This week on the “In the Trenches” podcast, Jon Jansen interviewed new quarterbacks coach Koy Detmer Jr., who outlined the “crazy” end to 2025 and making his way to Ann Arbor.
Detmer isn’t unfamiliar with the University of Michigan. His father played quarterback at the University of Colorado and shared stories with him about their games against Michigan from his playing days. He also spent some of his childhood around Jon Runyan and Jon Runyan Jr., since their fathers played with the Philadelphia
Eagles at the same time. While he has some familiarity with the University of Michigan, this will be a new step in his coaching career.
Here’s what he had to say during his interview:
On his quarterback development philosophy
Detmer is “football through and through.” He’s grown up around the sport and is passionate about the game.
“These are the most important years of their life,” he said of the players. He wants to make sure his players have a chance to be themselves. While he tries to put some of his own twists on things, he wants his players to be who they are. Detmer uses that as a starting point to tweak and fix things to help them improve.
On Bryce Underwood, thoughts heading into spring practice
Detmer said that quarterback Bryce Underwood is a kid that holds himself to such a high standard. “He works his tail off,” he said. He also mentioned that Underwood shows that he wants to be the best, whether it’s watching film or in the weight room.
Moving forward, Detmer wants to focus on improving Underwood’s timing and footwork. While they have some time to work with him before and after lift sessions, they’ll have more time in the spring. Detmer said that Underwood is very talented, but also has an incredible work ethic that the coaches are thankful for.
On habits he wants to see from elite players
Detmer said it’s important to put in extra study and extra training with the people you’re going to play with, especially for the younger players. Detmer wants them to become tough mentally and physically, and he said that giving everything they’ve got every practice is important in becoming the best player they can be.
On offensive coordinator Jason Beck
Detmer has a longstanding relationship with offensive coordinator Jason Beck that started when he was a high school recruit and player at BYU. Detmer pointed out that Beck has been around a lot of great quarterbacks over his career, and that one of the biggest things he learned from Beck is to take in feedback from the players. Beck helped Detmer work on asking where players are coming from and how they’re processing plays to better coach them on ways they can improve, which helps cater that coaching to what players need to get better every day.
On head coach Kyle Whittingham
“He’s a tough son of a gun.”
Detmer said you know if you’re going to be in the building with Whittingham, you better be tough. He made sure to point out that Whittingham works out daily and even while the players are working out.
The next thing he mentioned was Whittinham’s focus on famiy. He said a lot of coaches talk family, but when you see his family walking around the building, it shows he really means it. Detmer said Whittingham is great for the other coaches because they’re able to be around their families, too.
On his handlebar mustache
In a very random and very entertaining question, Jansen asked about Detmer’s very recognizable bit of facial hair. Detmer got the idea when he was coaching at New Mexico and said it’s partially inspired by actor Sam Elliott in the movie Tombstone. He’ll continue sporting it in Ann Arbor.
