Ann Arbor, Michigan—— Part of Bryce Underwood’s appeal as the nation’s No. 1 draft pick wasn’t just his strong arm or the accuracy he showed as a quarterback in Belleville, but his athleticism and his ability to extend plays with his legs; not just giving him options, but taking off and becoming part of the running game. However, Underwood averaged less than seven carries per game during his freshman season, and considering that number also includes sacks or pocket-breaking moments, it’s not exactly the type of numbers you expected this time last year.
New Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham aims to change the way Underwood is deployed.
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The previous staff seemed more accustomed to forcing Underwood to be a prototypical pocket passer with just a little improvisation. From Whittingham’s perspective, the goal is to coach him as much as possible and then let him fly.
“It’s part of his game — you don’t want to take that away from him,” Whittingham said. “Last year, I thought he got off to a pretty good start relative to what college football was like. When he was the starting quarterback on a major college football team, he had just turned 18. So I thought he handled it pretty well.
“There’s a lot of room for improvement. He knows that and we know that. Now he’s got some dedicated quarterback staff working directly with him. We’ll see what progress we can make over the next 15 practices.”
As far as the running game is concerned, expect Underwood and Jordan Marshall (along with the rest of the backs) to be big pieces.
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Unlike Underwood in his first year, Utah ran nearly twice as many runs against quarterback Devin Dampier (12 per game) while also running strong at tailbacks. The Utes have the nation’s No. 2 rushing attack, led by Jason Baker. Underwood is a big part of that.
“Our offensive coordinator, Jason Baker, does a great job of taking the players he has, their talents and what they’re good at and building a plan accordingly,” Whittingham said. “So Jordan is obviously a very good running back. Bryce is a dual-threat quarterback. Last year at Utah, we were ranked second in the country against the run. We had a quarterback who was also a very good runner. But Bryce, we thought he could beat you out of the pocket or with his legs. And then having Jordan – a quarterback’s best friend is a strong running game – Jordan helped provide that.”
Dampier rushed for 1,000 yards under Baker two years ago when the duo was at New Mexico State, and he ran for just 165 yards last season. In contrast, Underwood had just 392 yards. Expect the Wolverines’ signal-caller to be more involved now that he has a head coach and offensive coordinator eager to deploy him.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football unlocks Bryce Underwood’s running talents