of those possessions ended with Underwood throwing an interception at the one-yard line.
If Kyle Whittingham decides enough is enough and turns to Carr, Underwood would be a backup quarterback making $3 million a year. And because of the way the NIL deal is structured, Michigan has no performance-based escape hatch.
There is another complication too: the money is coming from the Champions Circle NIL collective, not Michigan itself. That means the deal is being bankrolled by major donors, and those donors cannot simply back out because Underwood’s play has not lived up to the investment.
Michigan also did not include a buyout in the contract, so the Wolverines have no way to get out of the arrangement unless Underwood leaves through the portal. If that happens, Michigan stops paying him and he would have to work out a new deal somewhere else.
For now, though, that seems like a hard outcome to imagine. Underwood would be leaving behind a setup that pays him extremely well, even if the on-field results have not matched the price tag.
With the bye week here, Whittingham has major decisions ahead, especially on offense. And if he does make a change, the choice should be about what helps Michigan most - not about the NIL money attached to the quarterback room.
In Other News...
Minnesota's Run Game Problem Looks More Specific Than Fans Feared
Minnesotas rushing issues have drawn plenty of attention this season, and the frustrating part for the Golden Gophers is that the problem does not look like some broad, unsolvable collapse. Offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. has already made schematic tweaks in an effort to get the ground game moving, but the results still trail where the program wants them to be in both the Big Ten and nationally.
The film points to a more specific culprit than many fans might have feared, with run blocking from the tight ends becoming a recurring issue. On a few key plays, Minnesota did not get the kind of edge help it needed, and those missed blocks helped derail runs before they had a chance to develop. For a team trying to reestablish its identity on the ground, narrowing the problem is only the first step. [Read more 🡒]
Minnesota Faces A More Dangerous Purdue Test Than The Standings Suggest
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Now Minnesota gets the next look, and the matchup comes with more edge than the standings might suggest. The Gophers are 4-1 and have won three straight, including a recent win over Michigan, but Purdue is no longer the kind of opponent opponents can treat as an easy breather. For Minnesota, the challenge is not just staying hot, but dealing with a Boilermakers group that has already shown it can drag a conference game into uncomfortable territory. [Read more 🡒]
Minnesota Just Got A Little More Satisfaction Out Of Michigans Slide
Minnesotas win over Michigan already carried the kind of satisfaction that lingers in the Big Ten standings, but it picked up a little extra shine this week when Urban Meyer weighed in on the Wolverines early-season slide. Michigan is off to a 3-2 start and has dropped games to Iowa and Minnesota, leaving plenty of room for outside criticism as the program tries to steady itself after a rocky opening stretch.
Meyer, speaking on a podcast, said he does not see passion, energy or toughness in this Michigan team and suggested the problems run deeper than quarterback Bryce Underwood. He also said he did not see the competitive edge that usually shows up in successful teams while reviewing Michigans recent games, which is the sort of assessment Minnesota fans will be happy to hear attached to a win they already enjoyed. [Read more 🡒]