00:00Hey, you found, this is interesting, interesting audio about Bryce Underwood?
00:05Yes, Eric Weddle, a fine former Super Bowl champion.
00:10He was at safety for a few teams, been in the pro ball, really good player.
00:14His son is a four-star recruit for, I believe, 2028, if I'm not mistaken.
00:20And he played at Utah.
00:22So he went and, I don't know if he took his son with him on a visit,
00:26but he visited his old coach, who happens to be in Ann Arbor.
00:30And he attended some practices.
00:33And he was not very impressed with one of Bryce Underwood.
00:54That Underwood can't throw or play quarterback.
00:57Wow.
01:01He saw it at the spring game.
01:03Saw it last year.
01:05And if, well, look, the way Bryce ended the season, final five games, he threw four touchdowns, seven picks.
01:11And you could say, well, it's Ohio State and Texas.
01:13Yeah, it's also Northwestern, Purdue, and Maryland.
01:15Right, and look, this year he has a dedicated quarterback coach in Coy Detmer Jr.
01:21He's been working with Carson Palmer's brother, trying to get better.
01:25I'm not going to say I'm going to write things off, but, you know.
01:32Is it on your radar?
01:33Yes, especially because all you hear about is that Tommy Carr is looking great as a freshman now.
01:42You know, the Michigan hype quarterback machine has been known to, you know, hype everything from, you know, Tate Fortier
01:48to Devin Gardner to whoever.
01:51However, that's why I don't mind this.
01:55I don't know if Eric Weddle is going to be right or wrong, but I like that it finally counters
01:59the narrative that the Michigan quarterback is always going to be the greatest to ever play the position.
02:04Yes.
02:04Joe Milton is actually Cam Newton.
02:07May the 4CA be with you.
02:09Yes.
02:09Denard's shoelaces are never tied.
02:11Like, we always turn these guys into these cult-like, larger-than-life figures, and most of them aren't that
02:17good.
02:17Well, I'll argue on Denard was a great college player.
02:22He was a dynamic runner.
02:23Yeah, whatever.
02:24He was famous for the arm punt.
02:25Yeah, I know.
02:26He was a very good college quarterback.
02:29Right, but you go through it.
02:30Shea Patterson was this former visor.
02:32Oh, my God.
02:32The savior.
02:33I'm just happy that someone's countering the narrative with something else.
02:37And you got to think that since, A, he might be jaded a little bit because maybe his son wants
02:42to go there or he wants his son to go there.
02:44But you also have to think that he's in tune with his former head coach, who he played for when
02:52he was a student at Utah.
02:54What do you mean by that?
02:55Well, I'm sure he talked to Whittingham.
02:58And Whittingham told him this kid stinks?
03:00Maybe not so many words.
03:02Underwood can't play quarterback?
03:03You know, not on, you know, just hanging out, having dinner or whatever.
03:07I'm sure that's where some of the intel comes from.
03:09Well, that's not very good then.
03:10I know.
03:14What's the confidence level Michigan fans have with Bryce Underwood going into year two?
03:17New coaching staff get it right?
03:19Or is this, what was it, that spring game?
03:22I've heard some things.
03:23I saw the season, how it ended.
03:24Well, you talk about A.J. Hinch being on the hot seat.
03:27I think Bryce Underwood's on the hottest seat in football.
03:30You think so?
03:31Yes.
03:32In this town?
03:33But with what he makes?
03:35Right?
03:35Isn't that the whole narrative?
03:36Can they bench him if he struggles early in the season?
03:39They can bench him.
03:40I don't think Kyle Whittingham is taking this job or took this job because I can't bench my quarterback if
03:47he's not good.
03:47Hey, this is an unlimited financial world right now.
03:50Yes.
03:50It's no different than Tom Gore's paying off Monty Williams a leaf.
03:54Yes, exactly.
03:54You know?
03:56There's been enough.
03:57This was surprising.
03:58The source was kind of weird with Eric Weddle.
04:01Yes.
04:01But there's been enough rumbling since the spring game that this is closer than people want it to be.
