Three Michigan players to watch against Maryland

Michigan will head to Maryland to take on the Terrapins this upcoming weekend. So far on the season Maryland is 4-6 overall and 1-6 in Big Ten play. The Terrapins have struggled this season but they do have some younger talent on the roster that Michigan will have to be careful of. True Freshman quarterback Malik Washington being chief among them, along with Zahir Mathis on their defensive line. Both players were very highly ranked coming out of high school and both have already made impacts for Maryland despite being true Freshman. Listed below are the Michigan players to watch as they take on this young but talented Maryland squad.

Player #1: Bryce Underwood 

Bryce Underwood had a very up and down day against the Northwestern Wildcats this past weekend. He finished the game completing 21/32 passes for 280 yards but with 2 key interceptions that allowed Northwestern to take a late lead before Michigan was able to drive down and kick a game-winning field goal.

Outside of the two interceptions, I thought Bryce Underwood had his best game in a Michigan uniform. Unfortunately you can’t just throw out two mistakes, you take his whole game performance into account, but overall he looked much more comfortable than he has in recent weeks. He was hitting his open wide receivers, he moved well in the pocket, and he also took off and ran when the opportunities were there as well. I’d love to see Bryce Underwood build on his performance from this past game and eliminate the turnovers. If he can do that, Michigan will be capable of winning all the games left in their schedule. 

Player #2: Andrew Marsh

Andrew Marsh was spectacular against Northwestern. He caught a whopping 12 passes for 179 yards in the game. He got open in man coverage, he found the soft spots in zone coverage, and he displayed great ball skills as well. He’s definitely Michigan’s most reliable wide receiver and Bryce Underwood clearly likes to throw the ball to him. It’ll be interesting to see what he can do for an encore against this Maryland defense. 

Player #3: Ernest Hausmann 

Ernest Hausmann has been playing some of his best football in these last couple games. He only finished this one with 2 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 quarterback hit, but he also made several plays where his teammates ended up making the tackle. He’s been so good in these last few games, as he's seemingly taken his game to the next level. Michigan’s defense will need him to continue playing this well if they want to win the rest of their games this season. 

• Stock up and stock down from Michigan's last-second win over Northwestern
• Position by position report card from Michigan's last-second win over Northwestern