The Michigan Wolverines, under new head coach Kyle Whittingham, will try to maximize sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood, who started as a true freshman in 2025. Underwood started all 13 games, completing 60.3 percent of his passes for 2,428 yards and 11 touchdowns with 9 interceptions. He also ran for 392 yards and six scores in 2025.
Talking on ‘The Blueprint’ podcast, Whittingham shared his thoughts on Underwood’s performance this past season. The Michigan head coach revealed Underwood was without a true quarterbacks coach and understands how overwhelming it could be to start a college football game for the Wolverines at the age of just 18.
“First of all, Bryce was thrown into a pretty tough situation last fall — a true freshman, 18 years old, starting quarterback at not only a P4 program but Michigan,” Whittingham said. “You’re under the spotlight, also didn’t have a dedicated quarterbacks coach last year, from what I was told. So, he was a little rough around the edges, still is a little bit.”
Whittingham also spoke about what he saw from Underwood in spring ball. The Wolverines sophomore quarterback completed 3 of 9 passes for 22 yards, while also suffering two sacks.
“You talk about spring ball, but long before that — January, February — we were in the film room and talking him through mechanics and footwork and read progressions and all that,” Whittingham said. “It continued through spring. He has made progress. Still got a long ways to go, but he’s on the right path.”
Whittingham’s job will be to run his offense in 2026 in such a way that suits Underwood’s style. Last season, due to a porous offensive line, the freshman had to make a lot of run attempts, even though it’s not his strength.
“So, we’re still finding out — we’ve got a much better, clearer picture through spring ball — what he does well, what suits him, what aspects of the offense are his strong suits,” Whittingham said. “We’ll start to gravitate towards that as we move closer to the season. Expose him to everything this spring, but we got to know him a lot better and we’ll continue to move and evolve the offense in a direction that really suits what he does best.”
Despite Impressive Tommy Carr Performance, Bryce Underwood Likely to be Retained as Michigan QB1
As mentioned, Bryce Underwood struggled in the spring ball. However, the Wolverines got some good reps out of Tommy Carr. The 6-foot-3.5 quarterback went 21-for-30 for 143 yards.
Despite far better performance, Whittingham seems to be in favor of Underwood starting in 2026, unless, of course, there is an injury.
The month of May is off for Michigan football and the following month, summer conditioning will start. The Wolverines open their season on Sept. 5 against the Western Michigan Broncos.
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