'Let It Bake': Why Michigan fans should be patient with Bryce Underwood in 2025

The Michigan Wolverines transformed their outlook at the quarterback position last fall when they added Bryce Underwood, the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit. They have been fast-tracking his development ahead of the 2025 season.

All signs point to the true freshman starting the season opener for the Wolverines on Aug. 30 under the lights against New Mexico. It is an incredibly exciting development to have a moldable five-star prospect to lead the charge from the jump, but it could also come with some growing pains.

On3’s J.D. PicKell postures that the hype for Underwood heading into a 2025 season with bigger expectations might be a bit too high, but that it is not a knock on the player at all.

 ”Probably too much hype around Bryce Underwood and it sounds like a slight, I promise you it’s not,” PicKell said in a video this week. “He’s gonna be really good eventually. When is he really good? Is it this year? It could be, but I think the thought that this guy’s gonna be the savior of Michigan football tomorrow and lead you to the National Championship, and he’s gonna win the Heisman Trophy, be a first team All-American… those things all may eventually happen in Ann Arbor. But can we just let it bake for a second? Can we give it a little bit of runway? Can we let him start a couple of games before we say Bryce Underwood, you’re the reason why Michigan football is gonna go win the national title in 2025?

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“I have been very, very vocal. I don’t think it’s crazy to assume that Bryce Underwood could potentially play at an all-conference kind of level for you. That could be anything from honorable mention to… I guess you could talk me into him being a guy that competes for a first team of all Big 10 kind of situation. But the reason why this is a conversation is because he has all the things that you quite frankly just can’t teach or coach. The dude is 6-4, 220-plus, runs a 4.6, 4.5 (40-yard dash), whatever he runs now at Michigan. That kind of athleticism and size, and then the rocket for an arm, you can’t teach any of those things.

“What you saw at Michigan last year was a severe lack of those things. We saw the games last year and so you pair that with what they did on the field and still were successful in spite of that quarterback room. And then you pair the tools and you get pretty excited.”

Plugging a talent like Underwood into the Michigan offense after last season’s passing game woes might very well be a shot of adrenaline, but the program’s outlook this season should not entirely rest on his shoulders, says PicKell.

“You beat Ohio State. You you beat Alabama. In both games, throwing for less than 100 yards,” he said. “You check the box score after the game, double digits. And that was still good enough. For you to beat two teams that have what I would call College Football Playoff caliber rosters. Ohio State turns out had a national title caliber roster. If [Michigan] can be that good with no quarterback play necessarily. How good could we be with a guy who’s got number one player in the country kind of tools coming outta high school?

“That’s the excitement, that’s the hype. That’s Michigan side of it. Then you pair it with just Bryce Underwood’s path to Michigan, the number one player in all of high school football from the start of the cycle to the end of the cycle. You know how rare that is to go wire to wire? So rare On3 gave him a 100 overall grade, the first ever in the history of the company. He’s gonna be pretty good eventually at Michigan.

The hype and the fanfare around Underwood’s decision to come to Michigan also creates an avalanche of buzz given the large NIL investment and the power brokers that made it happen. Fans want to see a return on that investment as soon as possible, but it is a multi-year plan and process.

“There’s the publicity of the fact that the guy flipped from LSU to Michigan a little later in the cycle,” PicKell said. “And Dave Portnoy is, from the outside looking in, tangentially involved. Then Larry Ellison, one of the richest human beings in the world. He’s involved. The guy who’s behind Oracle. All of that combines to this massive buildup of ‘Bryce Underwood has gotta be the dude to save Michigan football.’

“I don’t think he has to save Michigan football this year. I think long term, he’s a direction changer for Michigan football. Bryce Underwood has to be himself this year. Michigan’s going to be okay, but if you’re expecting Bryce Underwood leads you to an undefeated season, win the Heisman Trophy. Like that’s, that’s too much on this guy’s shoulders, man. Don’t put that kind of pressure on the guy.”

PicKell suggests that Michigan fans would be best suited to take it slow and enjoy the growth, much like you would if an NFL team drafted a rookie with a bright future.

“I would approach this as a fan the same way that you approach your professional team if you have one, when you draft a quarterback in the first round, he’s probably going to be an upgrade from what you had last year,” PicKell said. “The tools are there, the excitement is there. Just give it a little bit of a margin for it to not be perfect all the time. Give it some room for some growth.”