Ohio State legend Kirk Herbstreit has been making waves recently for his high praise of Michigan’s star quarterback, Bryce Underwood. Even as a proud Buckeye, Herbstreit hasn’t been able to hide his excitement about the young signal-caller’s talent and his on-field swagger.

“I think he’s going to have a massive jump, you would expect,” Herbstreit said with awe on the Crain & Cone podcast.

“There are times when, if you’re just evaluating him, you have to be careful of just walking away with really concrete thoughts of a guy that’s playing as an 18-year-old and an offense that would take two steps forward, one step back. They didn’t really have any receivers… I think he’s going to kind of take off this offseason.”

While the 2025 season had some ups and downs (which is totally normal for a freshman), Herbstreit is predicting a big leap for Underwood in 2026.

He pointed out that it was tough for Bryce last year because Michigan didn’t have many veteran receivers to help him out, and the offense felt like it was constantly taking ‘two steps forward and one step back’. Now that he’s got a full season under his belt, Herbstreit expects him to really take off this coming year.

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The numbers from his first year give a good look at why people are so hyped. He threw for 2,428 yards and 11 touchdowns, and he wasn’t afraid to use his legs either, picking up 392 rushing yards and 6 scores on the ground. Sure, he had 9 interceptions, but Herbstreit says you have to be careful not to judge a teenager too harshly when the whole team is still figuring things out.

Now, with Chase Herbstreit on the team, Kirk really couldn’t stop hearing how great Bryce is as both a gunslinger and a human being from his son.

“My own son cannot say enough good things about him,” Herbstreit said. “Which tells me a lot about the way the locker room feels about him and his work ethic, and his approach to his job. Which I love.”

Looking ahead to 2026, things are looking even brighter with Kyle Whittingham. So you can expect a top-10 or top-12 defense every season. One of the many reasons analysts say Bryce Underwood had a down year is that Sherrone Moore’s Michigan offense didn’t play to his strengths.

The good news is that Kyle Whittingham brought in a new offensive coordinator, Jason Beck, from the Utah Utes, to play to Bryce’s advantages. Beck has even worked with power-scrambling quarterbacks like Taysom Hill and Devon Dampier before. It should be another day in the office for the former Utah OC.

More importantly, Whittingham promised to build the entire playbook around his specific sweet spots. And another reason you can bet on Bryce Underwood’s stock is that he’s already linking up and putting in reps with Patrick Mahomes’ QB whisperer.

Jordan Palmer to bring Bryce Underwood to new heights

Michigan’s star quarterback, Bryce Underwood, is officially spending his 2026 offseason to level up. He’s headed out to Southern California to work with Jordan Palmer, the famous quarterback guru behind NFL superstars like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and many more.

The training is going down at Palmer’s QB Summit. There, they use high-tech biomechanical data to fix every little detail of a player’s throw. The goal is to make sure he can deliver accurate passes even when the pocket is collapsing or throw from awkward, off-balance positions.

Take Josh Allen, for example. The Bills’ QB was a human highlight reel with a completion percentage of only 52.8% in his rookie year. After working with Palmer to stabilize his mechanics and feet, he eventually skyrocketed that number to a career-high 69.3% in 2025.

Joe Burrow is another prime example. Palmer used biometric sensors to show him how to stop throwing from his toes. Within a few days, his ball velocity went from 48.5 mph to 54 mph. Then there’s Super Bowl LX champ Sam Darnold. Jordan Palmer is the prime engineer behind his redemption arc. The Wolverines fans are expecting a similar jump from Bryce Underwood.