Underwood isn't capable of playing in most offenses

Underwood would thrive in a run-heavy spread option offense, where he only has to look for WR1 and WR2 before taking off running.

He's an incredible athlete, and a very good runner.

Last year, Chip Linsey ran a heavily dumbed down version of his classic spread / pro-style hybrid offense that was very much run-heavy. If anything, it was much more of the above run-heavy spread option mentioned above, since he could easily see Underwood's mental limitations.

They could do this with decent success, since they had a very good running back trio (Jordan Marshall, Justice Haynes, Bryson Kuzdzal), and that defense was very good in 2025.

If anything, I give Chip Linsey credit for being able to squeeze out that much performance from that 2025 squad.

This year, Kyle Whittingham brought his power spread offense, which is, by all rights, also a simple offense to master.

It's like a zone-read offense, but uses a good bit of man and gap blocking. It's easy to install, and doesn't require nearly as much studying by the linemen as a traditional zone blocking scheme.

The QB isn't asked to do much, that again, all he has to do is make a short look for WR1 and WR2, and if there isn't anyone open, look very quickly for the slot or TE, and then take off running if nobody is open. Typically, the QB doesn't have to stand in the pocket for very long, waiting for plays to develop.

If he can afford to stand in the pocket and wait for receivers to break open, then more power to the team.

The only thing besides the quick reads above that the QB has to do is make pass protection audibles before the snap. Even then, it's usually only having one or two guys shifting their blocking assignments.

Underwood's problem is that too many times, he didn't see WR1 or WR2 breaking open, and doesn't look for the slot / TE very often.

When it comes to pass protection audibles, I wouldn't even say that he has a bad ability at doing so, but rather, he has virtually no ability to do that.

Defenses didn't have to respect the passing game, and they could stack the box with 7 or 8 every play, which is why the 2026 Michigan team's running game fell flat.

In a nutshell? Bryce Underwood lacks the mental ability to run a collegiate level offense that requires at least some ability to process things on the fly, and it seems that he has developed the yips.