Two Keys for Michigan Football QB Bryce Underwood to Have a Major 2026 Breakout Season

The formula is in place for Underwood to succeed in 2026. Now it's just putting it all together.

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The cat is out of the bag, if it wasn't already, Michigan is going to allow quarterback Bryce Underwood to run the football more this season. A year ago, Sherrone Moore didn't want to utilize Underwood in the running game, since he didn't feel like he had a capable backup.

But that's part of Jason Beck's scheme, and he has a proven track record. On Thursday, following Kyle Whittingham's podium speech during Big Ten Media Days, he sat down for 45 minutes to discuss more about his Wolverines, including Underwood.

Whittingham has two ways to help his young QB

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Was he surprised Michigan didn't run him more? He was more surprised about the duress he was under. And Whittingham has two ways to help his signal caller going into the 2026 season.

"Well, I was surprised at how much duress he was under," Whittingham said. "You know, it's almost like he takes the snap and the rush was on him just like that. And so I think that's the first thing to help Bryce — there's two things we can do. Shore up the offensive line and have a strong run game.

"Strong run game is a quarterback's best friend. If he can just turn and hand the ball and just get chunk yardage up the field, that really takes a lot of the pressure off of off of him. And so that — having an outstanding running back room and an offensive line that's highly efficient is going to make him a much better player. Just that in of itself"

Underwood faced too much pressure last season

According to Pro Football Focus, Bryce Underwood dropped back a total of 399 times in 2025. He faced pressure on 127 of those dropbacks.

With new offensive line coach Jim Harding coming into Ann Arbor, the Wolverines are looking to fix the errors across their line. And Michigan has some good building blocks. With the return of starters Jake Guarnera, Blake Frazier, and Andrew Sprague, along with players like Evan Link and Nate Efobi, who have started plenty of games — the talent is there.

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But as Whittingham mentioned, it's also going to start with having a dominant rushing attack. Which is another area that Jason Beck has a proven track record in. In the last two seasons, Beck's offense finished second in the nation in rushing yards per game.

The formula is there for Bryce Underwood to have a big sophomore campaign, and now it's just fitting all the puzzle pieces together.