Everyone gave Bryce Underwood the required leeway last season because of his true freshman status. However, the Michigan fanbase wants their QB1 to take a step forward next campaign. They didn’t get signs of that during UM’s spring game. Underwood was sacked multiple times and threw some bad passes. With fall camp inching close, the pressure on the QB is now at an all-time high.

“This off-season is critical for him because where he was as a passer last year does not cut it,” prominent NFL draft analyst Todd McShay said on the Rich Eisen Show on July 1. “I give a lot of grace to first-year freshmen’s circumstances. But there’s got to be a lot of maturity in his game, let’s just say from year one to year two, in order for him to become anywhere close to what the expectation was coming out. It’s on everyone in that program to help channel all of that.”

Underwood came to Michigan after flipping from LSU for a reported $12 million NIL deal. His talent was never a question. The QB had 12,919 all-purpose yards in high school. However, when he took the field for Michigan last year, he had mixed results. He struggled under pressure, accuracy was off, and we didn’t even get to see the true extent of his dual threat.

Through the campaign, he accumulated 2,428 passing yards, threw 9 interceptions, and held the ball for too long in crucial moments. His passer rating (86.4) against ranked teams was among the lowest in Power-4 QBs.

Not just that, in his performances against Purdue and Ohio State, we saw him missing open reads and forcing throws. Additionally, when the defenses brought pressure, Underwood showed fidgety feet and poor base, which contributed to his existing issues. But ideally, in year 2, those issues shouldn’t repeat themselves.

In the spring scrimmage this April, Underwood completed 12 of his 26 passes for 187 yards. Some of his plays were surely good, including the reverse flea-flicker 88-yard pass to Jalen Hoffman. But overall, not many people were satisfied with the UM QB1’s spring performance.

However, we have to keep in mind that the QB is learning a new system now, following the hiring of Kyle Whittingham. Last season, he didn’t have ample support from the WRs. Just five games into the season, the unit had dropped 14 passes. The ninth most at the FBS level at that point. This year, though, Whittingham has stocked his offensive arsenal. He has brought in five-star RB Savion Hiter and Utah transfer JJ Buchanan, giving the team varied options in the attack.

Last year, Michigan was also without a dedicated QBs coach. As a result, Underwood averaged just a 57.8% completion rate in his final six games. Now, Whittingham has brought in Koy Detmer Jr., who has a history of developing standout dual-threat QBs like Devon Dampier (Utah). To improve Bryce Underwood’s game now, Detmer Jr is working with him on a “day-to-day basis,” and the result will surely show as the fall camp rolls in.