No. 14 Michigan names freshman Bryce Underwood its starting quarterback in opener against New Mexico

By Canadian Press on August 25, 2025.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Bryce Underwood has been named the starting quarterback for No. 14 Michigan.

Coach Sherrone Moore made the long-expected announcement on Monday at his weekly news conference.

Underwood was the nation’s top-ranked recruit last year and his father told The Wall Street Journal that the freshman is expected to make more than $15 million over the next three seasons.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Underwood said he expects to “shock the world” this season.

“I feel like nobody’s seen a freshman like me,” he said in an interview with the Big Ten Network.

Michigan opens Saturday night against New Mexico, and Underwood said his goal is to close the season with the school’s second national title in three years.

“Do whatever it takes to get my team to where they want to be, which is a national championship,” he told BTN. “Of course, beating Ohio State is one of those (goals) as well.”

Underwood was originally committed to play for LSU, but the two-time state champion from Belleville High School chose to sign with a school 15 miles from home.

He flipped following a sales pitch that included a FaceTime chat with former Michigan quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady, along with Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, getting involved with the recruitment.

Underwood participated in practices with last year’s team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and benefited from 14 practices and a spring game at the Big House.

He prepared for college football by adding 15 pounds of muscle.

“It’s made me more explosive,” Underwood told two reporters earlier this summer. “I feel way more faster.”

Michigan has had just three quarterbacks start as true freshman: Rick Leach in 1957, Chad Henne in 2004 and Tate Forcier in 2009.

Underwood’s competition for the starting job included transfers Mikey Keene and Jake Garcia along with Jadyn Davis and Davis Warren, who started nine games last season during an inspirational comeback from cancer.

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Larry Lage, The Associated Press