Catching on: Michigan’s pass offense evolution hinges on nixing drops, misfires

Ann Arbor — On the subject of Bryce Underwood’s arm strength, the four Wolverines gathered to speak with the media after beating Wisconsin couldn’t help but grin and chuckle. 

The reactions of Rod Moore, TJ Metcalf, Justice Haynes and Andrew Marsh said more than any verbal answer could, confirming what’s fairly evident from afar: Some throws come off Underwood’s hand with a vapor trail behind them.

“It just depends,” Marsh, a freshman receiver, said. “Sometimes you just gotta be ready. You gotta be ready.”

Underwood has transformed Michigan’s passing offense in an offseason, as the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 signing class earned the starting job and lifted the floor on the Wolverine passing game from being among the worst in college football to passable. As much as Underwood’s arm talent has propelled the Wolverines forward, though, it’s also playing some role in what’s kept the passing game from truly ascending. 

Michigan’s (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) passing offense has moved in fits and starts through five games in 2025, as Underwood settles in with some new pass catchers behind a re-tooled offensive line, and with a new play caller. But as the Wolverines hit the halfway point of the season, the break-in period is over and a mix of drops, misfires and miscommunication have held the passing game back. Right now, Michigan ranks in the 90s, nationally, in yards per game passing with 200.6. Underwood is completing 59.2% of his passes, which ranks 101st nationally and is 18th among Big Ten starting quarterbacks, and his three passing touchdowns in five games is tied for 18th. It’s been functional, mostly, but far from firing on all cylinders. 

And as Michigan approaches a key Big Ten road game at USC (4-1, 1-1) this weekend in the Coliseum, squaring off with one of the most explosive and productive passing games in the country, getting a bit more out of the aerial attack is top of mind for the Wolverines. 

“We know our standard,” Marsh said.

Drops the obvious culprit

Leaving Lincoln, Nebraska, on Sept. 20, victorious but completing nine passes, the spate of drops stood out. 

Michigan had, by Mitten Football’s charting, four drops or missed catch opportunities against Nebraska. The end zone ball off the tip of sophomore wideout Channing Goodwin’s fingers as he tried to make an over-the-shoulder catch stands out. 

But others cropped up, and didn’t have nearly the degree of difficulty of the Willie Mays-style snag. 

Goodwin had a drop earlier on a throw to the sideline that Underwood put low and away from the defensive back, but still in a catchable spot. Going to the ground to catch it, Goodwin tried to body catch the ball and it ricocheted off his chest for an incompletion. 

Semaj Morgan also had a pair of drops/missed opportunities on a pair of quick throws that Underwood put on his frame. 

So when head coach Sherrone Moore returned from his suspension ahead of Michigan’s week off, he highlighted consistent catching as an area to improve. 

It remains a point of emphasis after beating Wisconsin, a game in which the drops still showed up for the Wolverines. 

Ben Bredeson dropped a potential third down conversion and Morgan had another slant get away from him, also on a third down. Morgan nearly dropped another ball in the second half but made a bobbling catch before turning upfield, having the ball punched out, and landing on it for a 1st down conversion. Kendrick Bell dropped a slightly high pass while wide open on a scramble drill. 

“I think seeing the ball caught is the biggest thing,” Moore said. “Seeing it all the way into the tuck. And I think the ones that happened today were, your eyes were ahead of your hands. Your eyes were down the field. Your eyes weren't looking the ball into your hands. It's seeing it all the way in. So those are the things that you continue to emphasize and yeah you want to build confidence and part of that confidence is getting them chances to go do it again. And they made plays after that happened.” 

Moore has said he bristles at barking “just catch the ball” at players, because he knows they wanted to make the play as badly if not more so than he did. 

Instead, the focus in recent weeks of practice has been honing the technical aspects of catching, be it using hands away from the body, or turning one's hands over on catches below the belly button. 

“What does catch the ball mean? You gotta teach people how to catch the ball,” Moore said on Sept. 22. “Whether it's seeing the ball to the tuck or whether it's catching it away from your body. Whether it's above your navel catching it thumb-to-thumb. Below, pinky-to-pinky. There's all these coaching points. So really harping on those things to make those plays we need to because we can and we have.”