04:08Yeah, but I want to paint you a picture.
04:10Michigan's schedule.
04:11They start their first month of the year, the first four games at home.
04:16He might look shaky, although I don't think he will against Western UTEP or Iowa.
04:23Maybe he will against Oklahoma, but if they're 4-0, are they making a quarterback change?
04:26Probably not.
04:27So then we get to their first road test at Minnesota.
04:32Well, if he's playing bad in those games, that's the point.
04:36I'm going to go back to what I just said.
04:38Yeah.
04:38You aren't financially obligated to play him.
04:42No, I'm saying take the money out of it.
04:43Would a coach with a winning record bench his quarterback?
04:46What if he never starts?
04:48He doesn't have to be tied to him.
04:51No.
04:51This is the cutthroat way we are in sports right now.
04:54That's what's part of it.
04:55As long as Ward Manuel and everybody else at Michigan is comfortable with eating the money,
04:59they don't have to be committed to him.
05:01This is a new coach.
05:02If the new coach doesn't think he's the guy, he doesn't owe him anything.
05:06And he can still pay him for being the backup.
05:09Doesn't have to mean he's going to leave right now.
05:12Greg?
05:12I'm just going to caution people.
05:15And Eric Weddle can have his opinion and his observations, and I'll welcome critique.
05:20But I will caution people to make conclusions based off of the spring game.
05:27I totally agree with you.
05:29But you're hearing rumblings from some of the practices that he hasn't looked good either.
05:33But like I mentioned, Greg, I want to see what Coy Detmer Jr. and all this.
05:41He actually has a quarterback coach, that type of stuff.
05:44See what happens during fall ball.
05:47So CJ Carr has looked very good at Notre Dame.
05:50Correct.
05:51Tommy Carr is at Michigan.
05:52If Tommy is close to the player that CJ is, you start breathing down the neck of the starting quarterback.
06:00Absolutely.
06:00And I'm not basing anything off the spring game.
06:02I wasn't there.
06:03I don't care what he did.
06:04I'm asking the question because I didn't see Bryce get better at the end of last season.
06:08Like you want to see a freshman quarterback take his lumps and maybe end on a high note?
06:12Without more interceptions than touchdowns the final five games, that wasn't exactly inspiring.
06:17Now, you can blame the old coaching staff and the new staff is going to get it right.
06:20But the new staff, to Tom's point, doesn't have any obligation other than, hey, we're going to try to win
06:25with him.
06:26But if he's not good.
06:27So this is interesting.
06:28I mean, it's a cauldron as we talk through this.
06:30So Weddle in the podcast went on to explain later and refer to his son, who is a 2028.
06:37Yes, I believe so.
06:38And as a quarterback, about the importance of how he evaluates a QB.
06:43And I agree with him that he puts just as much stock into having a feel for the pocket.
06:50Right.
06:50Athleticism.
06:51Yeah.
06:51Being able to feel for the game and actually, you know, intelligent about the game.
06:57Not just relying on this being some freak athlete.
07:00I mean, it's one Texas.
07:01So you're telling me that a five-star recruit can't throw the football?
07:05Well, we're in a world right now in sports where we have NBA players that can't shoot the ball.
07:09Right.
07:10He can throw the football.
07:12But if he can't read a defense or he throws it into coverage, who cares when you can throw the
07:15ball?
07:16And I would ask that person to just take, I'm not asking them to do much, you know, take much
07:21of their day.
07:21They're probably a very busy person.
07:23Scroll back through five-star quarterbacks over the last 10 years.
07:26Have they all hit?
07:27No.
07:28You just brought up Shea.
07:28So the idea that someone's a five-star doesn't mean they're going to be a star.
07:30My knock on Shea was he didn't put the time and effort into doing it.
07:33And then you later find out he was out on the golf course instead of doing things.
07:37It's kind of like, okay.
07:38That's never been accused of Underwood.
07:39Underwood's supposedly a very hard worker.
07:41It's trying to get better.
07:43And here's the other thing.
07:44And I know it's a little different era than when a lot of us started following college football.
