Bryce Underwood remains Michigan football's starting quarterback ... for now.
Coach Kyle Whittingham met with media on Monday, Sept. 7 − a conversation that just a few days ago felt sure to be primarily about No. 16 Michigan's upcoming matchup with No. 9 Oklahoma on Saturday, Sept. 12 (Fox, 12:14 p.m.) in Ann Arbor, but instead was a rehashing of all that went wrong when the Wolverines narrowly survived Western Michigan, 13-12, after one controversial second was put back on the clock to give U-M a final chance at a miracle heave.
Underwood, of course, was the man who made that 47-yard touchdown pass to JJ Buchanan that avoided one of the worst losses in U-M history, fading away from his own 40-yard line with a defender bearing down on him. Outside
of one miraculous play, however, Underwood was objectively not good in the opener.
He completed 12 of 22 passes for 170 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He had 95 passing yards in the first 59:25 of the game. While he led the team in rushing with nine carries for 47 yards, he also had what appeared to be a game-sealing fumble that was recovered by Western Michigan with less than two minutes to play deep in U-M's own territory.
It led to the question on Monday: How strong of a hold does he have on the QB1 position?
"He's our QB right now," Whittingham said. "It's not something that's infinite. At some point, we've got to turn a corner and we've got to see improvement. ... It's not just Bryce's job that is not absolutely set in concrete.
"Nobodys is. You've got to perform week in and week out [and] become somebody that we feel is playing at a level that we can win with. That goes far beyond Bryce. It goes throughout the whole team. What you've done lately is very important in football."
It was a shockingly honest answer that demonstrated the seriousness with which U-M's staff is taking this decision. It's not as easy as fans suggest, simply pulling him and putting in the backup, Tommy Carr. Underwood was named a captain by his teammates just a few weeks ago and, of course, there's the $3 million annual price tag that comes with him after he came to Ann Arbor as the No. 1 recruit in America in the class of 2025.
But as Whittingham said, this is about results, which is something else that was baffling to the staff this weekend. Whittingham graded Underwood an "A+" early in camp, while at the midway point offensive coordinator Jason Beck said he had 13 good practices in as many days.
"It is unfortunate and disappointing because we see him every day and he was very sharp all through fall camp," Whittingham said. "I don't have a great explanation right now other than I hope to see improvement between Game 1 and Game 2... there's nobody, as I've said many times, that wants to be great more so than Bryce.
"Gotta keep going down that road, do some things coaching-wise that can help him be more successful."
Underwood was not made live at any point in fall camp (standard procedure for a starting quarterback) and has gotten the vast majority of the QB1 reps, but Carr has gotten some, per Whittingham. The split has been about 80-20 in favor of Underwood − a ratio Whittingham called "pretty common" so the backup can have rapport with the starters should something happen to the man atop the depth chart.
But Wolverines staffers have been very bullish on what they've seen from the true freshman out of Saline. Whittingham said he "didn't want to put a timeline" on when he would consider a move but made clear that the improvement had to come quickly. He pointed out that Underwood is still just one game into his second season and this is a new scheme under Beck, so he had to start again from ground zero.
While that may be true, it wasn't the tone anyone had a few weeks ago and won't satisfy a fan base that was wholly underwhelmed with what it saw in the season opener.
"Don't want to panic, don't want to, you know, get ahead of ourselves," Whittingham said. "Like I said, he's a big-time talent. His arm talent, his ability to run, and we're just going to stay the course for right now. But again, there does come a time for everybody at some point where you've got to look at maybe an alternative if you're not getting what you need."
Carr, the son of national championship-winning coach Lloyd Carr, is next in line for the job should Michigan feel it has to make a move. Like Underwood last season, he is currently a true freshman, but he has been consistent since his arrival, per coaches.
It's how he beat out Colorado State transfer Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi for the QB2 role in the first place.
"Just continued what he was doing in spring," Whittingham said. "He was a good decision-maker, very poised. Really is much more of an athletic runner than you would think. ... He's doesn't have blazing speed, but he has the ability to make people miss. And he seems to be unflappable. Nothing really bothers the kid. He's very calm and collected, he's a guy that's very intelligent and he lives in the film room.
"There's not a time I walk by in a quarterback room − other than when he's supposed to be in class because we go to class − but he studies film ad nauseum."
It seems Underwood will get another crack at the Sooners, a team he struggled mightily against last season, completing 9 of 24 (37.5%) of his passes for 142 yards with no touchdowns. At the time, it seemed borderline understandable, given it was his first road start, in primetime, at an SEC school. Perhaps he gets a pass.
If it looks anything like that again? The calls for Carr will only grow louder.
Next up: Sooners
Matchup: No. 16 Michigan (1-0) vs. No. 9 Oklahoma (1-0).
When: Noon Saturday, Sept. 12.
Where: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.
TV/radio: Fox, WCSX-FM (94.7).
Line: Sooners by 6½.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Will Bryce Underwood remain Michigan's QB? 'It's not something that's infinite'
