Wolverine Digest

Kyle Whittingham gives interesting hint on Bryce Underwood's future at Michigan

The head coach appeared on Wake Up Barstool on Monday morning
Seth Berry|
Dec 31, 2025; Orlando, FL, USA; Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood (19) looks to throw on the run against the Texas Longhorns during the first half at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
Dec 31, 2025; Orlando, FL, USA; Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood (19) looks to throw on the run against the Texas Longhorns during the first half at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

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Michigan Wolverines

Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham has made clear that his top priority as he gets acclimated in Ann Arbor is to retain as much of the 2025 roster as possible.

While it's unrealistic to think the Wolverines will be able to keep everyone around (there are already several players in the transfer portal), the staff, and Michigan fans for that matter, received some good news on Monday with offensive linemen Blake Frazier and Andrew Babalola announcing their returns.

Now, Whittingham and the staff are doing their best to make sure quarterback Bryce Underwood will be the one Frazier and Babalola is the one they are protecting in 2026.

Underwood was the very first player Whittingham said he met with when he arrived in Orlando at the team's bowl site the weekend of Dec. 26.

Bryce Underwood
Nov 29, 2025; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood (19) runs the ball in the second half against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

On Monday, Whittingham made an appearance on Wake Up Barstool with Michigan graduate and Barstool founder Dave Portnoy and gave a hint as to whether the Wolverines are on track to retain the nation's top ranked QB coming out of high school.

Whittingham thinks Underwood is 'in a good place'

Portnoy asked Whittingham if he has had to continually recruit Underwood to convince him to stay in Ann Arbor moving forward.

Whittingham responded by noting that he feels good about where things stands in that regard.

"I think Bryce is in a good place right now and I think you might be getting an announcement here pretty soon," said Whittingham. "He seems to really enjoy his time here, has really enjoyed his time here. And he's one of the team leaders. He's a young guy, he's one of the team leaders obviously by virtue of the position. So, he is a guy who we think is going to be a part of what we're doing going forward. But, you never know until it's a done deal."

Underwood started all 13 games for the Wolverines in 2025 and finished his freshman campaign with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions with 2,428 passing yards while completing 60.3 percent of his passes.

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Seth Berry
SETH BERRY

Seth began writing on Michigan athletics in 2015 and has remained in the U-M media space ever since, which includes stops at Maize N Brew and Rivals before coming onto Michigan On SI in June of 2025. Seth has covered various angles of Michigan football and basketball, including recruiting, overall team coverage and feature/analysis stories relating to the Wolverines. His passion for Michigan sports and desire to tell stories led him to the sports journalism world. He is a 2020 graduate of Western Michigan University and is the former sports editor of the Western Herald, WMU's student newspaper.

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