Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood is in a much better position to succeed than he was a season ago. Underwood didn’t have a dedicated quarterbacks coach working with him despite starting as a true freshman. Now, with a year of starting experience under his belt and better coaches on the staff, Underwood could have an upward trajectory.
In an interview on the Big Ten Network, Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham spoke about Underwood.
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“His physical profile and his skill set is incredible,” Whittingham said.
Whittingham mentioned Michigan offensive coordinator Jason Beck, who likes to cater his offense to the strengths of a player — for Underwood, he has a strong arm, but he’s also dynamic because of his rushing abilities. Underwood rushed for 392 yards and five touchdowns last season.
“Coach Beck, our offensive coordinator, is a master at putting players in a position to succeed. Which is the essence of coaching. Put players in a position where they can succeed and then help them accomplish that. And we will play to Bryce’s skill set. There’s no doubt about it. He’s a dual threat, without a doubt. We’ll have an offense that is geared toward what he does best.”
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Beck had a lot of success last season as offensive coordinator at Utah with dual-threat quarterback Devon Dampier. Dampier ranked No. 7 in the nation in Total QBR (84.4) with 2,490 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, five interceptions, along with 835 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. With Beck’s track record, and a quarterbacks coach in Koy Detmer Jr., Underwood has coaches in his corner trying to push his game to new heights through the air and also on the ground.
“Do what they do best,” Beck said back in May. “And so if they can run, then it’s a weapon. And they’ll be fine. If guys aren’t good runners, then they can get themselves hurt. But if guys are good runners, they’re comfortable doing that. And they excel at it. And you have good success. But that’s just part of playing the position. So you do have to be smart about it. You don’t want to run your quarterback 25 times unless you got a bye week or something to get him back. But it does seem to be part of Bryce’s skill set, like doing some of the QB run game. And when he pulls it down and goes, it looks pretty impressive.”
While Underwood will have to improve as a passer after throwing for 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions last season with a 60.3% completion rate, an offensive scheme geared towards what he does best and implementing more designed quarterback runs should only help Underwood and Michigan’s offense in 2026.
