Thus far in the young career of Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood, the former No. 1 ranked high school recruit has failed to live up to the lofty expectations placed on him. As a result, one former Michigan star gave him a bit of tough love prior to Michigan's matchup on Saturday against the Oklahoma Sooners. Going into his sophomore season, many expected for Underwood to take a significant jump after a rather underwhelming freshman campaign.
However, Underwood's performance in a controversial Week 1 win over Western Michigan raised eyebrows for the wrong reasons, committing two turnovers and completing just 54.5 percent of his passes. Naturally, there are many questioning Underwood's future at the University of Michigan moving forward. This list seems to include Michigan alumni Taylor Lewan, who sent a message to Underwood prior to the team's Week 2 matchup against Oklahoma.
"Clearly, what we saw in Week 1 was not good enough," said Lewan on ESPN's pregame show Bussin' & Pate On Campus. "It's so easy to say that. The kid gets paid millions of dollars and he needs to play better.
If he doesn't, he will most likely lose his job. All of those things are absolutely true." More news: Steve Sarkisian Throws Huge Shade at Lane Kiffin, LSU Before Texas-Ohio State While Lewan clearly seems to share the frustrations of many Michigan fans regarding Underwood's play early on in the 2026 season, he did offer Underwood some advice on dealing with the pressure of playing quarterback for the Wolverines. "If I am in his camp, I am sitting there and saying listen to it, digest it, this is the real world right now," added Lewan.
"You get paid a lot of money. There are a lot of expectations on you. If you do not perform, the worst thing is going to happen.
He needs to run the football as much as possible. He needs to protect the football when he is throwing it. But more than anything, he needs to let the guard rails off of himself.
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