There has been a big debate this offseason regarding Michigan football quarterback Bryce Underwood, which reached a fever pitch following his moribund performance in the spring game. Contrasted with true freshman Tommy Carr, suddenly, many have the view that Underwood is meager and that the Wolverines may be in trouble.
While that scrimmage didn’t look good, and his 2025 season was marred with inconsistency, if not mechanical issues, there is something else about last year’s offense that didn’t exactly help the enigmatic star.
Drops.
In-season, it was obvious. Channing Goodwin was benched in favor of Andrew Marsh due to his own inconsistency. Semaj Morgan became something of a villain to many Michigan fans due to dropping seemingly at least two passes a game. Yes, Underwood wasn’t pinpoint accurate as advertised (quite often), but even when he was, drops were an issue.
And CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli proved it.
Fornelli compiled a list of the ‘unluckiest’ quarterbacks, citing drops as a major factor. He goes into a deep dive into Texas quarterback Arch Manning, who seemingly underperformed for much of the year, but with his receivers not coming down with passes, it hampered him greatly. But, as Fornelli notes, the quarterback second-most-likely to see a glow-up if his receivers catch the ball is none other than Underwood.
When you play quarterback, there are some aspects of the position you can control, and plenty you can’t. It’s up to you to call the play, know the play, read the defense, and deliver the football on time to the right option. However, once the ball is out of your hand, the rest is up to fate and your intended target.
You can make the right choice, put the ball on target, and then watch your intended receiver straight drop the ball. Some players get luckier than others in this aspect, and while perusing social media, I saw a video and a tweet that inspired me to look a bit deeper into this idea. (…)
Here are the largest differences among qualified quarterbacks last season. It turns out that if you’re looking for a wunderkind QB to buy stock in if they finally get teammates who can catch, it’s not Arch Manning you should be looking at, but Michigan’s Bryce Underwood. (…)
Underwood was ranked only behind Appalachian State QB AJ Swann. Had Underwood completed 5.5% more of his passes (which were on target), he would have completed 65.8% of his throws for an adjusted yardage (average, given it cannot be reliably ascertained) of 2,549 yards.
As Fornelli notes, there are QBs who didn’t have this issue. Ohio State‘s Julian Sayin had the fewest drops (1.18%), while national champion Fernando Mendoza was right behind him (1.19%). The good news for Underwood is that the coaching staff oversaw the QB-WR combo at Utah, which only saw a drop percentage of 1.53% (Devon Dampier was fifth).
So while a big part of Underwood’s success will require him to fix some of his ails (and he appears to be working on that diligently, training with NFL QB trainer Jordan Palmer), his receivers will need to be sure to come down with catchable balls.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan QB Bryce Underwood’s stats impacted by drops