Michigan football has Bryce Underwood problem Kyle Whittingham must fix | Opinion

You want the unvarnished take? Here it is:

Bryce Underwood was headed for the bust-bin before Michigan hired Kyle Whittingham.

Whatever recruiting evaluators saw in Underwood, it never materialized at Michigan.

Underwood’s stall began his freshman season. It continued after Whittingham’s coaching staff arrived on the heels of Sherrone Moore flinging his own career into the trash compactor.

Whittingham says making wholesale changes at midseason would be “panic mode,” so he’s not benching Underwood.

“We feel that at this point, (Underwood) still gives us the best chance to win,” Whittingham said.

OK, but Michigan obviously needs a new starting quarterback next season.

Never mind the figures on Underwood’s NIL paycheck, he’s not the quarterback solution at Michigan.

The bigger question: Can Whittingham solve Michigan’s yearslong quarterback woes?

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Although Whittingham is not to blame for Underwood — he’s not the coach who initially hitched the wagon to this guy — an examination of his career raises caution flags about quarterback development.

In Whittingham’s 22 seasons as a Division I coach, he’s never had a quarterback selected in the NFL Draft.

That’s as shocking as it is true.

If I’m Michigan, I’m not panicking about Underwood’s fizzle. Chalk him up as an overrated prospect and move on. I am, however, worried about Whittingham’s career-long inability to develop an elite quarterback. Is Underwood’s regression the canary in the coal mine?

Kyle Whittingham known for defense, not quarterbacks

Alex Smith remains the last quarterback drafted out of Utah, in 2005, following Urban Meyer’s final season coaching the Utes.

Whittingham succeeded Meyer, and he steered the Utes as a reliable winner known for tenacity and defense.

You’re seeing those classic Whittingham hallmarks of toughness and resilience displayed in his first season at Michigan. You also see quarterback warts and an offense that’s averaged 15.8 points in four games against opponents not named hapless Texas-El Paso.

Back at Utah, quarterback Devon Dampier is enjoying a career-best season under rookie coach Morgan Scalley and offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven. You could argue this is just the type of acceleration you’d expect from a talented senior like Dampier.

Here’s what you cannot argue: Utah’s quarterback improved after Whittingham and offensive coordinator Jason Beck left town.

Michigan’s quarterback kept sputtering after Whittingham and Beck arrived in town.

What must backup quarterback Tommy Carr be thinking? He signed to play where his grandfather coached, but this isn’t the coaching staff Carr committed to.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

1. Ride it out with Underwood for two more games. If his struggles persist against Penn State and Indiana, Whittingham needs to pull the plug, start Carr against Rutgers on Oct. 31, and wish Underwood well in his future endeavors. Whittingham says Carr “sure looks good in practice.” OK, let’s see how he looks in a Big Ten game. Michigan needs to emerge from this season knowing whether Carr is a potential answer in 2027 or if it needs to purchase a solution from the portal.

2. If the Whittingham-Beck tandem doesn’t start to show itself as a combination that can develop NFL-caliber quarterbacks, Michigan can expect to face difficulty retaining or attracting talented QBs. Whittingham isn’t stripping Beck of play-calling duties midseason. Fair enough. What about re-examining Beck’s duties after the season and hiring an ace quarterback developer to pair alongside Whittingham’s defensive acumen?

Bryce Underwood not the answer at Michigan, but is he only problem?

No changes are coming in the short-term for Michigan. In the long-term, Whittingham sounds more committed to his offensive coordinator than to his struggling starting quarterback.

“Jason Beck’s track record has been very, very good offensively,” Whittingham said this week, “and it’s been an offense that has been very hard for defenses to deal with when it’s functioning at the level that it needs to function at.”

Everybody’s offense is hard to deal with when it’s functioning at a high level, but Beck’s offense hasn’t functioned at that level in any game this season except for the one game when an acronym opponent stumbled in from the Mountain West’s cellar.

Utah led the Big 12 in offense last season, so Whittingham has seen proof of concept from Beck’s offense, but the Big Ten is not the Big 12.

The Whittingham-Beck-Underwood connection failed.

Is fixing that as simple as swapping out the quarterback, or is this the sound of a canary coughing in the coal mine?

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, “College Football Unfiltered.”Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michigan football has Bryce Underwood problem Kyle Whittingham must fix | Opinion