Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore recently promoted tight ends coach Steve Casula to co-offensive coordinator. His impact on the Wolverines’ offense could be larger than you’d expect, especially for QB Bryce Underwood:
It’s no secret that the Michigan Wolverines ‘ offense has to improve for the team to be more successful in 2025. The hope is that the additions of offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and quarterback Bryce Underwood will help those improvements happen quickly.
Interestingly, Sherrone Moore recently promoted tight ends coach Steve Casula to co-offensive coordinator. If there was any head coach who knows the balance of what that should look like, it’s Moore, who served as Michigan’s co-offensive coordinator in 2021-22.
Lindsey will obviously take the lead call plays, while Casula will help with the weekly game planning. Casula spoke to the media before the ReliaQuest Bowl and shared the ideology this team has in game prep.
“Getting ready for any game, there’s a collaborative effort. I think sometimes when you think, in any organization, in any sport, offense, defense, special teams, of course there’s somebody that all funnels through. But I echoed this before — we always had a very team-oriented mindset, that it’s never one person’s success, one person’s failure, so we were all involved in the planning of the game and the thought process.”
Before Casula’s first stint at Michigan, he was an esteemed offensive coordinator at Ferris State. The Bulldogs made the playoffs in both years he was there, and even made the National Championship in 2018 thanks to the offense averaging 272 rushing yards per game and 491 total yards per game.
A huge reason why was dual-threat quarterback and Harlon Hill Trophy (the D-II Heisman) winner, Jayru Campbell. As a junior, Campbell rushed for 1,460 yards and 21 times while also leading the nation in passing efficiency, throwing for 2,450 yards and 23 touchdowns. Campbell averaged more than 300 all-purpose yards per game, while Michigan’s 2024 offense had only 286.2 yards per game.
I’m sure Michigan would love to have that kind of offensive output for Underwood. The goal must be to formulate an offense and scheme that is suitable for the highest-ceiling player on the roster, and Casula will likely have a big role in that.
While Lindsey’s experience with quarterbacks is vast, he’s only had one year where he had a true dual-threat quarterback, John Rhys Plumlee at UC (862 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns in 2022). All his other quarterbacks were far less impactful in the run game. I’d bet Moore wants to eventually see more of the rushing upside with Underwood.
From Moore’s perspective, this also helps in the event that Casula or Lindsey decide to leave for another job. Having two guys in the room that instill confidence in a young quarterback and can say they built a scheme specifically for him will help ensure Underwood stays in Ann Arbor his entire college career. This is a move that impacts beyond just 2025.
Both Lindsey and Casula have terrific and proven football minds. Giving them the bulk of the offseason to work together and put a plan together for Underwood and the offense for the foreseeable future could wind up paying huge dividends.