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Stuck in a Timeshar and one out? Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free Timeshare exit information kit at Wesley Financial Group dot Amongst all the NFL news, like Kenny Pickett now being traded to the Raiders, Hendrickson getting his deal. We got some news today that came down in the college football world as well. Michigan, the Wolverines, may be on a little bit of a bounce back. But they're still in the news as well.
Bryce Underwood is going to get the start as a true freshman. They had a great commitment last week with Savion Haider. And we know about the punishment to the school and to Sharon Moore. To talk about all things Michigan, joining us right now with someone who covers the team for the Ann Arbor News as well as M Live. Thank you so much to Aaron McMahon for coming through.
Aaron, how are you? I'm well, good good evening, good to be with you.
Well, thank you for taking the time.
Well, we learned that we got an 18-year-old 6'4, 230-pound quarterback, Bryce Underwood. Is going to take the lead here for the Michigan Wolverines. This is quite a fast turn, right? Swapping out from LSU, committing to Michigan, and now he's getting a start. Yeah, freshly minted 18-year-old, too.
He just turned 18 last week. Yeah, it's been quite an interesting last nine months or so. I mean, this is a kid who, as you said, was originally committed to LSU. Michigan kind of swooped in last minute, offered a. A lucrative NIL package to kind of convince him to stay home and play for the Wolverines.
And here he is, their starting quarterback. You know, at the same time, I'm not that surprised. I've been calling it kind of the worst kept secret in Ann Arbor for the last, really the last couple of months. You know, the situation was right for him to come in and win the job. Michigan really struggled last year at quarterback, started three different guys, two of them left.
And the third guy is injured.
So, you know, Michigan tried to bring in some competition to push Bryce Underwood a little bit. They brought in a transfer from Fresno State and Mikey Keene, a highly productive kid who started in 35 games at the college level. He's been banged up and injured pretty much since he got to Michigan.
So he hasn't been able to practice a ton.
So, you know, in a way, the red carpet's been kind of rolled out. And Bryce Underwood, you know, Michigan just wrapped up camp and the coaches decided that they're going to roll with him this year. Is he gonna get a a long rope and a long leash throughout the course of the season? It sounds that way. You know, Sharon Moore was asked that today.
The coach has been asked that question. It sounds like they're prepared to ride with him for a while. Through the ups, you know, through the downs that are surely going to happen, right? This is a talented kid. He was a five-star kid at high school, highly successful, won two state titles here in the state of Michigan.
He had all the big programs after him. He was number one recruiting the country for a reason. But that doesn't come without pitfalls, right? He's going to make mistakes. Folks close to him have said that, right?
He's not going to be perfect every game. And I think Michigan's okay with that. This is kind of going to be a testing season for him to see how he fares. And look, Michigan's schedule early on isn't easy. And they go to Oklahoma week two and they open the Big Ten slate week four at Nebraska.
So he's going to get some tests here early on. And most definitely, Michigan football beat writer Aaron McMahon is here with us on the JR Sport Brief Show. You talk about Sharon Moore, we know that he'll be out there for the first game against New Mexico. But then he's going to miss games three and games four. How is that potentially going to affect the development of Bryce Underwood and then the team in a whole?
Yeah, that's a good question, right? When you look at big picture, Schroen isn't coaching the quarterback.
So, in terms of development for Bryce, I don't see it having much of a factor. If anything, You know, it it it w it will matter. I mean, he's that coach. He dictates how practice goes. He dictates the the the the I'm the lead of the team.
But if there's anything we've learned about this Michigan program the last few years, they've kind of been able to withstand some of that stuff. I mean, they played without Jim Harbaugh a few years back for six games, they will do it just fine. You know, it will be noticeable. Obviously, he won't be in the silence. He won't be at practice in those days leading up to those games.
Sharon's going to have to find an interim, find someone to take over for him. But in terms of Bryce Underwood, I don't see him having much of an impact. They brought in a veteran offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Chip Lindsey this offseason to kind of help mold Bryce Underwood, turning him into that NFL prodigy that some folks think he can eventually be. And I think that's going to really what matters when it comes to Bryce. Even outside of Sharon's two games that he's going to miss, we know that the school got hit with a 20, can be a 20 to 30 million dollar five.
Fine as a result of the recruiting violations, and then also taking a look obviously at the sign stealing. There's some people who go, hey, it's Michigan. Who cares about 20, 30 million? Still a lot of money, if you ask me. What are your thoughts on the financial part of the punishment?
Yeah, I think it's a bigger hit than some folks think. As you said, I think some casual fans or some folks look at the penalties and think, oh, it's money. As you said, Michigan can deal with it. They have the boosters to pay it. And that may be the case.
But you've also got to factor in these days. I mean, Athletic department budgets are more pressured than ever before with revenue sharing and NIL pressure and everything else. In fact, Michigan's athletic director earlier this year was coming out and saying, he came out and said, hey, we need to find new revenue streams to help pay the bills here because they're paying out the $20.5 million a year to student athletes.
So that money is going to have to be made up elsewhere, whether it's from boosters and donors, maybe the collective's having to step in a little bit and increase their funding. But it's not a small tuck of change. I mean, that's almost a good chunk. That's almost an entire athletic department budget at a MAC or Sunbelt school.
So in terms of Michigan, it's probably 20 to 25% of the budget. But again, That's going to force the athletic department and their AD to have to go to the school and say, hey, we need money to help make up this gap. The Recap Show is an unfiltered inside look into the world of global soccer and women's sports. Follow and listen to The Recap Show wherever you get your podcasts. Aaron McMahon is here with us, Michigan football writer for Ann Arbor News, as well as M Live.
Well, yeah, somebody got to pay the bills. Bryce Underwood, Saviona Hyder, guys are coming in. Michigan is still having no problem going out here recruiting. We know defense is probably going to carry them throughout the course of this season. What are you expecting from the team in general?
Yeah, it's a good question. You know, they've got a lot of question marks really on both sides of the ball. You know, we talked about Bryce Underwood and how he's going to look like. They're expecting the offensive line to take a step forward with a group that wasn't very good last year, along with a group of receivers that really underperformed each season ago.
So I think the expectation is that the offense will be better than it was last year. That's not very hard to do given Michigan's ineptness throwing the football last year. The question just is how much of a leap they make. And I think that's going to determine really the trajectory of this Michigan football team. I think the defense, look, they lost a lot of big names last year.
Guys who went NFL draft first round, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Will Johnson, those all-American names. But they did a good job of kind of backfilling them with depth. I look at this. Rolster defensively, it really reminds me of their 2023 national championship team where you didn't have a lot of hope, like. Household names, but you had a lot of guys that can go in and play, and there wasn't a ton of drop-off with the second guys that came in the field.
So they're about they're gonna you know depend on depth on the defensive side of the ball. And they're going to lean on the offense to take a step forward with Bryce Hunter at quarterback. And I think, realistically speaking, I think you're looking at probably an eight or nine win Michigan team. It certainly were better than what they were last year, 7-5 in the regular season. And it took wins over Ohio State and Alabama in the bowl game to get eight wins.
So I think you're looking at a Michigan team that's. Maybe not necessarily competing for a Big Ten title, but on the outskirts looking in when it comes to the playoff picture at the end of the year.
Well, Aaron, with all the names that happen to be committing to the Wolverines, at what point in time do you think they'll get back into that championship contention for Big Ten titles and elsewhere? And how much rope is Sharon Moore going to get in trying to get them back there? Yeah, I think they're really a year or two away. You know, you mentioned the recruiting, and you can make a case Sharon Moore is recruiting better than Jim Harbaugh ever did in Michigan. Jim Harbaugh and his staff were very good at identifying three and four levels, four-star recruits and kind of molding them into their way of thinking, a way of doing things and turning them NFL, you know, developing them into NFL prospects.
Sharon Moore is kind of chasing those high fours and five-star kids, those guys that are those superstar high school recruits and trying to bring them in and getting them to play right away. You've seen that with Bryce Underwood. You mentioned Savian Heider, the five-star running back they have coming in next year. They got a five-star offensive tackle this year that they thought was really a shot to start. You ended up getting a season-ending knee injury last week and won't be able to play this year.
But they're really kind of going after those high-level kids. And if a good chunk of those players turn out, I do think you're going to see Michigan back in the national title picture maybe next year or certainly 2027. It seems that way.
Well, you mentioned Jim Harbaugh. They won the national championship. That's what people care about. They want to see the Wolverines go out there and beat Ohio State. Uh it Does anybody care?
Like the general sentiment amongst Wolverines, the fans, the community. Are people still don't care? They're like, hey, Harbar brought us a championship. He went back to the NFL. And okay, yeah, sure, we got fine.
People are just, have people moved on? Does it hurt as much? Yeah, it's a good question. I don't think they care much here in Ann Arbor. I think they're happy with the national title.
You got to remember, you know, before the national title win in 2023, Michigan had gone a very long time, you know, more than 25 years without winning a national championship. And up until 2021, Jim Harbaugh had largely underwhelmed. He had a decent record. Wasn't able to beat Ohio State. They weren't able to win a Big Ten title.
So I think the fan base was so desperate and so they wanted championships. They wanted success. And I think they got a taste of that in 2021 and 2022. And then obviously winning the national title in 23. In a way, they become, in a way, kind of what they detested, right?
There was always this inclination up here in the north that the SEC was a bunch of cheaters and that was the reason they won national titles and everything else. Whereas Michigan bent the rules. You can make the case, if not cheated, to win a national championship. And I think when all said and done, I think Michigan fans are largely fine with it. They bent the rules.
They did things that maybe other schools weren't doing. But they got the national championship on it. They got success. They won titles. It was a great three-year run here in Ann Arbor.
And I think they wouldn't trade that for anything. Yeah, you sign up and and keep it. Hey, Aaron, thank you so much for the time, lending your expertise. Where can people follow you and all of your work covering the Wolverines? Yeah, we're at mlive.com/slash Wolverines.
And then I'm on X Twitter at Aaron McMahon, Aaron with two A's, and McMahon, M-C-M-A-N-N. Hey, Aaron, we'll catch you on down the line. Thank you for the time. Yeah, thanks for having me. The Recap Show is an unfiltered inside look into the world of global soccer and women's sports and all things culture.
From two U.S. Women's National Team World Cup champions and Olympians, follow and listen to The Recap Show wherever you get your podcasts. Mm.
