Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood’s hold on the starting job is “absolutely not set in concrete,” head coach Kyle Whittingham cautioned on Monday.
The sophomore signal-caller struggled in Saturday’s season opener against Western Michigan, salvaging a 13-12 win with a Hail Mary touchdown pass as time expired.
That 47-yard touchdown toss to JJ Buchanan came after replay officials added one second to the clock, and it marked the first points scored by the Wolverines since the game’s opening drive. Michigan had four three-and-outs, punted six times and turned the ball over twice.
“He’s our QB right now,” Whittingham said of Underwood’s status as No. 16 Michigan (1-0) prepares to face No. 10 Oklahoma (1-0) on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“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’ve got to do with a bunch of stuff. We’ve got to see improvement out of the coaches. It’s not just on Bryce, and it’s not just Bryce’s job that is not absolutely set in concrete. Nobody’s is.”
Underwood finished 12-of-22 passing for 170 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He led the Wolverines with 47 rushing yards, including a 1-yard run to cap the opening possession.
Underwood did not look as sharp as Whittingham expected in the nearly disastrous result against the Broncos, who were four-touchdown underdogs at the Big House.
“It’s unfortunate, disappointing, because we see him every day and he’s been very sharp all through fall camp,” Whittingham said. “So, I don’t have a great explanation right now, other than we hope to see improvement between Game 1 and Game 2 in the live action. There’s nobody who wants to be great more so than Bryce.”
As a freshman in 2025, the 6-foot-4 Underwood completed 60.3% of his passes for 2,428 yards with 11 TDs and nine interceptions in 13 games. He rushed for 392 yards and six scores.
Freshman Tommy Carr is Underwood’s backup. Carr is the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and the younger brother of Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr.