It’s fair to question whether any prospect in Michigan Football history has created more hype and anticipation than five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood, but what’s the fair expectation for the No. 1 recruit in the country in his true freshman season.

On3’s J.D. PicKell discuss that topic on his podcast, The Hard Count, earlier this week.

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“The hype around this guy is enormous, and the thing about hype, usually it’s misplaced. It’s not with this kid,” PicKell said. “The hype makes sense, but…what are some reasonable expectations for have for Bryce Underwood his first year in Ann Arbor?

“One thing I think you can say when you talk about expectations for Bryce Underwood — he’s going to start right away. Like, you’re bringing him in to start right away, unless there is something that is wildly unforeseen that comes into play for Michigan.”

While PicKell acknowledges that Michigan added a veteran quarterback out of the transfer portal in former Fresno State starter Mikey Keene, he believes it’s Underwood who gives the Wolverines the best chance to compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff in 2025.

“Will it be perfect? No. Will there be some bumps and bruises? Absolutely. But, you live and die with Bryce Underwood as your guy, because he changes the trajectory of Michigan Football, and also he allows you to run [offensive coordinator] Chip Lindsey’s offense the way that it is designed to be run.,” PicKell said.

“With what he is as an athlete running the football, the way he can test you vertically, the way defenses have to honor his ability, that only amplifies the run game — Bryce Underwood’s your guy.”

While PicKell’s baseline expectation is for Underwood to start for the Wolverines in 2025, he says the best-case scenario is that the five-star competes at an All-Big Ten level as a true freshman.

“I think the best-case scenario is, he ends up being a guy who’s an all-conference type of quarterback for you,” PicKell said. “And, to be real, I don’t think that’s much of a stretch.”

PicKell noted that the Big Ten doesn’t have many veterans returning at quarterback this season, outside of Penn State’s Drew Allar and Illinois’ Luke Altmyer. PicKell is high on a handful of other young guys, like Oregon’s Dante Moore and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, but believes Underwood stacks up well against any of those players.

“There’s a lot of potential, but there’s also a lot of unknowns across this conference,” PicKell said. “To me, the door is wide open for a team like Michigan, for a guy like Bryce Underwood to hit the ground running the second you’re around Sherrone Moore, in a new offense, with a good portal class, with the traits that make Michigan, Michigan, to really make some noise here in 2025. I don’t think it’s wild to assume that Bryce Underwood could be in that all-conference conversation.”

As for expectations for Michigan as a whole next season, PicKell believes the Wolverines should exceed their 8-5 record record from a season ago, but isn’t ready to predict a return to the College Football Playoff yet for the Maize and Blue.

“I haven’t seen Bryce Underwood take a snap in a Michigan practice jersey, much less in a game,” PicKell said. “So, I’m waiting a little bit to at least see how he looks in an 11-on-11 setting before I make any definitive statements on Michigan in 2025.

“If he balls out in that spring game, and spring games aren’t everything but you get a good temperature for who people look in spring games and what to expect. If he looks awesome, then yeah, I think Michigan will probably be in my official prediction when we get closer to the season actually happening.”

“I think Bryce Underwood is going to be special long-term, I think you can expect him to be a potentially an all-conference guy in 2025, I think that’s on the table. With that being said, we’re going to make sure we hold our opinion somewhat loosely around him, around Michigan, before we start making any [prediction] that’s definitive on Michigan in 2025.”

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