Bryce Underwood, Michigan’s Multimillion-Dollar Freshman Quarterback, Faces First Major Test Against Oklahoma

Bryce Underwood, the top quarterback in the high school class of 2025, was all set to attend LSU until Michigan made a last-minute push last fall. Tom Brady, a Michigan alum and seven-time Super Bowl champion, got involved, as did Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest man with a $272.8 billion net worth, according to Forbes. Underwood could reportedly earn more than $10 million in Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) agreements plus more in revenue sharing over the course of his college career, which helped sway him to sign with Michigan last December and enroll in the school a month later.

On Saturday night, less than three weeks after his 18th birthday, Underwood will face his first major challenge when he starts for No. 15 Michigan against No. 18 Oklahoma. Underwood made his college debut last Saturday, completing 21 of 31 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown in a 34-17 victory over New Mexico.

Still, he will have a much more difficult task on Saturday at Oklahoma, which itself has a new high-priced quarterback in John Mateer, who spent the past three seasons at Washington State.

As a junior last fall, Mateer completed 64.6% of his passes for 3,139 yards, 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions and ran for 826 yards and 15 touchdowns. He tied Miami quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick in April’s NFL draft, with 44 total touchdowns (passing and running) and was sixth in the nation with 9.0 passing yards per attempt and eighth with a 164.1 passer efficiency rating. Mateer had sat behind Ward for two seasons before having a breakthrough last year.

In early December, Oklahoma hired Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, and Mateer soon followed him. Mateer, who was first in ESPN’s transfer portal rankings and sixth in the 247Sports rankings, told ESPN in the spring that he passed up big money offers from Miami, North Carolina and other programs before signing with Oklahoma, which provided him with plenty of NIL and revenue sharing money, as well.

“They were throwing some freaking money at me, man — oh my God,” Mateer told ESPN. “But it wasn’t about that. They money was always going to come. The scheme and the fit had to be right.”

Mateer is facing pressure not only to perform for a major program but also to help solidify the standing of Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, who was inconsistent in his first three seasons. The Sooners entered last season ranked 16th in the preseason Associated Press poll, but they finished 6-7 overall and 2-6 in the Southeastern Conference and lost six of their final eight games.

Oklahoma opened last Saturday with a 35-3 victory over Illinois State, a Football Championship Subdivision program. Mateer completed 30 of 37 passes for 392 yards, setting a school record for most yards in a debut. He also threw for three touchdowns and ran for a touchdown.

Still, Mateer will have a bigger challenge Saturday when he squares off against Michigan, which is also coming off a disappointing season. After winning the national title in the 2023 season, the Wolverines were ninth in last year’s AP preseason poll. But they finished 8-5 and unranked in the final poll, although they won their final three games, including a 13-10 upset on the road over rival Ohio State and a 19-13 victory over Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

As the Wolverines struggled at times last season, they made a huge commitment to Underwood, who played at Belleville High School, about 15 miles from Michigan’s campus. Underwood had committed to LSU in January 2024 two days before Michigan won its first national championship since 1997. But Brady, who played at Michigan in the late 1990s, struck up a relationship with Underwood last fall, while Ellison and his wife, a Michigan alum, were “instrumental” in securing Underwood’s commitment, according to a statement from Champions Circle, a Michigan NIL collective. The statement added that the Ellisons had helped by “providing Champions Circle with invaluable guidance and financial resources.”

For Michigan, signing Underwood was a coup. Underwood, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 228 pounds, accounted for nearly 13,000 all-purpose yards and 179 touchdowns during his high school career and was the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2025, per 247Sports and ESPN. He is just the fourth Michigan true freshman quarterback to start a game and the first since Tate Forcier in 2009.

If healthy, Underwood should start for Michigan for the next three seasons, giving the Wolverines stability at the sport’s most important position. The Wolverines are banking on Underwood to get them back to the College Football Playoff and be in national title contention. Saturday should go a long way towards seeing how realistic those expectations are and how Underwood can perform against a top program in Oklahoma that’s aiming to reach the CFP, too.