Michigan Football's Biggest Winner of Fall Camp

To finish the season, Underwood threw 11 touchdowns to just nine interceptions. There are plenty of caveats for that stat line. Underwood did not have an infrastructure around him. The coaching staff failed him. The receivers failed him.

It’s also true that Underwood did not play well when given opportunities and fell into a lot of bad habits.

Little Improvement

When Kyle Whittingham was hired, his first job was to get the most out of Underwood. Whittingham said his first meeting was with Underwood in an attempt to get buy in from the team’s starting quarterback.

He hired an offensive coordinator in Jason Beck, and a quarterbacks coach in Koy Detmer Jr. to get the most out of the talented sophomore.

The first glimpse of Underwood came during the spring game. Underwood did not look good. He was outperformed by freshman backup Tommy Carr. That led to ridiculous claims that Michigan should be looking at a quarterback competition coming into fall camp.

Whittingham, to his credit would not buy into that, consistently stating that Underwood was his guy.

Nonetheless, Underwood’s lack of improvement in the spring only added pressure to his plate to have a strong fall camp.

Lightbulb On

As fall camp has progressed, the coaching staff has talked a lot about the progress of Underwood. The buzz coming out of camp is that the lightbulb has come on, and Underwood’s talent is beginning to be met with some polish.

He’ll be in a better position to make more plays because of a system that allows him to use both his arm and his legs. He’ll have a better group of weapons around him with a one-two punch of Andrew Marsh and JJ Buchanan at receiver.

Jason Beck stated that Underwood was 13-13 in terms of whether he performed well in practice. Kyle Whittingham graded Underwood’s camp a lofty A-Plus.

Perhaps those comments could be passed off as an embellishment, or coach speak. It would not be the first time a coaching staff has been unwaveringly praiseworthy of its players.

It’s also true, that’s not really the way that Whittingham operates. He’s, by all accounts, a straight shooter. He has no ties to Underwood, as he didn’t recruit him. The pressure on Underwood coming into the season was to perform, or potentially find himself out of a job for the 2027 season.

Instead, Underwood has risen to the occasion according to his coaching staff, which makes him the biggest winner of fall camp.

Word of Caution

One thing that needs to remain clear as Michigan embarks on its 2026 season. Bryce Underwood still has to prove these things on the field when the bullets are live. There are going to be defenses that are game planning against him specifically. Michigan has not faced anyone like that during the spring or fall. By extension, neither has Underwood.

Underwood still has to prove himself in games that matter. He’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so, starting in a few weeks against Oklahoma with a defense led by mastermind Brent Venables.

If he has a big game against them, look out.