Michigan football gets flood of hope with Bryce Underwood commitment
Free Press sports writer Rainer Sabin answers three questions after Belleville quarterback Bryce Underwood flipped his commitment from LSU to Michigan football on Thursday.
How does this change the trajectory of Michigan football?
Soon after the Wolverines won the national championship last January, the program began to fall from its perch atop the sport. Eighteen starters from the title-winning team departed. Head coach Jim Harbaugh then fled to the NFL, and his entire defensive staff soon followed him out the door. In the wake of this mass exodus, one of Harbaugh’s top assistants, Sherrone Moore, took charge in late January. The offense he coordinated under Harbaugh was now gutted.
The defense, which still had a core of outstanding players, would soon lose one of its most valuable contributors when safety Rod Moore suffered a major knee injury in the spring. As Moore tried to plug the holes, the specter of two NCAA investigations hovered over Schembechler Hall. Then the season arrived. It didn’t go nearly as well as fans had anticipated. A blowout defeat to Texas in Week 2 rocked the Wolverines. A crash followed in October.
Four losses in five games knocked Michigan out of contention for the College Football Playoff and left fans questioning whether Moore, a 38-year-old rookie head coach, was the right choice to succeed Harbaugh.
Moore, after all, botched the succession plan for J.J. McCarthy, Michigan’s star quarterback who was selected No. 10 in the NFL draft in April. During a destabilizing period, Michigan cycled through three starters, going from Davis Warren to Alex Orji to Jack Tuttle — a 25-year-old who would eventually retire from football. The end of Tuttle’s brief run as QB1 led Moore to go back to Warren.
But by then, Michigan’s offense was a lost cause. It entered Friday 118th in scoring, averaging just 20.4 points per game. The passing attack, meanwhile, is the least productive in the Power Four. The Wolverines lacked sufficient firepower and their future looked bleaker considering that their most dynamic player, junior tight end Colston Loveland, was projected to leave for the NFL after the season.
There seemed to be little hope for the Wolverines going forward.
But Underwood changes that.
As the top recruit in the country, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Belleville sensation galvanizes the Wolverines and their fan base. Because Underwood is considered a generational prospect, his addition to the 2025 class represents the biggest coup of Moore’s fledgling tenure. The program’s outlook is much more promising now than it was just 24 hours ago, when U-M seemed headed nowhere fast under Moore's command.
Can Underwood restore the Wolverines’ offense?
Earlier this week, a reporter informed Michigan receivers coach Ron Bellamy that the Wolverines were the only team in the Football Bowl Subdivision that had yet to produce a completion of 40 or more yards.
“Shocked by it,” he responded. “Hopefully, we can connect on those plays. We’ve had opportunities for one reason or another. We just have not, collectively, made that happen.”
But with Underwood on board, that possibility now exists.
One quick glance at his highlight reel reveals that he can drive the ball downfield. Just by dint of his powerful arm, he has the potential to expand the dimensions of an offense lacking the capability to go deep. This season, Michigan’s three quarterbacks have connected on only seven throws that have traveled 20 or more air yards. The number is far below the total everyone imagined when coordinator Kirk Campbell predicted that the Wolverines’ offense would be “extremely explosive” back in the spring.
While Underwood gives Michigan a better chance to realize Campbell’s vision, he won’t be able to do it alone. A reconstructed offensive line that has been a weakness throughout this season will need to provide better protection and a cleaner pocket. The receiving corps also must be upgraded. Michigan’s most productive wideout, Tyler Morris, has made only 15 catches for 170 yards and two touchdowns.
Underwood’s commitment should open the door for Michigan to acquire better outside skill players from both the high school ranks and the transfer portal. An improved talent base at these key positions would allow the Wolverines’ offense to take flight again and do so rather quickly. That’s why Underwood’s decision to cast his lot with Michigan is such a game-changer.
Does this signal Michigan football will compete in the modern era of NIL and revenue sharing?
Up until this recruiting cycle, Michigan didn’t seem interested in throwing big money at unproven players and engaging in bidding wars for the nation’s best recruits.
The program’s strategy was focused more on player retention and rewarding its top contributors. In a conversation with reporters two years ago, Harbaugh said the administration were selling the Michigan experience as “transformational” instead of “transactional.” That comment alarmed a fan base that feared Michigan, a powerful brand with vast resources, didn’t have the appetite to compete in the name, image and likeness space.
Well, things have changed.
A new revenue-sharing model is set to take hold that will pave the way for colleges to share roughly $20 million per year with athletes starting in July 2025. Michigan’s benefactors have responded to the seismic shift in player compensation by opening the money spigot.
“NIL is part of recruiting,” Moore said Monday. “It’s been a huge piece of it. We’re just continuing to strive to get the best players that fit us and the best players we can. We’re getting the support that we need to do that.”
The dollar amoubt that was reported to have lured Underwood to Michigan was in the millions.
After Underwood’s commitment was publicized Thursday, Champions Circle, the main NIL collective that has partnered with Michigan athletics, issued a statement celebrating the news.
“We are very excited to keep Bryce home in Michigan as he continues to build his legacy,” it read.
At the very least, Underwood’s decision signals the Wolverines won't be left behind in this revolutionary era of college sports.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin.