Michigan legend gets honest about Bryce Underwood after 2-1 start

It's not easy for true freshmen to excel under center, and Michigan football's Bryce Underwood is no exception. The five-star recruit was the consensus No. 1 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class, but he's been inconsistent thus far.

Underwood completed 21-of-31 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown in a 34-17 win against New Mexico to open the season, but then went just 9-of-24 with 142 yards in a 24-13 loss to No. 18 Oklahoma a week later. After that, he completed 16 of 25 passes with one touchdown and one interception against Central Michigan on Saturday. 

Underwood moved the ball against the non-Power 4 opponents, as New Mexico is in the Mountain West and Central Michigan is in the Mid-American Conference. However, the 6-foot-4-inch, 228-pounder's performance against the Sooners showed that he still has work to do against evenly matched teams.

Still, former Wolverines tight end Jake Butt sang Underwood's praises after calling the game in Saturday's win, via social media.

"My takeaway from calling the Michigan game against CMU? Bryce Underwood is every bit of special as we’ve been told he would be," he said. "Honestly? He might be even better than I thought was possible at this point in his young career. Already, at 18 years old, he is one of the best pure 'throwers' of the football in all college football."

"Throw power is a 99/100, but what’s really special is his ability to change the tempo, trajectory, and ability to layer throws over zone defenders and into tight pocket," he continued. "And he does it all with ease and accuracy. Ball placement was near flawless."

Nebraska game presents opportunity for Bryce Underwood

Starting in Week 4 against the Cornhuskers, Michigan will play Big Ten opponents for the rest of the season. As of now, the only ranked ones are No. 25 USC and No. 1 Ohio State. 

While Butt may be right about Underwood's talent, he must prove it against fellow Power 4 schools. The road matchup against Nebraska on Saturday will give him a chance to bounce back from the Oklahoma game against a quality opponent.

The two teams will square off at 3:30 p.m. ET in Memorial Stadium.