Joel Klatt reacts to Bryce Underwood flipping to Michigan, impact on Wolverines, Sherrone Moore

Bryce Underwood was the story of recruiting in college football last week with the flip of his commitment from LSU to Michigan. With that, Joel Klatt thinks its a big deal based on what he previously thought of what they were doing in Ann Arbor.

Klatt noted Underwood’s commitment to the Wolverines during his show today, especially since it can eventually solve the biggest problem of this season for the maize & blue.

“The biggest news of the week was the Bryce Underwood flip,” said Klatt. “Bryce Underwood? I tell you what, man. Michigan fans are excited about this one…All of those were huge for those programs because they need answers (at quarterback) and Michigan is certainly at the top of the list.”

However, Klatt doesn’t usually talk too much about recruiting. So why this one?

Well, Klatt discussed it as he sees it as a significant switch in how Michigan had been handling name, image, and likeness, specifically within the context of recruits. Underwood is one of the first players, let alone prospects, that he has seen the Wolverines really negotiate for prior to their collegiate careers with them.

“It signifies a little bit of a shift in their overall philosophy in high school recruiting,” Klatt said. “I believe that that shift was born out of necessity. This was a team that was very prideful in the fact that their NIL was there to take care of the players that earned it in-house and they did well. They did very well. Last year’s national championship team? Those guys made a good amount of money but the guys that were taken care of were the guys that were Michigan guys. I’m not saying recruited from Michigan but they had committed there, developed there, and then began to play there and that’s when they started to make some of their money.”

“You know, it wasn’t a team and a program that was – let’s just say, like, they had an appetite to go and dabble in those top-end NIL dollars for players that had not come to their program yet. This is a clear departure from that,” said Klatt.

As Klatt said, though, Underwood is worth it, certainly to them, as an in-state talent that’s the No. 1 recruit and No. 1 QB as a Five-Star+ prospect in On3’s 2025 Industry Ranking. This fall’s problems at that position too made it a necessity for their program to try and land his commitment with it nearly being National Signing Day.

“He’s in your state and he’s clearly that special,” said Klatt. “But then, also, let’s not forget. This year? The evidence was so clear that they are desperate to fix the quarterback position and rightly so…Everything that was a staple in their national championship year has now all of the sudden become a weakness and it can be boiled back to the quarterback play. It really can. It really can.”

“Sherrone Moore knows that he’s got to fix that position and he uses that, the knowledge of that, the evidence of that this season, to shift and evolve what he’s going to do in high school recruiting,” explained Klatt.

Underwood will be the Wolverines’ QB1 in the years to come with his choice to commit to his home state. He could be worth every cent of it too with what Klatt thinks about what this means for Michigan.

“The rumors were out there, the reports were out there that it was a $10.5 million deal and, you know what? Good for Bryce Underwood,” said Klatt. “Michigan gets their quarterback of the future.”