Since coach Kyle Whittingham took over the Michigan football team in January, he and the rest of the coaching staff have affirmed that sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood still has control of the QB1 spot. While Underwood has taken the last eight months getting settled into offensive coordinator Jason Beck’s new system, the battle for QB2 is very much ongoing.
Freshman Tommy Carr and graduate Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi are both new to the Wolverines this season and are each spending fall camp making their best case for being Underwood’s backup.
“It’s pretty neck and neck,” quarterbacks coach Koy Detmer said Tuesday. “Again, they both have their own flavor of how they play, and they’re doing a great job working within the confinements of the offense, making those decisive reads, those decisions.”
While Fowler-Nicolosi has four years of collegiate experience under his belt, Carr held the upper hand entering fall training camp. Having joined Michigan in the spring, Carr was well on his way to integrating himself into the offense and becoming comfortable with Whittingham, Beck and Underwood before Fowler-Nicolosi even arrived in Ann Arbor.
Making a splash at the Spring Game, Carr showed a savvy-ness and comfortability well beyond his years. At a competition where fans were eagerly awaiting a glimpse of Underwood’s growth and Whittingham’s new team, Carr stole the show.
Carr is very familiar with the world of Wolverines football and entered the program with a host of history under his belt. While his youth may hold him back initially, it also likely lends itself to the improvised play style that Carr yields. As Beck noted, one of Carr’s key strengths is his ability to extend plays and be a mobile threat.
But whether Carr’s savvy playstyle is what Michigan’s offense needs is still being determined.
“They have two different play styles,” Detmer said. “But as it’s a consistency, play in and play out, putting us in positive plays, taking care of the football, and just being efficient and helping us move the ball as an offense in whatever facet that looks like.”
On the other side of the competition, Fowler-Nicolosi is a more traditional pocket quarterback, with a cannon of an arm and consistent accuracy. Fowler-Nicolosi spent the last four seasons at Colorado State and earned the starting spot in his sophomore season. While he had an up and down career with the Rams, he certainly gained valuable experience in the limelight. In his first season as the starter, Fowler-Nicolosi led all Mountain West players in total offense at 3,433 yards — and while the Big Ten is a different beast, his collegiate experience will help him nonetheless.
This fall camp, Fowler-Nicolosi has quickly closed the gap between himself and Carr, becoming much more comfortable within the Wolverines’ offense. Having taken the time to understand the scheme, he can now focus on making a case for the QB2 spot. And his speedy development is a welcome surprise for Detmer and Michigan.
“Within the last week, (Fowler-Nicolosi has) totally settled down and really closed the gap,” Beck said Thursday. “As you’d expect, he’s kind of been there, does a lot of really good things, and has a lot of experience, and so he’s really closed that gap of those two kind of going back and forth. So the last this whole week, (Carr and Fowler-Nicolosi have) just been splitting all the two reps and just kind of battling it out.”
Carr and Fowler-Nicolosi bring very different skillsets to the quarterback position. Where one is familiar with the Wolverines and provides a new X-factor, the other holds immense experience and is a seemingly more secure safety net. As Michigan and Underwood truly get tested, Beck and Detmer will have to decide which tool is the best to have in their arsenal going forward.
