How Michigan QB Bryce Underwood might affect the run game

The Michigan Wolverines have a true dual-threat weapon in freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, and if he wins the job, the offense has a unique skill set to work with.

The arm talent might elevate the Michigan passing game, but what he is able to do with his legs might determine how dangerous the team is to defend.

  ”The excitement around Bryce Underwood is what he brings with that cannon of a right arm,” On3’s J.D. PicKell said this week. “Last year, you didn’t really have much of a passing game, and that’s not a knock on Davis Warren or Alex Orji. It just wasn’t a multidimensional Michigan offense, and that’s okay in certain spots where you can just out-toughen and out-physical people.

“But if you want to get back to where you expect to be, which is competing for the College Football Playoffs and winning national championships, what was the key ingredient that got you over that hump in 2023? It was JJ McCarthy taking the next step. It was Roman Wilson taking the next step. Cornelius Johnson taking the next step. And you had a game against Alabama in the Rose Bowl where JJ McCarthy went for three touchdowns and that was the change-up pitch for you, which allowed you to be that team that then played for and won a national championship.

“So that’s the excitement. Bryce Underwood brings a different level of arm talent than you had last year before, where you still won seven games.”

PicKell is making the argument that if Underwood needs some help adjusting and getting comfortable, letting him run the football is an option to give him confident.

“ If Underwood goes out there, and it becomes very evident that first month of the season this is a lot for the guy, he’s a true freshman quarterback. He was the best athlete, best football player on every single high school field he stepped onto, but now he’s playing against Big Ten competition…That’s an adjustment,” PicKell said. “Gonna take a little bit of time for him to get used to not saying he can’t do it, but it’s gonna take some time for him to get his feet underneath him as a thrower of the football and digesting defenses at the highest level.

Let’s just say that happens. You still have a 6-4, 230-pound quarterback back there that runs like a 4.5 or 4.6. You still have that in the offense. And so we look at what Michigan was last year. You don’t think you could have used Bryce Underwood a year ago? Some design quarterback run game, you don’t think maybe him back there as another option to run the football would’ve made Michigan that much more dangerous because Bryce Underwood, as your quarterback, opens up a ton of other possibilities.”

As tantalizing as the arm talent might be, how Underwood affects the Michigan run game could affect how dangerous the offense is this year. The running back duo of Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall has a chance to be good, but Underwood could add a different layer to the rushing attack.

 ”Blake Corum is not coming back to Michigan,” PicKell said. “But you know what you can do here with Bryce Underwood? It’s kind of Moneyball, this whole thing, like Brad Pitt, you recreate Blake Corum in the aggregate. You’re not gonna get his thousand-yard season back in a Blake Corum, but you do have two good backs and another guy that can carry the football for you. That’s how you recreate the Michigan ground game.

“And so again, going back to this whole point here. The excitement is in him throwing the football downfield and the new levels of the offense that can be unlocked. And I totally understand that. That’s why I have Michigan winning nine games this year. But if everything just goes to the dogs, I still think Michigan football with what he has on the ground in his mobility as athleticism, that still should and will make Michigan more dangerous than they were even a year ago.

“ I think there’s still a game where, hey, a couple of bad throws there that cost them. It’s a game of margins… I’m building in that scenario into how I see Michigan in 2025.”

Ther ecould be freshman mistakes, as PicKell pointed out, but if Underwood and Michigan can click and hit their stride, he still sees them on the verge of a College Football Playoff berth.

“If he reaches cruising altitude as a passer and you pair that with the things that God gave him, that you quite frankly just can’t coach on the ground, at that point, I’ll be wrong,” PicKell said. “I’ll be happy to be wrong. And Michigan’s gonna be a team in the College Football Playoff. It’s all about reaching that again, that cruising altitude.

“I do not doubt that there’s gonna be some special moments this year for 19. There’ll be a couple of throws where you watch on Saturdays and say, ‘Alright, that’s different. Got this dude for at least two more seasons. We’re gonna be in very, very good shape.’ That’s exciting. That’s special.”