When Bryce Underwood arrived at Michigan ahead of the 2025 season, there was no shortage of hype around the young quarterback and what he might be able to accomplish by the time his career in Ann Arbor had wrapped up.
A Detroit native, Underwood was the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, a dual-threat quarterback seemingly destined for superstardom in college (and potentially beyond). After initially committing to LSU, he signed with Michigan, where he received an eight-figure NIL deal. It appeared like a perfect marriage, with a top-ranked quarterback from the Wolverines’ backyard joining a program fewer than two full years removed from a national championship.
So far, though, his college career hasn’t exactly gone according
to plan.
After an up-and-down freshman season, Underwood showed few, if any, signs of improvements in the first game of his sophomore season. In a controversial 13-12 win against Western Michigan in Week 1, he completed 12 of his 22 passes for 170 yards for a touchdown and an interception, along with 47 rushing yards and a touchdown on nine attempts.
Those pedestrian numbers only look bearable because of a game-winning 47-yard touchdown pass to JJ Buchanan with no time remaining, a play that, based on all available evidence, probably should have never happened. Without that heave, Underwood went 11 of 21 for just 123 yards (and 5.9 yards per attempt) and an interception.
On Monday, Sept. 7, first-year Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham wasn’t exactly full-throated in his commitment to Underwood as the team’s starting for the foreseeable future, noting that “at some point you've gotta turn the corner, and we've got to see improvement, as we do with a bunch of stuff.”
With Oklahoma and the Sooners’ vaunted defense — led by Brent Venables, who bottled the Underwood-led Michigan offense last season — coming to Michigan Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 12 for a Week 2 matchup, what options might the Wolverines have if Underwood struggles yet again and the coaches determine a change is needed?
Here’s a look at Michigan’s backup quarterback situation:
Michigan backup QB
Sitting behind Underwood on the Michigan depth chart is freshman Tommy Carr, the grandson of former Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr and the younger brother of Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr.
Carr was rated as a four-star recruit coming out of high school, with 247Sports’ composite ranking slotting him as the No. 22 quarterback nationally in the 2026 recruiting class.
In two years as a starter at Saline High School in Saline, Michigan, Carr completed 69.5% of his passes for 5,247 yards, 64 touchdowns and nine interceptions while adding another 589 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground.
Carr was named the Wolverines’ backup by Whittingham on Aug. 31 after a lengthy training camp battle with Colorado State transfer Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi that Michigan quarterbacks coach Koy Detmer Jr. described as “neck-and-neck.”
If Underwood continues to languish, calls to bring in Carr will only grow louder. That push could very easily continue against Oklahoma, which returned many key pieces from a defense last season that gave up just 15.5 points per game, the seventh-best mark in the FBS. In the Sooners’ season-opening win against UTEP, they allowed just 198 total yards and 3.5 yards per play in a 51-0 romp. Last season against Oklahoma, and in the first road start of his career, Underwood completed only 9-of-24 passes for 142 yards in a 24-13 loss.
Is Tommy Carr related to CJ Carr?
Yes, Tommy Carr is the younger brother of Notre Dame starting quarterback CJ Carr.
His family football lineage doesn’t end there, either. Carr’s grandfather, Lloyd, was Michigan’s head coach from 1995-2007, during which he helped lead the Wolverines to a shared national championship in 1997. Carr’s father, Jason, also played quarterback at the school, from 1992-95, and another grandfather, Tom Curtis, was a two-time All-American safety at Michigan in the late 1960s.
How tall is Bryce Underwood?
Underwood is listed on Michigan’s official football roster at 6-foot-4.
Bryce Underwood stats
Here’s a look at Underwood’s stats from his freshman and sophomore seasons:
- 2025: 202 of 335 (60.3%), 2,428 yards, 7.2 yards per attempt, 11 touchdowns, 9 interceptions, 88 rushes, 392 yards, 4.5 yards per rush, 6 touchdowns
- 2026: 12 of 22 (54.5%), 170 yards, 7.7 yards per attempt, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, 9 rushes, 47 yards, 5.2 yards per carry, 1 touchdown
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Michigan's backup QB? Wolverine nobility on depth chart behind Bryce Underwood
