ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- In the 90 seconds of chaos as nobody knew just who had won the Michigan vs. Western Michigan season opener, Michigan quarterback coach Koy Detmer only had one message for Bryce Underwood.
"The biggest thing that I'm telling him there was, 'Give us a chance,'" Detmer told CBS Sports. "One, you're in shock of what happened, and you're kind of back to like, all right, here we go. We got one more chance. Give us a chance. Just give us a chance. A little more air on it, so that way our guys have a chance to make a play. And so that was kind of the biggest thing talking to him. And he did, and he threw a hell of a ball."
Underwood threw the first Hail Mary attempt out of bounds; ironically, it was so far out of the back of the end zone that no Michigan receiver could get his hands on it. The referees infamously ruled Western Michigan's Micah Davis had stepped out of bounds before touching the ball, ruling the play dead with one second left. It encapsulated the night's performance and his lack of evolution as a passer.
For Underwood, as it is with many quarterbacks, inaccuracy starts with footwork. A key play happened in that Western Michigan game. On an early third down in the second quarter, Underwood missed a wide-open running back in the flat for what would have been an easy first down. It's the little things that Michigan is trying to get him to refine as a passer. Much has been made of Underwood not having a true quarterback coach in Year 1 under Sherrone Moore. When Detmer first got Underwood, they leaned into his strengths throwing outside the pocket on the move. During spring and summer, the focus shifted to developing his game inside the pocket.
"Whenever there is any inaccuracy, I think it always starts from the ground up, and I think sometimes whether it be alignment, feet, shoulders, whatever that case may be, is where he can sometimes maybe be a little bit off, and we always try to, in practice, try to make everything as stressful as possible, specifically with the pocket and everything that we're doing individual-wise," Detmer said. "Because sometimes you can kind of feel that rush or feel that pocket collapsing on your feet, where now maybe you're not able to get into your throw. And I think that's sometimes where the inaccuracies come from. And so just continuing every day, in individual and in practice, as much as we can, create those kind of tougher situations around the pocket, so that then when we get into game, then we're better stepping our throw, being aligned, and those sort of things."
The passing game can also be helped by the emergence of another option at receiver. JJ Buchannon, who caught the Hail Mary, has had a good start to the year. Andrew Marsh finally emerged in Week 3 against UTEP. The Wolverines need more as they progress throughout the season and an offensive line that will stay static this week after rotation early on (albeit with an injury to right tackle Andrew Sprague).
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In Week 2 against Oklahoma, Underwood's usage clearly changed. Underwood had 18 rushing attempts, including designed runs to add a different element to the offense and showcase the physical prowess that made Underwood the No. 1 recruit in the nation coming out of high school. Offensive coordinator Jason Beck says the uptick in rushing attempts wasn't a change of plan coming into the season, more so just a tweak to attack the Sooners.
"That's something Bryce does well," Beck told reporters. That's a strength of his. Like I said, we got to emphasize securing that football, but he's doing a really nice job in that. There are certain weeks that's more of an emphasis. There's certain weeks there's a little less there, and then some of that's dictated because on most run plays we're reading somebody. So are they making that a pull read for Bryce? Are they making that a give read to the back, so that can skew the numbers some ways. But with Oklahoma, there was definitely more QB-designed runs just in our attack for that opponent.
Against OU, there were some missed exchanges between Underwood and freshman running back Savion Hiter, where Underwood was trying to pull the ball but couldn't because Hiter was a tad overeager, according to Detmer. The fix there is more reps. Those are the little things Michigan must clean up moving forward to improve the run game. Beck added that Michigan's entire run game needs to be better on the perimeter, which involves both the tight ends and receivers blocking outside and the ball carriers making good decisions.
