The Michigan Wolverines’ spring game brought a surprise that no one expected. Head coach Kyle Whittingham is setting playoff expectations for 2026, but his spring game revealed an unexpected twist at quarterback.

Michigan played its annual spring game at the Big House, splitting the team into Maize and Blue squads after spring practice. Fans came to watch the controlled scrimmage, and the Blue team won the game late after Tomas O’Meara scored a 1-yard touchdown. The focus of the game was freshman quarterback Tommy Carr from Saline, Michigan. He completed 21 out of 30 passes for 143 yards and showed calmness while playing in the pocket.

Carr also showed he can run the ball when needed. He gained 67 yards after escaping pressure and made several plays outside the pocket. He led multiple scoring drives and kept improving as the game went on. After the game, he explained his mindset and why making an impact was so important to him.

“I was pretty under-recruited,” Carr said to the media after the spring game. “I didn’t really understand why, but I can’t control that, so I definitely have a chip on my shoulder trying to prove everyone wrong.”

Carr isn’t just fighting for snaps, but he’s also escaping shadows. As Lloyd Carr’s grandson and CJ Carr’s younger brother, his three-star rating is like an oversight to him. That family legacy makes his poised, 143-yard passing performance carry far more weight than standard spring game statistics.

On the other hand, Bryce Underwood did not have a strong game compared to Tommy Carr. He completed only 3 out of 9 passes for 22 yards and did not look very comfortable while playing. Kyle Whittingham and his staff tried lowering the pressure on him by saying that spring game stats are not always a true picture of how a player will perform in real games, so this does not fully define him.

But the struggle was clearly visible. Underwood didn’t perform well in the rushing game either, which is one of his key strengths. Despite that, he ended up with negative rushing yards. Meanwhile, Carr played better overall, showing good running ability and making quick, smart decisions.

Kyle Whittingham also praised Carr, saying he has the “it factor.” That’s concerning for Bryce Underwood, as this might even spark a QB competition between the two. Underwood will take over the field in the 2026 season as QB1, but even Carr has strong chances to get some moments on the field if Underwood cannot show up, just like Arch Manning got chances when Quinn Ewers’s game went flat.

Plus, what’s concerning is that despite getting a full-time private trainer, Donovan Dooley, and a dedicated quarterback coach, Koy Detmer, just for him, he couldn’t make much of an impact on the field. Yet Whittingham is sure that it’s just a bad phase and Underwood will work on all his shortcomings in the fall and show a strong game in the 2026 season.

“He progressed all through spring,” Whittingham said. “There are some things that may not be noticeable to just the general populace, but his footwork, his pocket presence, he’s improved in all areas. He still has work to do; he knows that, we know that, but I think he’s ahead of where he was certainly before, or from last season. We think he’s got a big upside. We’ve still got a lot of confidence in him. There’s no real difference in sentiment from what we had when we first got in here.”

That brings the question: What are the odds, or is there any chance that Carr would leapfrog Bryce Underwood just before the fall or even in the home season opener against the Oklahoma Sooners?

How secure is Bryce Underwood’s QB1 job at Michigan?

Even with Carr’s spectacular debut, taking the job away by fall is a tall order because of Michigan’s long-term investment in Underwood. They are not paying him $3 million a year to sit on the bench. Underwood had all offseason to work with the QB coach so he could learn Jason Beck’s complex offense. The coaching staff knows that Underwood’s “ceiling” is through the roof, and they are probably going to give him every chance to grow through his mistakes rather than benching a potential superstar before the fall. But at the same time, Michigan will not hesitate to make a change if it helps them win games.

There is also Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi coming in, a transfer from Colorado State with nearly 7,000 passing yards. If Carr or Bryce struggles, the coaches have another option. A similar situation happened with Chad Henne in 2004. A veteran, Matt Gutierrez, was expected to start, but he got hurt just before the season. Coach Lloyd Carr (Tom’s grandpa) made the bold decision to start freshman Henne instead. Henne then started every game for four years and broke many school records.

The popular consensus here is that Bryce will start the season opener against Western Michigan in Germany. But in Week 2, Oklahoma comes to Ann Arbor. If Bryce struggles like last season, he could lose his QB1 spot, at least for a while.