Inside The Huskies

Williams-Underwood QB Duel Broken Down By Facts and Figures

We look at every angle involving the UW and Michigan signal-callers.
Dan Raley|
Demond Williams Jr. and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith meet after the UW-Ohio State game.
Demond Williams Jr. and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith meet after the UW-Ohio State game. | Dave Sizer photo

At the Big House on Saturday, visitors will go room to room, looking to see how the other half lives.

Unlike last year, Michigan has a viable quarterback taking up residency in freshman Bryce Underwood, a local guy hailed as a program savior and the best signal-caller that Wolverines money can buy.

Washington will counter with Demond Williams, a sophomore who played in last year's game just long enough to throw a 37-yard trick pass from one sideline to the other in the Huskies' 27-17 victory in Montlake and is fast building a national reputation.

These young quarterbacks will be the center of attention when their teams meet in Ann Arbor on Saturday morning, at least to those watching from Seattle, at 9 a.m. Pacific Time and noon on site.

Some day, they might be serious Heisman Trophy candidates. This weekend, they simply will be head-to-head combatants for the first time, looking to further establish their promising football credentials.

Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood (19) throws a pass in the first half against USC.
Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood (19) throws a pass in the first half against USC. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Underwood, who earlier lost road games to Oklahoma and USC, will have all of the comforts of home available to him that the biggest crowd in the country at 107,601 can provide him.

Williams, outdueled by Ohio State's Julian Sayin in his only setback this season, is on the verge of becoming a household name, but he'll need to beat Michigan in Ann Arbor to do it right away.

While everyone else is comparing these guys by game stats, and that's fair, we'll do it by facts and other pertinent figures.

To begin, Willliams is 19, Underwood 18. They're 17 months apart, with the Michigan QB celebrating his birthday this past August 19.

Underwood wears No. 19, Williams No. 2.

At 6-foot-4 and 227 pounds, Underwood is five inches taller and 29 pounds heavier than his Husky counterpart.

Williams is swifter, runring a 4.4-second 40 yard dash to Underwood's 4.58, according to published reports.

Michigan's Bryce Underwood (19) gets sacked by Nebraska linebacker Dasan McCullough.
Michigan's Bryce Underwood (19) gets sacked by Nebraska linebacker Dasan McCullough. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Underwood commands $3 million a year in compensation, according to public accounts, while Williams, with no reporting available on this, is likely much closer to $1 million.

Williams originally was headed to the University of Arizona until the coaching change happened that sent Jedd Fisch to Washington -- right after Michigan beat the Huskies in the 2024 CFP national championship game.

Underwood was committed to LSU until Wolverines donors and boosters seriously started passing the hat to raise the necessary funding to keep the Detroit product home.

Demond Williams Jr. throws out of the end zone against Ohio State.
Demond Williams Jr. throws out of the end zone against Ohio State. | Dave Sizer photo

Williams has started eight games over two seasons and has a 5-3 overall record while Underwood is 4-2 overall, yet 3-0 in the Big House.

With left tackle Carver Willis and left guard John Mills out with injuries, Williams has a patched-together offensive line, particularly at left tackle, which is a risky proposition for playing in front of college football's biggest football gathering.

Each quarterback will work behind two O-line starters who opened the previous UW-Michigan game in senior left tackle Max McCree and junior right tackle Drew Azzopardi for the Huskies, and senior left guard Giovanni El-Hadi and senior center Greg Crippen for the Wolverines. Crippen made his first college start against the UW in 2024.

As good as he is, Underwood is still a freshman quarterback feeling his way around the FBS landscape, while Williams has appeared in 19 games and has a pair of 4-touchdown passing efforts, including one coming in the Sun Bowl against Louisville.

Williams has thrown four more passes with 25 more completions than Underwood this season and has one fewer interception than his Wolverines opponent.

Williams has been sacked 16 times, 6 by Ohio State and 3 each by Maryland, Washington State and Colorado State, and Underwood has been dropped for 7 sacks, 2 each by USC and Oklahoma.

Demond Williams Jr. goes through pregame warmups for Ohio State.
Demond Williams Jr. goes through pregame warmups for Ohio State. | Dave Sizer photo

Underwood is coming off an 18-point road loss in Los Angeles while Williams shared in a 19-point home win over Rutgers in Montlake.

The bottom line: the Big House and a partisan crowd will make any Michigan quarterback feel real comfortable in the pocket and extremely hard to beat.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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