Bryce Underwood came into college football with a lot of expectations as the number one prospect in the high school class of 2025. His NIL deal was among the most expensive for a player while still in high school, which is why the criticism was also always going to be there after a bad performance. For Underwood, that came after almost every game in his freshman year.

He played 13 games, and although there were glimpses, it was largely not matching the almost $10-$12 million valuation of his NIL deal. After swallowing some hard shots from former NFL safety Eric Weddle days ago, a former Wolverines QB has shared what the young player needs to focus on going into the next season.

“Self awareness,” Devin Gardner pointed out on THE BLUE PRINT podcast. “This is something that I think is ignored a lot of times by people who are ranking, recruiting, quarterbacks, all these different things, drafting quarterbacks.”

Gardner was not without evidence when discussing Underwood’s lack of self-awareness. He highlighted the game vs Michigan State, where Underwood underperformed and completed just eight of 17 passes for 86 yards without a touchdown or interception. His saving grace was a 13-yard rushing touchdown that was part of his 26 rushing yards on 5 carries.

Regardless, the Wolverines won 31-20, but Gardner seemed to have an issue with Underwood’s countenance after a win he hardly contributed to. He compared Underwood’s display to his own performance in 2013 against UConn, where the Wolverines also secured a narrow 24-21 win despite playing with a struggling quarterback (Gardner). A major highlight was when he fumbled the ball, which UConn returned for a defensive touchdown, putting Michigan down by 14 points early in the second half.

“Imagine if I had gone to the stands to sign autographs during the game, right?” Gardner added. “Then, I go out, take an eat, and have a choreographed back flip after playing, after putting us in position to lose the game a number of times. Imagine how you would feel toward me if you saw that?”

While self-awareness is something Gardner definitely wants Underwood to work on, he also mentioned footwork and timing, and understanding coverages as the two other parts of the game the Wolverines QB needed to improve.

“I think those three things alone, footwork and timing, self-awareness, and understanding what the coverage is trying to do, I think those three things alone win you two extra games,” said Gardner. “Two games that you probably shouldn’t win, it’s in the balance, whatever, but the Quarterback has been so good in those three areas that it propels you ahead.”

Underwood is still only 18 and has a lot of football left in him. The young player certainly will be hoping to incorporate the learnings from his freshman year into Year 2, as a lot of spotlight is going to continue being on him. There is no doubt that Underwood is a stellar QB, but he has to now prove that he is worth the hype, or else things could start getting tricky for him.

Bryce Underwood cryptically responds to Eric Weddle

Eric Weddle has been open about his criticism of Underwood. After he initially showed support for the young QB when he first went to the Wolverines, his poor performances seemed to turn Weddle’s stance on him.

Kyle Whittingham was one of Weddle’s coaches at Utah. He, along with his son, Gaige Weddle, a 2028 four-star running back who is being recruited by the Wolverines, recently visited the school. This brought him to Michigan’s spring ball, where his only takeaway was Underwood’s poor display. He spoke about that on The Rich Eisen Show.

“Is he talented? Yes. Is he a freak of nature? Yeah. No one’s denying that,” Weddle told Eisen. “I’m not naive to that, but I do know what high-level championship quarterback play looks like. I tried stopping these guys my whole career. My expectation when I watch quarterbacks is, ‘Can he lead this team to a championship or not?’”

Underwood, who for the most part did not respond to Weddle’s comments, decided to fight back this time. He posted a cryptic caption on his story, which read, “stay zzz.” Underwood basically asked Weddle to keep sleeping through his caption.

Now, jawing back at a former NFL pro is not something that you want to be doing after one year in college. After all, his criticism was directed toward Underwood’s game. If he wants an opportunity to prove Weedle and the other critics wrong, the Wolverines player should be doing it on the field.  After having already painted the target on him, he will have to show up with better performances, or the criticism is only expected to get louder, especially from Weddle.