Bryce Underwood entered Year 1 as Michigan’s savior. He’s entering Year 2 with questions

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Batman mask never quite fit Bryce Underwood.

Underwood opened his locker one day last fall to find the mask, part of a running joke with Biff Poggi, Michigan’s acting head coach at the time. The superhero comparison came about after Underwood accounted for 349 yards and three touchdowns in a win against Central Michigan, arguably the high point of his freshman season.

“We need to do a DNA test on him,” Poggi told Big Ten Network, “because he could be Batman.”

Underwood found the mask unsettlingly realistic and wore it only once in public, at a costume party for patients at Mott Children’s Hospital. As his freshman season wore on, Underwood looked increasingly human and less like a hero swooping in to save Michigan’s offense.

This summer, amid rumblings about a disappointing spring, Underwood returned to the comic-book motif on Instagram, posting a drawing of himself looking in a mirror. Staring back was the Joker’s reflection.

“I’ve been a big fan of the Joker since I was young,” Underwood explained. “Everybody called me Batman last year, so I had to flip that a little bit.”

In comic book terms, Underwood has entered his villain arc. The No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2025 has taken some hits from defenses and critics who no longer see him as a can’t-miss prospect. Sherrone Moore, the coach who went all in with Underwood, was fired in disgrace, and Michigan is trying to pick up the pieces with a new coach, a new offense and a new cast of playmakers.

A year into his career at Michigan, Underwood is already at a crossroads. One path leads to the success and stardom Michigan fans imagined when he signed a $12 million name, image and likeness deal to flip from LSU and stay home. The other path leads into the unknown, to the land of reclamation projects and unrealized potential.

“I want to prove to myself that I am what I think I am,” Underwood said in June. “I feel like I’m the best player to ever come out of Michigan. Now it’s time for me to show it.”

Underwood spoke those words to a small group of reporters who attended his youth football camp at Saline High School, not far from his hometown of Belleville, Mich. It was a bold statement from a quarterback who averaged 187 passing yards in 13 starts last season, though perhaps not as bold as it sounded.

Underwood later clarified that he was referring to the state of Michigan, not the university. The relevant comparisons would be players like Tyrone Wheatley, Charles Rogers, Aidan Hutchinson, Braylon Edwards and Oregon quarterback Dante Moore — still elite company, but not Tom Brady or Charles Woodson.

As the consensus No. 1 recruit in his class, Underwood has a case as the best high school prospect from Michigan in the era of internet recruiting rankings. He still has to live up to that billing on the field, but his coaches took it as an encouraging sign that his confidence wasn’t shaken by an up-and-down freshman season.

“You want your quarterback to be confident,” coach Kyle Whittingham said. “If that’s his belief and feel, that’s great. I have no problem with that. It may be in his best interest not to put that pressure on himself in that way, but Bryce is a very confident young man.”

If Underwood were any other 18-year-old freshman, his 2025 season might be viewed in a different light. He led Michigan to nine wins and had seven starts in which he threw for at least 200 yards and completed more than 60 percent of his passes. He also failed to reach 100 passing yards in Michigan’s rivalry games against Michigan State and Ohio State, threw three interceptions against Texas in the Citrus Bowl and went 9-for-24 in a Week 2 loss at Oklahoma.

Considering Underwood’s recruiting profile and massive NIL deal, his freshman season was mildly disappointing. Despite the uncertainty that surrounded Moore’s firing, there was little indication that Underwood seriously considered bailing on Michigan or that Michigan seriously considered bailing on him.

Whittingham has backed Underwood as Michigan’s starting quarterback from their first meeting in Orlando, Fla., before the Citrus Bowl. He stuck to that stance despite Underwood’s rocky performance in the spring game and public criticism from Eric Weddle, a former NFL safety who starred for Whittingham at Utah.

Weddle visited practice in the spring with his son, a top 2028 prospect, and said he didn’t think Underwood could “throw or play quarterback.” Though he didn’t address Weddle’s comments directly, Whittingham said Underwood has taken significant strides since the spring and gave his quarterback an “A-plus” grade when Big Ten Network visited earlier this week.

