To the surprise of exactly zero people that follow the program closely, Sherrone Moore has officially named the starting quarterback of the Michigan Wolverines for the 2025 college football season — true freshman phenom Bryce Underwood.
Underwood is the first true freshman to be named the starting quarterback at the University of Michigan since Tate Forcier in 2009. Rick Leach and Chad Henne are the only others in program
history to be named Michigan’s starting quarterback as true freshmen.
A former five-star and the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class, Underwood is possibly the most decorated prep player to ever sign with the Wolverines. He went 50-4 overall as a four-year starter at Belleville High School and won two Division I MHSAA State Championships (2021 and 2022). He compiled a whopping 12,919 all-purpose yards (including 11,488 passing yards) and 179 total touchdowns (152 passing touchdowns).
Underwood’s “worst” season as a high schooler was his senior year — 2,509 passing yards (71.8 completion percentage), 32 touchdowns and six interceptions, along with more than 600 rushing yards and six touchdowns. His best season passing-wise came was his junior year in 2023 when he threw for 3,329 yards (64.9 completion percentage), 44 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
Thanks to all those monster stats, Underwood earned a ton of accolades in the process. He was the Michigan Associated Press Division 1-2 Player of the Year in 2021, MaxPreps 2021-22 National Freshman Player of the Year, MaxPreps 2022-23 National Sophomore Player of the Year and the overall Player of the Year, 2023 Michigan High School Player of the Year, and 2023-24 Gatorade National Player of the Year.
Putting it modestly, Underwood did pretty well in high school, and the Wolverines are hoping all that success immediately translates to the college level.
But all of those high school accomplishments did not automatically win Underwood the starting job at Michigan. It looked like he was going to face some legitimate competition this offseason by Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene, but that was before he suffered an injury and missed all of spring ball. Keene ramped things back up in fall camp, but by that time, it was already too little too late.
Not only did Underwood impress his coaches and teammates on the field, but he impressed them off the field with his work ethic.
“You talk about maturity for a kid that’s always in the media and everybody is looking through him with a fine comb, and I think the kid has handled it like a pro,” defensive backs coach LaMar Morgan told the media earlier this month. “He’s mature beyond his years. When he walks into a room, you want to know who that guy is, and not just because of his stature but his personality.”
Linebacker Ernest Hausmann said just as much at Big Ten Media Days, saying, “The thing that I’m really impressed about Bryce is the way he’s matured beyond his years. You would never know that he’s 17 years old coming into a college program, a five-star recruit, heavily recruited, has high expectations. You would never know that by looking at him, by talking to him at all … I’m just very impressed at how he’s really carried himself as a person because he fit right in well with (the) quarterback room.”
It’s unclear who the next man up would be, but it’s safe to assume it would be Keene is he is healthy enough. Other guys on the depth chart heading into the season include redshirt freshman Jadyn Davis, East Carolina transfer Jake Garcia, and true freshman Chase Herbstreit. Davis Warren is also still on the team, but continues to recover from his torn ACL he suffered in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Alabama on New Year’s Eve.
We won’t have to wait long to see Underwood and the Wolverines in action, as they will make their season debut at the Big House on Saturday night against New Mexico (7:30 p.m., NBC).
