ESPN analyst details two positions Michigan football needs to upgrade to help Bryce Underwood in Year 1

After going 8-5 in 2024, with season-ending wins over Ohio State in Columbus and Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl, there is plenty of belief Michigan football might be back in 2025. The Wolverines are already a projected top-20 team by most analysts, with others believing Michigan is a top-15 team.

Michigan retained most of its staff from last season, except for moving on from Kirk Campbell as OC and Sherrone Moore hired North Carolina OC Chip Lindsey. The Wolverines also went out and landed the top-overall recruit in the 2025 cycle in QB Bryce Underwood. That addition alone has fans excited about the future of the program. However, there is always room to improve a roster. Analyst and former Alabama QB Greg McElroy really likes Michigan this season, but in order to keep Underwood upright, he believes the Wolverines are still missing a piece or two along the offensive line.

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“I actually like Michigan this year quite a bit,” McElroy said. “Now, I think there’s positions of concern, but I do think that there’s a chance that Michigan could be one of those quiet teams going into next year that might actually overachieve. But, in order to reach their potential, they might end up with a true freshman quarterback that’s all-world, but it’s hard for a true freshman quarterback to be at his best if the offensive line isn’t playing great.

“If you look at this offensive line, that’s a position that they might try to fortify here in the spring portal window. They added tackle Brady Norton from Cal Poly. They also added interior offensive lineman Lawrence Hattar from Ferris State. That was during the winter window.

“But there’s, for the most part, a lot of youth, and there’s a lot of inexperience heading into ’25 that would keep me up at night when knowing that I have a young offensive line and potentially a young quarterback.”

The QB room was a large part for the struggles Michigan had last season. The Wolverines had the 131st-ranked passing offense in the country, but the O-line didn't help matters and neither did the wide receivers. Tyler Morrs, who is no longer with Michigan, was the Wolverines' leading WR catching for 248 yards. The Wolverines bolstered the room by going out and landing 6-foot-5 Indiana transfer Donaven McCulley and UMass WR Anthony Simpson.

But the former QB, who knows what it's like to have talented pass catchers around him, believes Underwood could benefit from Michigan going out and adding another piece to the WR corps. If the Wolverines could add some more talent to both the offensive line and WR corps, the Wolverines could be a real player in 2025, in McElroy's opinion.

“It’d be beneficial to add a piece or two at wide receiver,” McElroy said. “You have Donaven McCulley. That’s a pretty good starting point, but the struggles last year at wide receiver makes me believe that McCulley could end up being one of the top options on the perimeter. And I don’t know at this point if I feel great about his ability to handle that type of load in the passing attack.

“Now you got Semaj Morgan. You got Fred Moore. I think you look at that group, I’m hoping that Morgan and Moore take a step, but I don’t know for sure. So having a productive wide receiver, a proven wide receiver for Chip Lindsey, the new offensive coordinator, would be huge for Michigan moving forward if they want to be a real contender this upcoming season.”

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