“We see Bryce every day,” Whittingham said. “We know where he’s at and where we need him to get, the time and effort he’s put in. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but we feel good about Bryce’s progress right now.”

Sticking together for 2026 made sense for both sides, in part because the quarterback market has caught up to the deal Underwood signed in 2024. It’s unlikely that Underwood would have commanded significantly more than $3 million per year at another school and equally unlikely that Michigan could have signed a quarterback of Underwood’s caliber for significantly less.

If Underwood blossoms into an elite quarterback in 2026, his deal will look like a bargain. And if Michigan decides to go a different direction next season, Underwood is talented enough to still command a strong market in the transfer portal, where coveted quarterbacks can typically earn $3 or $4 million.

For 2026, Whittingham is betting on offensive coordinator Jason Beck and quarterbacks coach Koy Detmer Jr. to develop Underwood’s considerable upside. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Underwood has a rare combination of size, speed and arm strength but struggled with his accuracy and pocket presence last season. Whittingham maintains those issues are correctable with cleaner mechanics from Underwood and better protection from his offensive line.

Michigan allowed pressure on 31.8 percent of dropbacks last season, according to TruMedia, which ranked 72nd in the FBS. Evan Link and Blake Frazier, the players who took most of the snaps at left tackle, could move inside this season to make room for Andrew Babalola, the five-star prospect who missed last season with a knee injury. That lineup, with returning starters Jake Guarnera at center and Andrew Sprague at right tackle, should offer more depth and experience than Michigan had a year ago.

“In some personal conversations with him, he’s much more confident in the O-line right now than he ever was last year,” Whittingham said of Underwood. “That’s something that really helps his cause.”

Designed quarterback runs weren’t a big part of Michigan’s offense under Moore and Jim Harbaugh. That’s likely to change under Beck, who coordinated the No. 2 rushing offense in the FBS last year at Utah and the year before at New Mexico.

Quarterbacks Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin accounted for 36 percent of Utah’s rushing attempts and 39 percent of its rushing yards last season. Underwood, Michigan’s third-leading rusher with 392 yards, accounted for 17.5 percent of Michigan’s rushing attempts and 14 percent of its rushing yards. An offense that utilizes Underwood’s athleticism and his ability to throw on the run could better suit his strengths than the offense Michigan ran a year ago.

“If he and his people are OK with him running the football and being an athletic quarterback, he’ll probably have a lot of success,” a Power 4 offensive coordinator said as part of The Athletic’s QB Tiers. “Coach Beck does a great job with guys like that. If (Underwood) is like, ‘No, I’m gonna drop back 30 times a game, and I’m an NFL quarterback’ and all that, they might struggle with him because I don’t think that’s his game, especially right now.”

Underwood was a Tier 4 quarterback in The Athletic’s rankings behind Big Ten starters Moore (Oregon) and Julian Sayin (Ohio State) in Tier 1, Jayden Maiava (USC) and Josh Hoover (Indiana) in Tier 2 and Demond Williams Jr. (Washington), Malik Washington (Maryland), Rocco Becht (Penn State), Nico Iamaleava (UCLA) and Drake Lindsey (Minnesota) in Tier 3.

That assessment reflects a reset of expectations for Underwood after he finished his freshman season with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. It’s not unprecedented for elite quarterbacks to struggle in Year 1: Moore, one of the Heisman Trophy favorites this season, posted touchdown and interception numbers identical to Underwood’s while barely completing 50 percent of his passes as a freshman at UCLA.

In one version of this story, Underwood follows Moore’s trajectory and becomes the top-five pick he was projected to be. In another version, he joins the long list of five-star prospects who flamed out as college quarterbacks. The conversation around him has shifted, but no amount of praise, criticism, hyperbole or hype is going to outweigh what he does on the field.

“Game 1 is Sept. 5,” Underwood said. “I’ll let that speak.”

— Sam Khan Jr. contributed to this report.