Bryce Underwood receives a warning about his starting QB job

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Bryce Underwood receives a warning about his starting QB job

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated Sep 7, 2026 12:55 PM ET

Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham suggested Monday that quarterback Bryce Underwood needs to improve if he wants to keep the team’s starting job.

Whittingham was asked on Monday how entrenched Underwood is in the starting quarterback role, and the head coach made clear that Underwood is not on the verge of losing it. However, he also said that improvement will be necessary for that to remain the case.

“He’s our QB right now. It’s not something that’s infinite. At some point, we’ve got to turn a corner and we’ve got to see improvement,” Whittingham said. “As we do with a bunch of stuff, we’ve got to see improvement out of the coaches. It’s not just on Bryce. It’s not just Bryce’s job that is not absolutely set in concrete.

“Nobody’s is. You’ve got to perform week in and week out. Become somebody that we feel is playing at a level that we can win with.”

Michigan HC Kyle Whittingham asked how established Bryce Underwood is as QB1:

“He's our QB right now. It's not something that's infinite. At some point, we've got to turn a corner and we've got to see improvement.

“As we do with a bunch of stuff, we've got to see improvement…
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) September 7, 2026

Underwood was a No. 1 overall recruit and much-hyped quarterback prospect, and Michigan paid a lot of money to land him. He has not been bad by any means, but also has not quite reached the heights that the school would have hoped for. That was on display Saturday, when he threw for a modest 170 yards with a touchdown and an interception as the Wolverines narrowly avoided an upset at the hands of Western Michigan.

True freshman Tommy Carr is Underwood’s backup. He had an impressive spring, but the grandson of former head coach Lloyd Carr is too inexperienced for Michigan to turn to at this point unless Underwood really struggles.

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