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Spring football is fast approaching and the Michigan Wolverines have a quarterback competition brewing that’s worth following between Bryce Underwood and Mikey Keene. @WoodsFootball with a spring preview of Michigan’s QB room.
The Michigan Wolverines quarterback depth chart is going to look a whole lot different heading into the 2025 season. Alex Orji transferred to UNLV, Jayden Denegal transferred to San Diego State, Jack Tuttle retired, and Davis Warren tore his ACL in the ReliaQuest Bowl and will be sidelined indefinitely.
Despite all the departures at QB, Michigan upgraded the position via recruiting and the transfer portal. With spring practices just a couple of weeks away, here’s a preview of the Michigan quarterback room.
Bryce Underwood
We start with Underwood by virtue of him being one of the biggest names in college football the past few months. Why? Because he flipped from LSU to Michigan all while being ranked the No. 1 overall prospect and No. 1 QB in the 2025 class. Underwood, who stands 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, played high school ball about 20 minutes away from Michigan Stadium in Belleville, Michigan.
Underwood projects to be a dual-threat quarterback who has a sizable arm and the ability to make people miss in the open field as a runner.
“He’s an excellent player,” Sherrone Moore said in December. “He has an elite skillset from the pocket, out of the pocket, deep ball, touch, intermediate, short.”
Moore said that he and Underwood have talked about things they want him to do to expand his game, the question is how rapidly can Underwood become comfortable with not only Michigan’s scheme but the speed of college football. If Underwood does wind up being the starter during his true freshman campaign, it’ll mean that he’s on schedule or ahead of schedule in his development.
Mikey Keene
While Underwood has an incredibly high ceiling, don’t count out Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene to be QB1 in Week 1.
Keene will be entering his fifth collegiate season and had a 70.5 completion percentage in 2024 with 2,892 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Keene has 8,245 passing yards in his career with 65 passing touchdowns and 28 interceptions along with a 67.8 completion percentage.
Before Keene played at Fresno State he spent two seasons at Central Florida, including one with new Michigan offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, who was the UCF OC at the time. Keene threw for 647 yards, six touchdowns and one interception with a 72.3 completion rate that season in his season with Lindsey. Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said that Keene’s familiarity with Lindsey’s scheme was “huge” and said he’s heard “great things” and “tactical” things about Keene as a leader.
Keene, whether he starts or not, can help push the QB room and it gives Michigan an experienced quarterback that can help them win games.
Jadyn Davis
Davis, 2024 four-star prospect, didn’t appear in a game for Michigan last season despite the Wolverines starting three quarterbacks and ranking No. 129 in passing offense. Davis’ lack of playing time, even when there were opportunities to get him into games without hurting his redshirt status, was puzzling and begs the question — will Davis ever get playing time at Michigan? However, it’s a new year and a new chance for Davis, who could have easily transferred out with the additions of Underwood and Keene, but has chosen to stick around and battle it out.
Davis, who’s 6-foot-1 and 205-pounds, was ranked as the No. 93 overall player in the 2024 class and No. 7 quarterback. As a senior at Providence Day School in Charlotte, Davis threw for 3,370 yards with 43 passing touchdowns and three rushing scores. Perhaps a year with Michigan while not seeing game action will do Davis wonders, but it seems like an uphill climb for him to rise any further than No. 3 on the quarterback depth chart.
Chase Herbstreit (won’t be enrolled until the summer)
Underwood wasn’t the only quarterback addition in the 2025 class, they added the son of ESPN commentator and former Ohio State quarterback Kirk Herbstreit — Chase Herbstreit.
Herbstreit was a three-star prospect who stands 6-foot-2, 185 pounds and played high school ball at St. Xavier in Cincinnati. Herbstreit threw for 1,609 yards his senior season with 18 passing touchdowns and five interceptions while rushing for 660 yards and eight rushing scores.