Will Bryce Underwood ever develop at Michigan?

0:00I'm going to go back to the first round. Let's get back to your open line. Calls are going to Kyle. Who's next on 97 one. Hello, Kyle. How are you guys doing today? What's up? Good. I'd like to talk about Michigan State and then Michigan. I'm a Michigan state fan. I think it's a good time to see the team was pretty much over. It felt good to see once we got down 20 to 19. Like, oh man, we need to score right away. They did. At least he'll drove, drove right down the field. You look calm and collected. Not really panicked. And we scored right away. And that felt good to see. And not not not only that Kyle, not only did you score, you were aggressive and went forward on four down. Instead of kicking the field goal, you were the touchdown they got it and they got the two point conversion.

1:00That should make Michigan state fans feel really good about it. And the fact that he's a sophomore and he loves according to the announcers, according to the clubs playing for Michigan State, he loves these lansing. Could be a three year starter for us. Now on the other side of that, I like to talk about Michigan and Bryce Underwood for a second. I like Bryce Underwood. I really think he is a legitimate Heisman contender. The athletic ability, the size, the arm strength. I mean, he played, I know he played really bad Saturday, but the guys got an unbelievable amount of potential. I think Michigan fans are, Michigan fans are jumping on them a little bit too early. I really think he's legit Heisman contender. That's all I mean, look, I think Michigan's been known for Heisman's September Heisman's going back to what Tate Forciay and things like that. He doesn't have vision yet to be a Heisman trophy.

2:02Yeah, I wouldn't go that far. Is it over for price? No. Some fans have given up and I always say you're entitled to your opinion. We took calls for two years about how Jay-Jee Macarte was overrated and would never amount to anything. And so I'm not, the people that we're in a world, okay? Where there's instant analysis, instant hot takes, instant conclusions. And it's actually getting harder and harder to do what we like to do, which is take our time, see the evidence, keep things in perspective. It's getting really hard to do that in the current environment. Oh, yeah. Well, I guess now I did a fairer foul, you know, which is like basically hot takes. That Jay-Jeeb, you can and well, Jay-Jeeb, you can and have a better NFL career than Jay-Macarte.

3:02So that's our so you're a prime example. And I'm not at this point. You know, as as Wittingham said yesterday and I was interesting because I wondered what he would say when he said it's not infinite. I'm like, no, no, it's not and it can't be. But it, you know, players develop at different speeds at different times. And the days of seasoning in the background feel like they're mostly over. And so you take your lumps publicly. And I guess some guys get to season in the background, but a guy like him. Right. Season in the background should have happened last year. Unfortunately, it didn't for a variety of reasons. Yeah. Bottom line is kids got some great tools and they have to figure out. And this is, this is job one this week. And I'd be sitting down and going, okay, what do we know he can do? And yeah, it might narrow our playbook,

4:05but there are some things we know he can do. What are we going to and that's how we got to craft our game plan. But he can do it physically, but when you see things like, you know, he can run. When you see plays where there's an RPO where instead of giving the ball, which he did, if he didn't and took it, he would still be running. Those are the things that he has to get better at. And look, I'm not putting it all on him because you can ask the question, what was the worst thing about Saturday forgetting the end of the game or whatever? The coaching, the quarterback or the offensive line? Well, the thing that let me, I thought was the biggest let down was the offensive line. But let me ask you this. When I say they got to figure out what he can do and narrow the playbook and do those things. Right. What would you do if you were coaching him, if you were putting together a game plan? I would try to figure out a way where you have a game plan where he can't just stare down one receiver. I mean, he does that all the time and he does have good skills for running the football,

5:11but he's got to somehow figure out a way when to use his skills. So you, so you wouldn't narrow the playbook? No, because I don't think the playbook is very vast anyway. Well, I mean, they didn't have, I mean, did that besides for what's his name, a half, half mainly the breadest in this year, Jalen Hoffman. Okay, they didn't throw to any of their other tight ends. This is a team with some decent tight ends. Well, again, so you would, you would keep the offensive same and hope he gets better for the time being. Yeah, because they don't do anything else. I would do anything great. And he sits at least in my mind, vast, there's a limited playbook and he has anyway. We would have, we would have a different approach. I would make it even more limited and really focus on those things that you think and know. Hey, this is what he can do. Let's see, from an on named text, I watch underwood several times in high school. And there is no denying is a flat capability and running and throwing the ball.

6:14That was a 60 our past and the game Saturday. It seems he lacks the mental acuity required to move up and college ball. Well, here's the thing about that is now that might be the case now. Might be. The game slows down for people. The longer you play it, the more you learn. And I remember talking to coaching members of the Michigan coaching staff when Tom Brady was in his fifth year. And one of them told me there are times where Tom Brady will have a perfect half in decision making. And that doesn't mean he completes every past, but he would literally have a perfect half where when there was nothing there, he throw it away or take the sack. But he was making every right decision all the time. And that wasn't a memory of his first pass. His first pass at Michigan was a pick six the other direction. Right. And so there are learning curves and it could still come with price. But he, you know, it's got to come in a hurry or they're going to have to make a change because they're not.

7:19They can't stay around a weight. No, they still got to try and win games. And if somebody else gives him a better chance to win a game, whether it be Tommy Carr, Braden, Fowler, Nicolose, you for a bunch of yards, put a big stats car out of state. The transfer then so be it. But anyway, I still would think that Bryce gives him the best chance of win this weekend. Let's see, I hope they aren't loyal to under one do a fall. He has all the physical tools and ability, but that doesn't make him a good quarterback. It's clear he's not good enough to play at this level. That's from Kevin. Well, I mean, again, I suppose if the, if the evaluation is done of Bryce right now and he's never going to get any better, I would agree. Right. But if guys do improve, you have to assume he's going to get better, but we're in a different time period of college football, where you can't wait as long as you used to. No. 2485 3997 97 Craig and Fallaville. Hi, Craig. Hey, good morning, guys. What's up? So it was only brought up the point about, you know, how they're reminded the offense is you didn't use the word narrow-minded,

8:19but focused on certain things and not not very creative. I think that's a tradition that mission mission can write for that early scrimmage game. If you want to call it that, that they don't want to show anything getting ready for Oklahoma, especially a new coaching staff. So that's my one point there. The other point I had was I thought Bryce deteriorated after all his mechanics deteriorated after the first drive. If you remember, they were showing well, you were doing the game, but on TV, they were showing highlighting his footwork. And the balls he did deliver on that first drive, his feet were underneath them. He was opening his hips and pointed at the receiver, you know, and made good clean throws. And then after that, and it wasn't totally for pressure, he was his feet were a mess. The rest of the game, it was almost like, yes, he now I got it. I'm constantly keeping it simple. And then he just defaulted back to what he's always done. I feel like it's I got golf swing after a lesson after a lesson. I feel like my golf swing, the first few holes. I'm actually got a chance to score. And then I revert back to the old same crap.

9:21I crag it that first drive, it wasn't perfect. Okay, no, no, that, but it was still, it clearly their best drive of the game in a, in a, everything else was kind of an empty set. So, you know, they got, maybe they got a script like 50 plays instead of scripting. But I think I fortunate enough one of those book plays, still with it wasn't an interception. All right. Yes, straight ahead. We hear the best of what Dan Campbell had to say yesterday, including someone who forced his way onto the roster. That is next here on 97.