The expectations for freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood are through the roof, not just from Michigan fans, but from college football fans in general, coaches, and college football experts and analysts. Underwood is set to be this generational talent and that is how people are treating him, especilly when it comes to ranking him against other quarterbacks.
Underwood has yet to take a real snap in a live college football game, yet 247Sports already thinks he is better than half of the quarterbacks in the Big Ten. 247Sports released their post-spring quarterback rankings for the Big Ten, and Underwood surprisingly comes in at No. 8, ahead of quarterbacks like Desmond Williams with Washington, who has a year under his belt now, and Aidan Chiles, who is also coming in with more experience this season.
Here is the full list of quarterbacks:
1. Drew Allar (Penn State)
2. Luke Altmyer (Illinois)
3. Julian Sayin (Ohio State)
4. Dante Moore (Oregon)
5. Fernando Mendoza (Indiana)
6. Dylan Raiola (Nebraska)
7. Nico Iamaleava (UCLA)
8. Bryce Underwood (Michigan)
9. Jayden Maiava (USC)
10. Desmond Williams (Washington)
11. Mark Gronowski (Iowa)
12. Aidan Chiles (Michigan State)
13. Billy Edwards Jr. (Wisconsin)
14. Preston Stone (Northwestern)
15. Athan Kaliakmanis (Rutgers)
16. Malachi Singelton (Purdue)
17. Drake Lindsey (Minnesota)
18. Justyn Martin (Maryland)
Underwood has the ability to move up these rankings throughout the season, but that all depends on the production of veteran quarterback Mikey Keene. Keene, a transfer from Fresno State this past offseason, missed all of spring practice due to an injury, but head coach Sherrone Moore believes there is still a quarterback battle between Keene and Underwood, so much so, he doesn't plan to name a starting QB anytime soon.
Bryce Underwood underwhelmed in the annual spring game
In Michigan's Maize and Blue Game, Underwood was the starter for the Blue team, and while he had some nice plays, including an 80+ yard touchdown at the end of the game, the young freshman still struggled a bit.
Granted, Moore wasn't going to give away the whole playbook in the spring game, but a lot of play calls for Underwood were short passes that didn't really show much of his talent. He was inconsistent when throwing downfield, and evading pressure was not his strong suit. It seems like Underwood still just needs more time to develop, and with Keene saying he will be ready for the season, don't be surprised if Moore goes with experience over raw talent.