Chip Lindsey on Michigan football 5-star QB Bryce Underwood: 'I'd say he's pretty advanced'

Trent Knoop | Mar 17, 2025

Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Michigan might not know who its starting quarterback will be when the Wolverines take the field on August 30 against New Mexico, but Michigan fans know that five-star freshman phenom, Bryce Underwood, has as good of a chance as anyone starting. The Wolverines flipped the Belleville (MI) product from LSU to stay home and play for Michigan.

Underwood is going to compete with Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene to start for Michigan this fall. Speaking with the media for the first time since being hired, offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, noted that bringing in Underwood made the Wolverines' opening even more appealing. Lindsey spoke on Underwood's leadership and attitude that he's seen since getting a chance to coach the top-overall prospect. The former North Carolina offensive coordinator also told the media on Monday that if Underwood is ready, he'll play.

"I think anytime you sign a high-profile guy that's a freshman coming in these days with as good a job as everybody does of knowing — it used to be when I was growing up, sometimes you wouldn't know about guys, right? And now 30, 40 years later, whatever, you know about everybody, it seems like," Lindsey said. "And having those guys come in before, I think it's always fun. It's exciting. But at the end of the day, it's really about what they do out there on the field. If he's ready to go, he'll play. If he's not, then we'll get somebody else ready to play. But so far, I love his approach. 

"He's all business, man. He loves football. That's the most important thing. And he really wants to be the best player he can be. He wants people to push him. One of the things we talked about was: Whatever your dreams are, your aspirations are, they're going to be mine. My goal is to help you reach those things. And whatever it takes. 

"And I think that's what his attitude is. He's a team-first guy. If you ask the older guys on our team right now, I think they would tell you that they love his approach. And really, that whole room I've got in there right now, they're all the same way. They're all wired that way or probably wouldn't be at Michigan. But it's exciting to see. And we'll see how he grows and progresses throughout spring."

Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

When Underwood committed and signed with Michigan, he was right around 200 pounds. But the physical specimen is reportedly up around 220 pounds and he's more advanced than most freshmen at this stage. The physical side of football won't be a challenge for Underwood, but playing in college and learning to read D1 defenses is what Underwood is going to have to learn. Lindsey knows what it's like coaching elite quarterbacks -- he coached Drake Maye at North Carolina. He noted the speed of the game could be a concern for any incoming freshman.

"I'd say he's pretty advanced," Lindsey said of Underwood. "He's highly decorated and all that in high school, which a lot of them are. But his sheer physical side of who he is — he's 6-4, whatever he is, 220-plus pounds. Some of those guys come in and they're really light and they're not developed yet. Depending on their age, some of them, nowadays they reclass up and down, right? And that used to never happen.

"I remember growing up when I was in the south. When I was growing up in the 90s and nobody became the starting quarterback until they were like redshirt juniors and they were like 20 or 21 years old. And it's just different now. I think kids are more advanced in general throughout the country. A lot of trainers now start with these kids really young. And you go to different parts of the country when you're recruiting and you can tell, like, hey, these kids, they've been working a long time. They all have these trainers and so forth.

"He's very advanced physically. And I think for him the speed of the game is always something you worry about coming into college compared to high school. And then how much can he handle."

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