ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It's quite a rare thing for anyone other than a senior at the University of Michigan to be named team captain, and it's even rarer that it's an underclassman. Yet, such is the case for Michigan football quarterback Bryce Underwood, who is entering his sophomore campaign.
Despite any noise or consternation surrounding the enigmatic signal-caller, he was voted as one of the four leaders of the team by his peers, putting him in somewhat rarified air. Though the hometown product was previously pledged to LSU before flipping to the Wolverines, being able to be one of four team captains for team 147 is particularly special to the former five-star.
"I feel like overall it's a dream come true," Underwood said. "First off, it's a blessing
being here in the first place. But for my teammates to trust me to be a leader, it's a big blessing for me."
Rod Moore knows a little something about being a team captain. In fact, in the modern era, he's the only Wolverine to be elected to such a post three times. On Tuesday, he shared why he feels that Underwood is also deserving of the honor, noting that he's taken things a step forward in the offseason. But ultimately, regardless of title or honor, a team tends to go as does its quarterback, and Moore says that Underwood has embraced everything thrown his way.
"Just his leadership skills. Like, he's vocal," Moore said. "Having Jordan (Marshall) right next to him, both of them go hand in hand. But, I mean, his talent speaks for itself. And just the progression and the steps that he's taken to be a leader, he got challenged to do that when Coach Whitt first got here -- because a quarterback is really the leader of the team. So, he got challenged to do that, and he accepted the challenge."
Marshall may be new to the captaincy himself, as a junior also named on Monday, but he agrees with Moore's sentiment that Underwood has stepped into the role.
"Bryce does a lot of things by action, and he leads by how he -- honestly how he treats people and how he communicates with people," Marshall said. "And I think that's the biggest thing is how he communicates with his teammates, and he's willing to understand. Or we'll go back in the locker room, and we'll talk to the defense, like, 'What were you guys doing on this play?' and I think that's leadership to understand not only what your teammates were thinking -- because maybe me and Bryce disagree on something -- but to come together and learn from that.
"And also leadership is not only and being a captain; it's not only leading, it's also learning from each other. And I think we learn from each other every single day. We find out maybe a weakness, maybe a weakness I have, where he has, and we try to build that up or focus on that to make sure that when it gets (to be) that time that he can do all the things he wants to do.
"And I think the biggest thing that I've seen with him is he's so much calmer and patient. And he knows sometimes it might be on him, but he takes accountability for it, and then also he's so much more patient, and he's calm when we're in the huddle. He's calm, and I'm like, 'You good?' He's like, 'Yeah, I'm great.' And that's the biggest thing you want from your quarterback -- is that confidence that we always talk about that he has, and he just has it. He has that swagger that a quarterback needs."
Not every Michigan quarterback is honored as such. Tom Brady called it the honor of a lifetime, and yet, since his captaincy in 1999, there have only been four more quarterbacks to earn such a distinction -- John Navarre in 2003, Denard Robinson in 2012, Devin Gardner in 2014 (after the season, as Brady Hoke didn't name captains beforehand), and Cade McNamara in 2022. Some years, that may have been because only seniors were eligible according to the head coach. Other times, perhaps they weren't as much of a leader.
However, under Kyle Whittingham, Underwood will now have his face on the captains' wall inside Schembechler Hall, and he says that it's not just about his trust in them; it's about their trust in him.
"Overall, my guys trust me enough to be a captain, so I feel like that's enough to say it for me," Underwood said. "Trust those guys with everything. They trust me to be a captain, so I'm glad to be there."
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Bryce Underwood on earning teammates' trust as team captain
