Greg McElroy Sets Record Straight on Expectations For Bryce Underwood At Michigan originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
There’s a lot of hope surrounding the Michigan Wolverines entering the 2025 season, with the biggest reason undoubtedly being quarterback Bryce Underwood, with Tony Garcia of The Detroit Free Press calling him the frontrunner for the starting spot.
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Of course, that’s already impressive for a true freshman, and in a video posted to the “ESPN College Football” YouTube channel, analyst Greg McElroy revealed what he expects to see out of the young quarterback after placing Michigan at No. 14 in his preseason rankings.
“Bryce Underwood is going to be so much better than what they had last year,” McElroy said. “Regardless of what the circumstances are surrounding his growth and development as a first-year player, he’s going to be improved over anybody that took the field last year for the Michigan Wolverines at quarterback.”
What Were Michigan’s QB Numbers Last Season?
The Wolverines had three quarterbacks attempt a pass last season and combined, they were not good, completing 189-of-306 passes for 1,655 yards, 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
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Things don’t get better when just singling out the team’s main starter either, as Davis Warren simply didn’t produce, completing 134-of-209 passes for 1,199 yards, seven touchdowns, nine interceptions and a 114.7 passing efficiency rating.
Interestingly enough, running back Donovan Edwards finished with the highest passing efficiency (623.2) of anybody on the team after attempting and completing one pass, which went for 23 yards and a touchdown.
With all of that in account, it makes the expectation for Underwood to simply outperform last year’s option all the more doable.
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Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood receives clear expectations from Greg McElroy.Junfu Han / USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images
Is Underwood Grasping the Wolverines’ Offense?
Of course, considering he’s entering his first year at the collegiate level, it’s not as though Underwood has had years to study Michigan’s playbook, but during a press conference, offensive coordinator Chip Lindsay chimed in on the quarterback’s preparation.
“I think the surprise for me, the football knowledge is really high for a 17-year-old, a high school kid that just got here,” Lindsay said. “Pretty impressive now learning our terminology and why we call certain things and so forth. There’s been some learning process there, but the guy’s a football junkie and really, he’s here early and stays late and loves to study football and this is a good place to do that.”
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That’s, of course, good to hear considering that Michigan’s season opener is less than a month away against the New Mexico Lobos on Aug. 30.
Related: USC Receives Clear Message from Highly Touted Recruit as Battle with Oregon Heats Up
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