07:51But a lot of times, especially freshmen to sophomore, it takes time to develop.
07:57Some of these guys who have been great quarterbacks didn't do anything until they were juniors or seniors.
08:02So that should be brought into the equation, too.
08:05But saying that, it's a different world with NIL and all that stuff.
08:10It's like the stock market, the player progression.
08:12Not going to be linear, but you hope that is trending up.
08:15Well, why don't we do a classic something or nothing with this?
08:18We're just kind of gabbing and we want to hear from people.
08:21Something or nothing.
08:22Listen, Eric Weddle says, hey, Bryce doesn't look very good.
08:28Something or nothing.
08:29It's the spring.
08:30It's the way he ended the regular season.
08:32It's that there's a car on the depth chart.
08:34It's that a former Super Bowl champion safety has the take.
08:38I think it's something, but I don't think it's huge.
08:41You know what I mean?
08:41It's not, you know, because who knows what they're asking him to do?
08:48I don't know, because he was never coached properly his freshman year.
08:53Yeah, I mean, I'll say it's something just because it feels like there's a little smoke.
08:57Yeah.
08:57And like I said, him hanging out with his former coach, you kind of think that some things,
09:04you know, whether they want to get his son in Ann Arbor or not is another question.
09:08I mean, they've had quite a few quarterback commits decommit already.
09:12I mean, Ray Bork's kid from Colorado, he decommitted.
09:18How much of Weddle's kid wanting to or not wanting to go to Michigan really matters here.
09:22If he's a 2028 recruit, Bryce won't even be on campus by the time this kid gets there, right?
09:27If he plays up to his potential.
09:30Well, if he plays up to his potential, yeah.
09:31Well, and if he doesn't, he just won't be starting.
09:33So it's irrelevant.
09:34Like, I don't think he has to like politic for two years from now to get his kid to start
09:39at Michigan over Bryce.
09:40I think they're completely on the only relation is that's why Weddle was there to see with his eyes and
09:45comes to his own conclusion.
09:46This guy stinks.
09:47Yes.
09:48Something or nothing.
09:49248-539-9797.
09:52Texter says, remember, Bryce is a five star from the state of Michigan, which really means he's a three and
09:57a half star from somewhere like Texas or California.
10:00He will be fine, but just needs more time.
10:02Anthony in Ann Arbor.
10:03Well, I'll, I'll, I'll come back at that is because when you get a five star recruit, I believe it's,
10:09there are national rankings.
10:11Okay.
10:11So the, the people who rank these things, you know, obviously they're not always correct.
10:15I don't think it's a Homer bias or anything like that.
10:18I mean, how are you saying level of competition?
10:19He's saying in the state of Michigan, you're judging that tape against athletes who aren't as good.
10:23I understand that.
10:24But the people who are making those evaluations, you know, Brian Kelly and, you know, all the other schools that
10:30wanted Bryce Underwood, they saw the same tape.
10:33Yeah.
10:34I mean, I would think five star QBs live up less to their star rating than any other position.
10:40Yes.
10:40I mean, it's just so hard for a quarterback to make.
10:43And there's so many variables.
10:46Speed of the game, the processing, the scheme, your protection.
10:51I mean, look, all of it.
10:52Some people don't even think he's great right now.
10:54And he's not, but you know, how long did it take Arch Manning to become respectable where he's probably, if
11:02he, if his progress keeps going up, he will be a, he might be a early pick in the draft
11:08next year.
11:09Not holding my breath on Underwood after watching no development last season, but he has a better chance to be
11:13good than this staff than he ever did with Sharon.
11:16That's Zach and Lansing.
11:17I think that's fair.
11:17Yes.
11:18U of M isn't paying him.
11:19It's a donor.
11:20The coach has no obligation to play him.
11:21If he's not the best QB on the roster, Landon in Waterford, Michigan football talk on June one.
11:28Thanks a lot.
11:28Tigers, something or nothing.
11:31Phone calls and feedback played again for, if you missed it, Eric Weddle on Bryce Underwood, 97.
11:35One.
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