Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood has been a major topic of discussion for anyone who follows College Football. After a tough battle with LSU, Michigan managed to recruit the QB, but as a freshman, he failed to match the expectations everyone had for him. As he prepares for his second season, a lot of eyes are once again going to be on him, especially after the Eric Weddle back-and-forth.

While many analysts have shared their take on Underwood, his teammate Andrew Marsh heaped praise on the QB and made a massive statement about his game.

“It’s super important,” Marsh said about Underwood during his appearance on In The Trenches with Jon Jansen. “I mean, without him, there’s no receiver. Without me, there’s no quarterback. So I feel like at the end of the day, we’re a good combo and as it should be in a receiver and quarterback duo.”It’s great. I mean, as a receiver, you can’t ask for much more, to be honest,” Marsh said. “He’s probably the best quarterback I’ve ever played with, and so I really just knowing that he’s here with me, along for the ride, I’m excited to see what we can go do.”

Andrew Marsh and Underwood share more than the usual WR-QB connection. At the time of his recruitment, wide receiver Marsh was a major force that helped in influencing Underwood to commit to the Wolverines, despite a longtime commitment to the LSU Tigers. During his visit to Ann Arbor, he went the extra mile to attend Underwood’s high school game, and they have been friends ever since.

The two even connected on one of the highlight plays for Michigan last season. In the game against USC, Underwood threw a 69-yard passing touchdown to Marsh. This was just one of the few top moments in the otherwise underwhelming freshman year for Underwood.

He came out of high school with signs that he was going to dominate the college football scene for years. After having a decent debut against New Mexico, he put up an underwhelming performance in Michigan’s 24-13 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners. He completed less than 40% of his passes and scored no touchdowns.

There were more instances where Underwood looked completely underprepared for CFB. While it is normal for players to take time to adapt to the game in college, coming straight out of high school, Underwood had a massive price tag that he needed to prove.

His NIL valuation was close to $12 million over the course of his college career, which is why the scrutiny was always going to be immense. Sadly, his spring game did not go well either; all it did was to refresh sad memories of his subpar 2025 season.

This season, Underwood has a new head coach, Kyle Whittingham, and an offensive coordinator, Jason Beck, who previously worked with Whittingham at Utah. The coaching change is one of the reasons many are giving Underwood a second chance. Underwood himself has been working tirelessly, as he was seen training with Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow and his quarterback coach some weeks ago.

Underwood criticised by former NFL player Eric Weedle

Eric Weddle was an uncensored critic of Underwood during an appearance on a podcast. Beyond Underwood’s performance, Weddle condemned Underwood’s abilities and talent, arguing against his ability to do the basic responsibility of even the most clueless quarterback: throwing. Weddle was at his son’s recruitment, a 2028 five-star safety, when he saw Underwood play, and his reviews were indeed scathing.

“Mark my words, I was out there for spring ball,” Weddle said on the Zero 2 Sixty Podcast in May. “Don’t be surprised if the backup [is] playing early because that Underwood kid, you know, I don’t think he could throw or play quarterback, so we’ll see.”

As a top prospect coming out of the class of 2025, Underwood was always going to be the most talked-about college player. His second season will be a significant point for him, as it will be his chance to prove it to people like Weedle that he is ready.

“Now go prove me wrong,” Weddle said on the Zero 2 Sixty podcast. “Like this isn’t going to be the first time someone says something negative about you.”

But Weddle’s was just one extreme case of several cases of criticism. Former Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner also shared some improvement tips for Underwood, urging him to get better with his footwork and self-awareness. If the young QB follows that, things could be different for him and the Wolverines this coming season.