Michigan OC Chip Lindsey praises 'advanced' Bryce Underwood ahead of spring ball

The Michigan Wolverines are preparing for the second spring football circuit under head coach Sherrone Moore with the biggest storyline coming in the form of blue chip quarterback Bryce Underwood. His addition last November was a lightning bolt for the program, and the team is about to finally get its first extended look at him in practice action.

Spring practice starts Tuesday in Ann Arbor and is serving as a baseline reset for the entire offense. The quarterback room has been revamped and a new play-caller and position coach is in place in Chip Lindsey. How Underwood and Lindsey work together is not only a defining storyline this year, but in seasons to come.

“I think anytime you sign a high-profile guy that’s a freshman coming in these days with as good a job as everybody does of knowing — it used to be when I was growing up, sometimes you wouldn’t know about guys,” Lindsey said on Monday. “And now 30-40 years later, you know about everybody, it seems like. And having those guys come in before, I think it’s always fun. It’s exciting.

“But at the end of the day, it’s really about what they do out there on the field. If he’s ready to go, he’ll play. If he’s not, then we’ll get somebody else ready to play. But so far, I love his approach. He’s all business, man. He loves football. That’s the most important thing. And he really wants to be the best player he can be.”

“He wants people to push him. One of the things we talked about was: Whatever your dreams are, your aspirations are, they’re going to be mine. My goal is to help you reach those things. And whatever it takes… We’ll see how he grows and progresses throughout spring.”

Underwood was the nation’s top overall recruit and is considered a high-floor, high-ceiling prospect. There will be a natural adjustment to the things Michigan wants him to do, but Lindsey says he thinks he is already ahead of the curve relative to his peers.

“I’d say he’s pretty advanced,” Lindsey said. “He’s highly decorated and all that in high school, which a lot of them are. But his sheer physical side of who he is — he’s 6-4, whatever he is, 220-plus pounds. Some of those guys come in and they’re really light and they’re not developed yet. Depending on their age. Some of them, nowadays they reclass up and down. And that used to never happen.

“When I was growing up in the 90s, nobody became the starting quarterback until they were like redshirt juniors and they were like 20 or 21 years old. It’s just different now. I think kids are more advanced in general throughout the country. A lot of trainers now start with these kids really young. And you go to different parts of the country when you’re recruiting and you can tell they’ve been working a long time. They all have these trainers and so forth.

“He’s very advanced physically. And I think for him the speed of the game is always something you worry about coming into college compared to high school. And then how much can he handle.”

Michigan is planning on splitting the reps among its quarterbacks equally, at least to start spring camp. Giving them all actions with the 1s should provide a more robust evaluation of what each guy can handle on his plate.

“Jadyn Davis has not played a whole lot,” Lindsey said. “Mikey [Keene] is here now and he’s got some experience, but not at this level here. It’s all going to be a lot of fun to kind of mix and match it and put them in those situations. And I think our job this spring is to put those quarterbacks all in different positions and see how they react. Who handles things when it’s a third down pressure play, who handles it the best when it’s a red zone play, who does what we’re supposed to do, who can manage the huddle, who can connect with the team?

“At the end of the day it’s about who affects the other 10 guys the best is the guy that’s going to play.”

Michigan is not planning on naming a starter before the end of the spring cycle. The focus will be on repititions and getting a feel for what the identity of the offense might be.

“I think it’s one of those things where if you put them in enough situations, and what I mean by that is not just lining up and running plays, but whether it’s run downs or whether it’s third downs in the red zone like I mentioned earlier or backed up, I think that’s how you start,” Lindsey said. “And then at some point, usually in fall camp or right before you play, because I’ve been in these competitions where you didn’t announce it because you wanted to figure out and make sure we’re right.

“Sometimes you’re not. And then a guy goes out and is not getting it done, then you have to play somebody else. That’s just the nature of the business. But there’s that moment sometimes, whether it’s a play he makes when we’re somewhat live, so to speak. One of the hardest things for quarterbacks, they’re not getting hit a lot. So the guys that are athletic and can make plays with their feet, sometimes you don’t see that in practice. It doesn’t show up. And that’s a huge part of the game today. 

“The defenses are better than they’ve ever been. They can rush the passer. They’re very athletic over there and it makes it hard on the O-linemen for sure. And the guys that can make plays with their feet sometimes that’s masked a little bit in practice.

“I think it’s different every year. But hopefully, it’s one of those things that will pop up and we’ll be right and they’ll be the best guy to lead our team.”