Bryce Underwood Delivers Excitement on Final Play of Michigan Spring Game

Underwood had lows to go with the highs, but the nation's No. 1 recruit from Belleville delivered an 88-yard touchdown pass on a flea-flicker play to close his Blue team's 17-0 victory over the Maize

Photo Courtesy of University of Michigan Photography

Freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood has shown great skill and leadership, according to Wolverine coach Sherrone Moore and his teammates.

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – When has there been a greater anticipation by Wolverine fans for one football player than there has been for freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood?

I can’t remember one.

Can you?

Fans strolled down Hoover Avenue on their way to Saturday’s Maize vs. Blue Spring Game wearing his No. 19 jerseys. He was featured on the jumbo scoreboards at Michigan Stadium throwing short out-cuts during warm ups.

All eyes, all thoughts, on Bryce.

However, until the final play of his Blue squad’s 17-0 win over sophomore quarterback Jadyn Davis’ Maize crew, we didn’t see the spectacular plays he’d made while becoming the nation’s No. 1 recruit at nearby Belleville High.

Then came magic time.

Underwood handed off the ball to lone running back Micah Ka’apana, who somehow got the ball past blitzing defensive back Joshua Nichols to wide receiver Bryce Wilcox, who pitched it back to Underwood. Then Underwood hit junior tight end Jalen Hoffman, wide open at the Blue team’s 35-yard line, on the run, and watched him ramble down the right sideline to put the finishing touches on an 88-yard touchdown pass.

Underwood sprinted to the end zone for the wild celebration with Hoffman and his teammates. They went nuts. It was as if they’d just beat a Top 10 opponent in the regular season. But they say practice makes perfect, and I guess that goes for celebrations, too.

This kind of excitement is what Underwood brings.

Underwood, who won’t turn 18 until 11 days before the Aug. 30 home opener with New Mexico, wasn’t brought to the post-game press conference. One of us should’ve asked Wolverine head coach Sherrone Moore why he wasn’t made available, but we’ll just have to assume the program wants to dim the spotlight on the biggest star it has perhaps ever brought to Ann Arbor.

“He did well,” Moore said of Underwood. “He made some really good throws, and had some things he had to clean up and get better at. But he’s going to continue to be a work in progress, and he’s working off his tail to do it.”

Underwood completed just 12-of-26 passes for 187 yards with the one touchdown pass and one interception on a deep third-and-8 pass to the back of the end zone.

When he dropped back and let the ball fly in this scrimmage, you could feel the anticipation of the estimated 40,000 to 45,000 fans. But all too often, those plays ended with the faithful moaning, “Ooooooh!”

Moore said it was the biggest crowd the scrimmage has attracted in the last four years, and Underwood was a big part of that draw.

Justice Haynes, a junior tailback transfer from Alabama who showed plenty in just a few carries (six for 51 yards), is among those Wolverines already won over by Underwood.

“Bryce is a tremendous leader,” said Haynes. “A guy that came in and works hard, does everything that he needs to do. A guy that’s willing to take coaching that’s going to keep improving and be a really, really good player.”

It’s expected that Underwood will start but Davis pushed him in spring practices, and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene has 35 starts (including 11 in his first two years at UCF in Orlando) and threw for 2,892 yards with 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions last season for the Bulldogs – including a start in the Big House.

However, Keene didn’t practice this spring with a chest injury, and it remains to be seen how much he will get a chance to add to his career 8,245 yards and 65 TD passes.

“But he’s doing well now and is in a good place,” said Moore. “I just didn’t feel like pushing him to end the spring. But he’s played 2,028 snaps of college football. So, he’ll be all right.

“I go into those quarterback meeting rooms and he’s like a coach. He’s run a lot of the stuff that [offensive coordinator] Chip [Lindsey’s] done before. So, that’s been cool to watch him teach those young guys. He has a pretty good grasp on how to execute our playbook.”

Moore enjoyed Underwood and Davis competing.

“They were fun to watch,” said Moore. “Both of them great character kids, and it’s going to go all the way into fall camp...Every single day, [Davis] got better, and he made Bryce better. That was cool to watch throughout the spring, and just the temperament he had. They would pick each other up or celebrate each other’s good.”

Davis Warren, who started most of last season and did off-set some lows by starting wins over Ohio State and Alabama in the bowl game in Tampa, is back and incoming freshman quarterback Chase Herbstreit (son of former Ohio State quarterback and ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit) will arrive in the summer. But Moore said he’ll also analyze transfer portal possibilities because a team can never have enough quarterbacks.

However, it’s hard to imagine Underwood won’t emerge as the starter.

Underwood, a 6-foot-4, 208-pound talent with a quick release, powerful arm and fleet feet, was 50-4 as a four-year starter with two state championships. He won 38 consecutive games before losing the state title game as a junior, when he committed to LSU before flipping to Michigan in November.

His career numbers are awesome: 12,919 all-purpose yards (11,488 passing) with 179 touchdowns (152 passing). Underwood passed for 2,509 yards with a .659 completion percentage as a senior with 32 touchdowns to only 6 interceptions. He averaged 6.6 yards per carry last season with seven touchdowns.

However, the anointed one is also “a work in progress,” as Moore noted. He absorbed a delay of game penalty, over-threw several receivers, had a fumble he recovered, missed an easy safety valve pass, and couldn’t consistently move the chains.

But, then there were those plays that showed you who he has been:

Underwood threw a laser to Channing Goodwin on an out-cut route for 15 yards, and showed off his speed and instincts to scramble for 17 yards on third-and-11. And, of course, there was the 88-yard TD pass.

Hoffman, the hero of the 88-yarder, didn’t figure into Michigan’s deep tight end position for a catch during his first two seasons. But he’s stepping up now, and made seven grabs for 148 yards Saturday. Moore said the 6-foot-3, 250-pounder from Burke, Va., was probably the game’s MVP.

“He’s a super athletic kid with really great ball skills,” said Moore, “and a guy we definitely look forward to seeing in the season.”

Moore said “part of the reason he brought in” Lindsey is to bring the deep pass back to the offense. However, he was referring more to post routes than trick plays.

And those have been Underwood’s calling card.

Count on Underwood being among those who put in more work than seems possible – along the lines of All-America tailback Blake Corum, who had to be locked out at times when his arrivals at Schembechler Hall became earlier than the early bird allows.

“The work ethic,” began Moore on Underwood. “You know, he told me he’s a night owl, and that’s true. I’ll try to get him to sleep more because he’s in the building a lot, and he’s doing a lot to get better.

“Probably the biggest piece [learned] has just been knowledge – knowing where he’s going, what’s going on and his teammates. And watching the other teammates grow toward him.”

Moore paused and added, “You come in with a guy who’s so highly ranked and highly touted, it’s easy for a lot of guys to deflect and not want him to be a part of the team. But they’ve just embraced him like they embrace everyone else, and he’s embraced the team. He’s very humble, very selfless. So, that’s been the biggest thing to watch.”

Jordan Marshall, the rising sophomore who ran for 100 yards on 23 carries in the bowl win over Alabama, said of Underwood: “I think he’s a generational athlete. He’s a freak. He can do anything he puts his mind to, and you want to have that swagger in a quarterback. I appreciate that.”

Marshall said his qualities are striking on the field, but added, “But it’s when you’re outside the field and you’re walking around with him and talking to him or playing basketball. There’s just something about the kid, and that’s who we recruit. We recruit ‘guys’ instead of ‘players’ and it just so happens he’s an amazing athlete.

“To be around a guy that gives back, who loves his teammates, who puts his team over himself. You could not ask for anything better.”