ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- There are few players in college football who are under as much of a microscope as Michigan football quarterback Bryce Underwood. The former No. 1 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class started in his true freshman year, and after an up-and-down campaign, some are ready to call him a bust before he's even hit his second season. However, that's not at all how people inside of Schembechler Hall see Underwood. In fact, the true sophomore was just named a team captain by his peers, despite being in only his second year. Underwood has spoken about learning to be calmer as well as becoming a more vocal leader, and while that may help him greatly in terms of processing on the field, his fellow team captain, running back Jordan Marshall, thinks there's another element to his mental fortitude that is worth noting. As Marshall notes, Underwood isn't immune to all of the consternation -- yet, he continues to go about his business regardless of it. "I would just say he's a young player, and I think everyone looks at him like, 'Oh, he's a four-time starter that should be making plays right away,'" Marshall said. "And again it's hard to say that because you get paid to play now and you're supposed to come in and make plays. But you also got to think he's a kid who's also learning. I wasn't doing that my freshman year, so I couldn't tell you the pressures that he's faced. But I know it was heavy, and for him to be able to hit a reset button and he knows he's good enough, I promise you that. "And everybody on this football team trusts that he's good enough and seen that he's good enough, or he wouldn't be in the position he is in. And he comes in every single day and works no matter what everyone's saying about him, no matter any of the bullcrap that is talked about him; he comes in here every single day, and he's the same person every single day. And quite honestly, that's somebody that I look up to because I'm like, 'You're strong, like you're someone who comes in here and just works no matter what people are saying. You ignore, you come in here and work, and you just trust in yourself, you trust in God,' and that's all you can want from a person is to have that trust and that feeling like, 'Wow, you're a strong dude.' And I again, I commend him for that, and I'm excited to see what he's gonna put on tape this year and all."
A common denominator that has continued throughout Underwood's short career is that people say he's one of the hardest-working players on the team. Certainly, that's a big reason why he was named a team captain on Monday evening. But college football remains a results business. So, as Marshall said, he'll need to put it all on tape this season to turn the narrative around. Underwood has been working with several NFL-caliber coaches and current NFL players, such as Joe Burrow. Burrow, Underwood says, has taught him more about remaining calm -- something that helped him as he transferred from being a little-used backup at Ohio State to a Heisman Trophy winner and national champion at LSU. "I trained with a couple guys that's in the NFL right now," Underwood said. "Joe Burrow is the one, how calm he is. That's one of the things I've taken away from him." We'll see more of Underwood's transformation come September 5 when Michigan hosts Western Michigan at The Big House. This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan teammates defend Bryce Underwood amid criticism