Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore appeared on the In the Trenches podcast and provided some final evaluations on Bryce Underwood, Jadyn Davis and Mikey Keene at the end of spring practices:
The Michigan Wolverines ’ quarterback situation was something of a mess last year to say the least. Looking to this fall, however, there’s much more optimism as the most important position group has received a much-needed infusion of talent. Furthermore, the arrival of Chip Lindsey as the offensive coordinator should put Michigan’s skill players in better positions to make an impact.
That quarterback room’s talent infusion is coming in multiple forms. The arrival of Mikey Keene from Fresno State provides a veteran option that has more than 2,000 snaps in college football. Meanwhile, the arrival of five-star freshman Bryce Underwood provides raw talent and upside that fans got used to while J.J McCarthy was under center in 2022-23.
Last weekend, Michigan played its annual spring game, which provided fans a first look at Underwood in a Michigan uniform. While the results were something of a mixed bag , the talent is still evident.
On Wednesday, head coach Sherrone Moore discussed Underwood’s progress so far and what the coaching staff will be looking for from the freshman going forward. In his appearance on the “In the Trenches” podcast , Moore acknowledged Underwood still has some work to do despite his raw talent.
“He’s a young guy, he’s talented, he’s got ability, obviously he’s got the high (recruiting) ranking but he’s still gotta work to be great to be where he wants to be,” Moore said.
The head coach also mentioned that while Underwood has shown flashes of good arm talent, he still needs to work on the mental aspect of the game to get to the next level.
“All those little things you gotta do to be a great quarterback, it’s a lot more than just throwing it down the field — it’s processing pre-snap and post-snap, so he’s gotta continue to work on that,” Moore said.
During the winter, the guy often mentioned as Underwood’s chief competition for the starting job was Keene. However, he’s been sidelined for much of the spring with an undisclosed injury. Moore mentioned on Saturday after the spring game that while Keene has been battling the injury bug, he’s currently throwing and the coaching staff didn’t want to rush him into playing in the spring game. Moore shared another positive update on Keene in his podcast appearance on Wednesday.
“He’ll be full-go available in June,” Moore said.
This is an important development as Michigan hopes to have an experienced option to battle for the starting job during fall camp.
As for the rest of the quarterbacks, Jadyn Davis was the only other one to appear in the spring game on Saturday. His performance left much to be desired, as he threw a pair of interceptions and wasn’t able to lead the maize team to any points. Moore did note, however, that Davis has made some strides this spring.
“He’s helped himself with his throwing accuracy — just excited to watch him keep progressing.” Moore said.
With the arrival of Lindsey as the new offensive coordinator, Michigan is looking to create more explosiveness on offense. Lindsey’s experience as a successful coordinator that’s able to put players in more advantageous situations should be enough on its own to get Michigan’s offense to a better place. The strides of its quarterback room this spring should further raise the ceiling.