{"id":6180,"date":"2026-08-27T06:49:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T06:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/08\/27\/summer-2026-was-one-of-growth-for-bryce-underwood\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T06:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T06:49:08","slug":"summer-2026-was-one-of-growth-for-bryce-underwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/08\/27\/summer-2026-was-one-of-growth-for-bryce-underwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer 2026 was one of growth for Bryce Underwood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Bryce Underwood, the summer of 2026 could be the one to remember. After an up-and-down spring, the Michigan football team\u2019s sophomore quarterback finally found his stride over the summer, according to coaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe challenged Bryce over the month of May and over the summer,\u201d Wolverines quarterback coach Koy Detmer Jr. said Tuesday. \u201cAnd to his credit, he hit it. He hit it head on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That challenge came after a spring that was far less promising. Because after a promising yet disappointing freshman campaign, the onus was on Underwood to improve in his second season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But as the Wolverines coaches have indicated during training camp, it was an up-and-down spring for Underwood. And one of the low points was on display for the Michigan faithful as Underwood finished 3-for-9 passing with 22 yards, triggering a mass hysteria among armchair quarterback coaches offering their analysis of Underwood\u2019s game via X posts.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere were more ups and downs day to day (in the spring),\u201d Wolverines quarterback coach Koy Detmer Jr. said Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This fall, however, Underwood\u2019s highs are far more frequent and his lows less so. The products of his summer work have been on full display in training camp.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Underwood, a key area improvement has been his presence in the pocket. Last year, he\u00a0 frequently showed happy feet in the pocket. As a result, his feet weren\u2019t properly positioned on his throws, leading to misses. And he oftentimes bailed from the pocket altogether, forcing himself to make plays out of structure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This fall, that\u2019s changed. Underwood\u2019s upped his game, while an offensive line that returns five players who started games last year figures to boost his confidence in the pocket as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe\u2019s a lot more comfortable, and specifically with his feet and his pocket presence, (I) felt like he was in a really good spot and has done a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another area of growth has been Underwood\u2019s decision-making. Michigan\u2019s coaching staff doesn\u2019t want Underwood to be superman, after attempting to flaunt his cape too often last season. He\u2019d often follow up nice plays with throws into tight windows or double coverage, resulting in an incompletion, or worse, a turnover.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By all accounts, Underwood\u2019s made less of those drive-killing decisions in practice. Instead, coaches are guiding Underwood in understanding the circumstances of a play and taking what the defense is giving him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA lot of it is just talking to him about situational football,\u201d Detmer said. \u201cWe\u2019re in a good down and distance \u2026 and it\u2019s like \u2018okay, hey, let\u2019s take the underneath, let\u2019s take the the pitch and catch if we got it, and if they just so happen to take all that away and we have the big one, great, then let\u2019s take it.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And with Week 1\u00a0currently 10 days away, Underwood\u2019s most recent dress rehearsal was stellar.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was good to see that you know him being able to stand in the pocket, deliver the ball to our receivers, and make some real big plays on third and fourth down,\u201d Detmer said about Underwood\u2019s play in the Wolverines\u2019 most recent scrimmage.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While practice buzz is promising, it only matters if it comes to fruition on game day. Come week one, Underwood has a 10 million dollar check to cash.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether Underwood\u2019s progress carries over to games could determine the fate of a Michigan offense that\u2019s expected to take a step forward this season . They\u2019ve added talent while returning key pieces at running back and receiver, and the offensive line returns talent as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And in a story about that fate, the summer of 2026 is the most important chapter.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<div class=\"newspack-popup-container newspack-popup hidden   newspack-inline-popup       \" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#000\" id=\"id_162162\" data-segments=\"\" data-frequency=\"0,0,0,month\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Please consider donating to The Michigan Daily<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Bryce Underwood, the summer of 2026 could be the one to remember. After an up-and-down spring, the Michigan football team\u2019s sophomore quarterback finally found his stride over the summer, according to coaches.\u00a0 \u201cWe challenged Bryce over the month of May and over the summer,\u201d Wolverines quarterback coach Koy Detmer Jr. said Tuesday. \u201cAnd to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1031,1624,603,1032],"class_list":["post-6180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-growth","tag-summer","tag-underwood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6182,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6180\/revisions\/6182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}