The 2026 college football season is fast approaching, with less than a month until Week 1 proper, when Michigan football will host Western Michigan at The Big House. The Wolverines are now two practices into fall camp, and some are starting to think relatively highly of what the maize and blue might do.
You can count ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis among them.
On the ESPN College GameDay podcast, the crew had their Big Ten preview, and in it, Davis is particularly optimistic about Kyle Whittingham taking over the program, but unlike many, he's not that down on quarterback Bryce Underwood -- in part because of the glimpses he saw last year, as well as the coaching he's now getting from offensive coordinator Jason Beck.
"The phrase that has
probably been used 10 billion times since he was hired away from Utah or after the departure, the separation from Utah to take over at Michigan of Kyle Whittingham -- there is, everybody say it with me, an adult in the room," Davis said. "But it is true. I mean, he gives them a lot of the things they need. And one of the things that he can't bring with him, as some of the other new coaches have, he finds when he arrives. And it's a supremely talented quarterback in Bryce Underwood.
"Now, I know that there have been aspersions cast his way. But if you have listened to this podcast very often, you know that there are three or four quarterbacks in the whole history of my football fandom, which unfortunately for me now dates back 55 years or so, that I have great reverence for. One of them is John Elway. And when I watched Bryce Underwood last year, I felt as if I saw flashes of John Elway. Because before Elway became in the later stages of his NFL and was sort of beaten up by injuries and only moved, you know, OK, he could really move. But what draws that memory, evokes that image in my mind, is the way Underwood just, if you're watching on YouTube, watches, wham, just released and it comes out like a rifle shot.
"Now he's got a guy who understands that the help that a good running game can give a quarterback. Michigan had a good running game last year. But he'll be able to, I think, grow in the offense. I'm not sure that the offense, as we saw from Utah last year surrounding Devon Dampier and all of that quarterback running, I'm not sure that's Bryce Underwood. But I'm banking on them being able to adapt that and use his running judiciously as a complement to a guy who I think has the potential to be a tremendous, tremendous passer.
"So Jason Beck will be running the offense there. He's worked with a lot of quarterbacks over the years. Dampier that we talked about, he's worked with Bryce Perkins at Virginia, Taysom Hill way back in the day."
It's not just the offense that Davis likes. It's some of the other components that the Wolverines have, too.
Davis points not only to the Utah transfers, but also the recent news that came out of Big Ten media days that the strength and conditioning has improved. He does take the latter aspect with a grain of salt, given the hype that new coaching staffs tend to induce when they arrive at a new place. But even still, if it's true, then watch out.
"They have several guys from Utah, including John Henry Daley, who's coming back off an Achilles injury, assuming that he is healthy. And I believe, as I've last read, that he's been cleared for everything and ready to go," Davis said. "And that's a bit that's quick because it was later in the season when he was hurt, had a good recruiting class. And I think they have organization to them.
"And apparently, if you can believe what you read on social media and who would ever doubt anything like that, they've made some gains in the strength and conditioning realm as well, because everybody says that. I don't know if there's ever been a new coach alive that has ever come in and said, you know what, we found it. We found a really strong athletic football team, and we're not going to have to change a thing. It's always like we're going to have to change the culture. You would not believe how awful the strength and conditioning was before we got here. They may not say how awful, but what they mean is how awful."
But can Michigan rise above the schedule? That's the big question for Davis, and he's unsure if he has any answers. However, if everything were to go right, he wouldn't be surprised if the Wolverines, at the very least, were in the mix at the end.
"So I won't reiterate them too much here, but other than just to say that it's not going to stun me if Michigan is in the mix," Davis said. "There's a lot of change there, but it was needed change. And, you know, Michigan comes in, they've got a big game Week 2 at home against Oklahoma, which would be a really good measuring stick. But I think Michigan has an opportunity to make noise. I don't think that they will be good enough or have enough things go their way to actually win the Big Ten. But can they win enough of the games to maybe sneak into the 12-team playoff? Well, let's look at what they have in front of them.
"They've got Oklahoma at home. That will help if they could get that one for sure. Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, all come to them. Indiana comes to them at a great time, right after the Hoosiers had just played Ohio State, and they do have to go to Oregon, have to go to Ohio State at the end. So it would be surprising, just to be candid about it, if they are able to make it to the College Football Playoff, let alone, you know, make it to the Big Ten championship game or anything like that. I don't think the schedule will allow it. I'm not sure they will be that good, but it doesn't take a ton. It takes, I mean, it'd be hard to do, but in terms of number of victories, it just means they need to pull off a couple. And if they could do that, I think they're close enough to be in those games. Get a couple of breaks, go their way. And then maybe, maybe they see their name pop up on that selection day and make it in."
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Rece Davis sees 'John Elway' potential in Michigan QB Bryce Underwood
