Michigan benching Bryce Underwood seemed inevitable due to the sophomore's poor play this season and the Wolverines' offensive ineptitude through its stumbling start to the Kyle Whittingham era.
But one former NFL standout called Underwood's benching far before a snap was taken this season.
In May, Eric Weddle predicted the Wolverines would make a quarterback switch during an appearance on the “Zero 2 Sixty” podcast.
“Don’t be surprised if the backup is playing early because that Underwood kid, you know, I don’t think he could throw or play quarterback,” Weddle said then.
Underwood was benched at
halftime of Saturday's win at Penn State with the Wolverines trailing 3-0 and Underwood tossing two interceptions. Freshman Tommy Carr came in and led Michigan to a 21-18 win as the Wolverines scored more points in the second half against Penn State than it had in the three previous Power conference games this season.
“I ended up being right,” Weddle told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, during a phone interview on Monday, Oct. 19.
Michigan fans..... Your welcome!
— Eric Weddle (@weddlesbeard) October 17, 2026
Weddle had seen Underwood up close in practice during early April, when he brought his son Gaige, a four-star safety, on a recruiting visit to Ann Arbor. The Wolverines had offered Gaige a scholarship soon after Whittingham took over in December, which wasn’t surprising considering 41-year-old Eric had once played at Utah under Michigan’s new coach. As Eric watched Underwood, he noticed that the rising sophomore, ranked the No. 1 overall high school player in the 2025 class, couldn’t consistently deliver simple, rhythm-based passes.
“I’m not happy that he got benched,” Weddle said. “But I saw what I saw, and the truth hurts. I don’t know what else to say. I don’t like being right. But if I saw something egregious from the quarterback position, don’t be mad because I pointed it out... What I saw wasn’t good enough. And so it ultimately came true.”
Whittingham refused to name a starter for Michigan's game this weekend against Indiana, but it'll be hard to pick Underwood over Carr, regardless of the reported $12 million price tag.
“We saw good stuff out of Tommy in that second half, and we know exactly what we’re doing and the plan going forward,” Whittingham said Monday.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former NFL player warned Michigan about Bryce Underwood: ‘The truth hurts’
