A two horse race? Who is Sherrone Moore fooling? Understandably Michigan's staff has to go through the motions and make it sound like all positions are an open competition through Spring. And putting Underwood under marginal pressure to compete for what is already his job is developmentally healthy, but the ball is entirely in Underwood's court.
Underwood will be the starter game one, and for the rest of the season (barring unforeseen injury). Why do I say this? You don't put $10M into a teenager's backpack and then not start him. Paying Underwood over $10M is the announcement that Underwood is the starter.
yeah I get what you're saying, but Moore isn't going to start him if he's not ready. ideally Mikey Keene was suppose to come in during spring and push/teach Underwood and be the starter this year with Bryce Underwood sprinkled in packages- much like '21 with Cade starting and JJ getting packages. Moore is trying to win games- and if Underwood isn't ready he's not going to force him.
Michigan has a chance to be much better than people think imo. Feel like they are being slept on a little bit. Schedule is much easier this year and the defense is going to be really good again even despite losing Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, and Josiah Stewart. They didn't have Will Johnson for over half of the season in '24 and their young CB's got plenty of run and Zeke Berry and Jyaire Hill is pretty good returning CB duo and the early returns on Shamari Earls are sounding very promising. Not to mention they'll be getting Rod Moore- their QB of the secondary back.
QB situation should be better...can't get any worse than it was last year. Mikey Keene isn't some superstar but he's light years better than Davis Warren or Alex Orji imo. Bryce Underwood was the #1 player and #1 QB in the class. Jadyn Davis has a year under his belt and was a top 100 recruit out of HS. Have a hard time seeing the QB room being worse than it was in '24.
OL has a chance to be pretty damn good imo and I trust Sherrone Moore there without question. OT Evan Link really turned the corner at the end of the year with impressive performances vs Ohio State and Bama as a RS Frosh and OT Andrew Sprague was dominant as a true frosh in his one start in the bowl game vs Alabama- he's going to be a superstar imo. That should be a really nice tackle duo. They return Giovanni El-Hadi at guard and Greg Crippen at center, will have to find a guard to replace Josh Priebe.
RB room should be really strong with a 1-2 punch of Justice Haynes & Jordan Marshall. WR remains the biggest question mark for that offense. Transfer from Indiana has talent but will have to prove it and Fred Moore has to continue to ascend- he's shown flashes but never put it all together. They will need one of them to breakout or they'll probably be relying on true freshman whether that be Andrew Marsh or Jamar Browder. Don't have much faith in the other WR's- Semaj Morgan is just too slow for someone that small and Channing Goodwin & Kendrick Bell probably wouldn't be at Michigan if not for the familial connections imo.
