For those who do not know, Bryce Underwood is a 6’4″, 215lb Belleville High School quarterback who is making a name for himself in the football world. This is due to a multitude of reasons, such as his top-tier football IQ, his powerful arm strength, and what sources say may be his best trait: his athleticism. In this article, his Belleville career, commitment switch, and future at Michigan will be discussed.
Bryce Underwood was born on August 19th, 2007, and was a true freshman at Belleville High School. Starting his career with an amazing season, Bryce threw for over 2800 yards and 39 touchdowns while having 6 rushing yards. That season Belleville went on to win the D1 Football State Championship with Underwood throwing for 340 yards and 5 touchdowns. With Bryce Underwood ending the season in a crazy finish he won MaxPreps National Freshman of the Year, and Michigan Associated Press Division 1 Player of the Year.
Rolling into the sophomore year (2023-2024), Belleville played against Woodhaven, winning 41-0 in an absolute battle. That year, Bryce continued to improve throwing for 2762 yards and 37 touchdowns. However, that isn’t even his most impressive stat, as he rushed for 632 yards and 8 touchdowns, earning him MaxPreps Sophomore of the Year along with Michigan MaxPreps Player of the Year.
By the time the 2023-2024 season came around, Bryce accumulated over 30 offers and was recognized as a top talent in the Class of 2025. Bryce Underwood then went on to prove everyone right. Throwing for 3,300 yards and 44 touchdowns while only having 3 interceptions, Underwood exceeded everyone’s expectations and made a name for himself. Capturing social media’s attention, Bryce Underwood was known everywhere for his athleticism and his awareness in the pocket. That combined with, as scouts say, “his ability to move the chains with his legs as he builds speed and dodges defenders” helped him rank up to a 5-star prospect entering his senior season. Bryce Underwood was ranked a 5-star and the #1 overall prospect by 247 Sports and Rivals, making him a highly sought-after recruit.
His senior year, he passed for 2,500 yards and 32 touchdowns maintaining a 71.8 completion rate, which was 6.9% better than his outstanding junior year. On the ground, he rushed for 600 yards and 6 touchdowns once again proving his agility and mobility in and out of the pocket. Ending his 4 year career at Belleville High School, Bryce was credited with 12,919 combined yards with 179 touchdowns showing how dominant he was at the Quarterback position.
With over 50 college offers, Bryce Underwood had many options on where to go however the main factor was the NIL Deals. Originally, Bryce verbally committed to LSU on January 6th, 2024, attending a couple of their games when he went on visits. However, everything changed when money and fans got involved. Throughout the 24-25 season, the University of Michigan learned that their QBs were not everything they thought they were, resulting in a 7-5 season which was drastically different than their prior season. Michigan wanted a real-deal quarterback. That quarterback was Bryce Underwood.
It started with the owner of Barstool and Michigan fan, Dave Portnoy expressing interest in Bryce’s skills and turned into an offer of 2-3 million dollars of his own money. However, that money didn’t pique Underwood’s interest, as he stayed strong for LSU, attending another visit and posting them on social media platforms. Michigan wanted him badly and they were willing to make some calls for that to happen. Hopping on numerous phone calls with Michigan representatives and some very rich people, another offer was made. This time, however, it was significantly larger. It was 10.5 Million dollars.
Michigan fans then crowded the stands of Belleville as they organized a “Keep Bryce Underwood and Elijah Dotson Home” tailgate. Hundreds of Michigan fans attended, chanting out Bryce and Elijah’s names in pursuit of flipping their commitments. This love and attention hoped to show them that they should stay in Michigan and that their work would be appreciated and admired. Along with that, the fans thought that if Bryce’s wide receiver 1 switched, then he would as well.
This pressure eventually broke 4-star Pitt commit Elijah Dotson as he then went on to switch commitments to the University of Michigan on 5/18/2024, with Bryce following shortly after. They then officially signed on December 5th, making it official that the two would attend the University of Michigan in the 2025-2026 season.