Bryce Underwood, a five-star quarterback from Belleville, Mich., and the No. 1 prospect in the 247Sports Composite, has flipped from LSU to Michigan.
Underwood immediately becomes a face-of-the-program recruit for Michigan, which is 5-5 in Sherrone Moore’s first season. As the No. 1 quarterback in his class, Underwood is expected to command an NIL deal worth at least $5 million, according to On3. Michigan made a concerted push to flip his commitment in recent weeks, signaling a shift in the program’s NIL philosophy under Moore.
Landing Underwood is by far the biggest coup of the class and one of Michigan’s biggest recruiting wins in years. Underwood will be the highest-rated quarterback to sign with Michigan in the modern recruiting era (dating back to 2002) and the second player ranked No. 1 in his class, joining Rashan Gary from the Class of 2016.
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Jim Harbaugh’s reluctance to engage in bidding wars for recruits was one reason Michigan was perceived as a long shot in Underwood’s recruitment. Michigan wasn’t viewed as a serious player in the Underwood sweepstakes when he committed to LSU in January, and Belleville coach Calvin Norman told The Athletic in June that there would be no last-minute change of heart from Underwood.
“That’s not gonna happen,” Norman said.
Michigan ramped up its pursuit of Underwood in recent weeks, backed by a significant allocation of NIL resources. While the Wolverines have experienced a downturn on the field after last season’s national championship run, their 2025 recruiting class now sits at No. 14 in the composite rankings.
“I think they understand the vision that we explain to them and what this is going to be like,” Moore said of players considering Michigan. “It’s been pretty positive. We’ve gotten some good commitments, some good guys to join the family, and we’re looking to continue that trend.”
The state of Michigan has produced a string of elite quarterback prospects in recent years, including Notre Dame’s CJ Carr and Dante Moore, now at Oregon. After missing out on Carr and Moore, the Wolverines have staked a big part of their future on Underwood, a 6-foot-4 prodigy with the tools to be a franchise quarterback in the NFL.
“He’s a more modernized Randall Cunningham mixed with Josh Allen,” Donovan Dooley, Underwood’s QB coach, told The Athletic in 2023. “He’s a unicorn.”
J.J. McCarthy’s departure for the NFL left a hole at quarterback that became glaring during Moore’s first season. Michigan had a commitment from four-star quarterback Carter Smith for 2025, but Smith decommitted after Michigan went all in with Underwood. Given the struggles of Davis Warren and Alex Orji this season, Underwood will be a candidate to start immediately in 2025, though he could have competition from redshirt freshman Jadyn Davis and any quarterback Michigan elects to pursue in the transfer portal.
(Photo: Junfu Han / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
