Bryce Underwood has been a topic of conversation for most of his life since he started playing football. Most of the time, the conversation has been overly positive and filled with praise. However, after a freshman season that saw lots of growing pains, some rumblings started to get louder. Eric Weddle decided to throw gasoline on that fire recently, when he made comments suggesting he was less than impressed with Underwood after watching a Michigan practice.
Bryce Underwood might find the same success in year two at Michigan that Caleb Williams did in year two with the Bears.
I see a lot of similarities between these two. Caleb Williams won the Heisman trophy in college before being drafted No. 1 overall by the Chicago Bears in 2024. Bryce Underwood was the No. 1 overall-ranked player in high school before signing with Michigan as part of their 2025 class. Caleb Williams was drafted into a situation with a horrible head coach, Matt Eberflus, and a coaching staff that was incompetent to run an organization.
They did not know how to handle a talent like Caleb Williams, and it showed on the field. Williams even said that he would watch film on his own because the coaching staff did not do it with him. Williams finished with 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns, and six interceptions in his rookie year. Those numbers look a lot better than what the on-field product was. Bryce Underwood came to Michigan last year with Sherrone Moore as his head coach. After Moore was fired, we came to realize just how incompetent he was at running a program, especially one of Michigan's caliber.
Moore did not assign a quarterback coach to work with Bryce, and coaching staff shrank the game plan to the point of being too scared to let Bryce truly showcase what he is capable of. The staff as a whole was in over its head with the amount of talent that Michigan football had on its roster.
Bryce finished with 2,428 yards with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Year two of Caleb Williams showed a tremendous jump in decision-making and stats. This had a lot to do with new coach Ben Johnson and a competent coaching staff that knew how to develop him as a passer and how to properly run an offense. Caleb had more passing yards, more touchdowns, only one more interception, and a better overall rating. This eventually led to the Bears winning a playoff game. There was a huge jump from year one to year two for him.
What does this mean for Bryce heading into year two?
Bryce Underwood is entering his sophomore season at Michigan with one of the top head coaches in college football in Kyle Whittingham. He also has one of the best offensive minds in football in Jason Beck and a full-time dedicated quarterback coach in Koy Detmer Jr. This staff is going to pour into Bryce and this Michigan offense. He will no longer have the training wheels and bubble wrap that the previous coaching staff placed on him. There was tons of noise surrounding Caleb Williams heading into year two with the Bears and many fans were wondering if he was really the guy to run the organization.
Those same questions have begun to swirl around Bryce as many rival fans, and even some Michigan fans, are wondering the same. I am looking for a similar jump for Bryce Underwood from year one to year two that Caleb Williams showed in the NFL. Look for Bryce to have a huge sophomore season and leave these types of conversations in the distant past.
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