Bryce Underwood 2.0: What Michigan's Passing Game Needs From the Sophomore Quarterback

Bryce Underwood entered the Michigan football program last season as possibly the most hyped player ever. He was tied for the highest signee in recent program history, with only Rashan Gary and Jabrill Peppers ranked equally as highly as him. His freshman season didn't go according to plan, and his Head Coach promptly got fired for off the field issues.

Now enters Kyle Whittingham as his new Head Coach, but Michigan will need more out of Bryce Underwood if they want to achieve their goals for this season. By the looks of it, it also appears that he knows it. He was recently spotted training with an NFL superstar this off-season in an attempt to level up his game. Let's dive more into what Bryce Underwood accomplished last year, as well as what he needs to improve upon for Michigan this year below.

Bryce Underwood's Freshman Season

As a 18 year-old true freshman, Bryce Underwood started for one of the most prestigious programs in the country who had just won a National Championship two years prior in 2023. I start with mentioning that because just the fact that he started as an 18-year old true freshman at a big-time program is a very, very hard thing to do no matter how good you are.

In today's college football, the most experienced quarterbacks are typically the ones having the most success. Fernando Mendoza didn't explode until he was a junior. The other quarterback in the national title game was Carson Beck who had started 54 games prior to his National Championship game appearance. Dante Moore was terrible as a true freshman when he started at UCLA and now he's headed back to Oregon as a Heisman trophy frontrunner entering his 4th year of college football. All of this goes to say that the quarterbacks who have been performing at the very highest of levels in recent college football have almost all been very experienced signal callers.

Dante Moore is a great example of what I think could ultimately happen to Bryce Underwood. Dante Moore started as an 18 year old true freshman at UCLA, and it went quite poorly. He started 9 games before getting hurt/benched, and he completed just 53% of his passes for 1610 yards with 11 TD's and 9 INT's. Bryce Underwood's true freshman season by comparison went a little bit better, with 13 starts, completing 60% of his passes for 2428 yards, 11 TD's and 9 INT's.

It wasn't a great season for Underwood by any means, but at least by comparison, he performed a little bit better than what Dante Moore did at UCLA. When Dante Moore did next was transfer to Oregon to sit behind an experienced QB in Dillon Gabriel. When he re-entered the starting mix as a third year player, he looked like one of the best QB's in college football and could've been a 1st round pick had he entered the draft. Instead he chose to come back to college for the 2026 season and will be one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy.

I believe Bryce Underwood can have a similar career path to what Dante Moore has gone through. The difference will be that Michigan needs Bryce Underwood to take steps forward as a sophomore if they want to accomplish their team goals. Michigan doesn't have the luxury that Oregon had with Dante Moore, by letting him sit for a year to develop more. Michigan will need Bryce Underwood to develop on the field as the starting quarterback yet again for this Michigan program in 2026.

What Bryce Underwood Needs to Improve On

The biggest thing Bryce Underwood needs to improve upon is slowing down mentally. He tends to feel the rush before he needs to, and it can cause him to make ill-advised passes and to miss easy completions. If Bryce Underwood can take this summer and work on staying clean with his mechanics even while facing pressure that would go a very long ways in helping him to take the next step in his development.

The most encouraging part about how Bryce Underwood can ultimately develop this season in my opinion is that he will be coached by a much better offensive coaching staff than he had as a true freshman. Jason Beck is a great offensive coordinator who really adapts his scheme to what the players do best. He also has a QB coach this year in Koy Detmer Jr. who played college football himself at BYU. Detmer Jr. can help him stay cleaner with his mechanics, and he also has done it before himself at this level so he knows what Bryce Underwood will be going through.

The talent around bryce Underwood is also much better than it was last season. Michigan did have one of the better backfields in the country last season with Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall, and it looks like that will be true for them again this season with Jordan Marshall and Savion Hiter. The offensive line returns a lot of experience from last season as well, with at least 5 players returning with starting experience. The wide receiver room received the biggest upgrade from 2025, with star sophomore Andrew Marsh returning, along with JJ Buchanan transferring to Michigan from Utah where he played very well as a true freshman. They also brought in former top 100 recruit Jaime Ffrench from Texas, and a borderline 5-star recruit in Salesi Moa to round out the top four at the position. The wide receiver room got a massive boost in talent from last season, and that should make Bryce Underwood's life a lot easier in the passing game.

Bryce Underwood will have a better coaching staff to work with this season, a better collection of pass catchers to throw to this season, and he will also have the benefit of the experience he gained as a starter last season. I'm not saying he will be everything Michigan fans hoped he would eventually be this season, but there are a lot of reasons to believe that he can and will take the next step in his development as a true sophomore. Michigan will need him to as well if they want to make the college football playoff this season, and only time will tell if Bryce Underwood is up to the task.

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