Misfires matter, too

Two things can be true: That Underwood has played about as reasonably well as a true freshman starting quarterback could be expected to perform, and that he’s playing a role in the passing game being a bit uneven. 

While he’s been let down by his pass catchers on some drops, Underwood himself has his share of misses. And as is often the case with big-bodied, strong-armed quarterbacks, he has a propensity to spray some throws high and wide. 

He missed Goodwin on an open out route for a third down conversion against Nebraska in the late stages of that game, putting the ball too wide of his target while on a short roll to his right. He had a similar miss against Wisconsin, and also overshot Morgan on a swing pass out to his left. 

And there are times where Underwood is on target but fires a fastball that his intended target struggles to reel in. 

The Michigan pass catchers to a man will say they need to catch those passes, but it’s also true that Underwood can make life a little easier on them more consistently on open access throws. 

“I mean, I never played receiver or tight end, but I know our guys don't make an excuse about where the ball is and how it's coming and all that,” Moore said. “We just know we gotta make the plays when they're there. If it hits your hands, you should catch it. Bryce will continue to get better and touch and all that, all those things. Seemed pretty accurate to me, so we will continue to emphasize the accuracy of the football and us being consistent catchers.”

And for whatever misses he’s had, Underwood has done a good job of missing in ways that he can come back from, with only one interception on the year. 

Moore praised the freshman quarterback for not putting the ball in jeopardy, and there appear to be a handful of plays in the last two games where Underwood missed on quasi-throwaways or made a good decision to burn a play, like throwing it high and out of the back of the end zone in the second half against Wisconsin with no one open. 

On the whole, Underwood’s misses have shown up and can be cleaned up, but have yet to outweigh the makes and in flashes, like the second half vs. Wisconsin. His layered throw to Marsh over a safety while rolling right against Wisconsin is the sort of throw only someone with a talented arm can make. 

And he’ll make the throws to give his guys a chance to make a play, like he did for Donaven McCulley on his acrobatic sideline catch. 

Underwood has shown the arm talent, downfield accuracy and touch that made him the top prospect in his class. His mental makeup seems to be right for it, too.

“Good play, bad play, next play,” Underwood said on Oct. 4. “If you’re stuck on the last play, you’ll be stuck on the next one.”

As long as Underwood is making accurate downfield throws and not putting the ball in jeopardy, the early-career warts with his short accuracy and tempo on throws are more than tolerable — plus, they appear to be getting better each week. 

Miscommunications and a window into the future

There appears to have only been one notable miscommunication between Underwood and one of his pass catchers in recent weeks, as he and McCulley had different ideas about how a route would break open vs. Wisconsin.

McCulley pushed vertically and stopped his route at the sticks, turning and sitting down for a throw. But McCulley broke inside and Underwood, either because of the design of the defensive back’s leverage, expected McCulley to break the other way and threw it harmlessly incomplete into the Wisconsin bench. 

It ultimately proved inconsequential, especially on a day where McCulley exploded in the 2nd half to finish with 112 yards and a touchdown on six catches, including a dazzling catch down the sideline over a defender. 

But it’s illustrative of the fact that Michigan is only five games deep working with this offensive system and cast of characters on the field and in the booth. The coaching staff was slow to let Underwood go at first but have steadily cranked up his responsibilities and expanded the offense as the season progressed into conference play. 

“It's not perfect, and he knows that and we all know that, but he's peaking at the right time for us and what I'm really proud of is how he's taken care of the football overall,” Moore said. “We had the loose ball there but he's not throwing it into traffic a lot. He's putting it on the money where it needs to in those contested catch situations. He continues to play at a really good level and we'll continue to help him do that.

And Saturday’s second half might’ve been the clearest picture of what this passing game can look like when it starts to click into place. 

After a paltry first half throwing — 4-of-9 for 55 yards, 32 of which came on one play — Underwood and the passing offense broke out some in the second half. 

Underwood posted a 10-of-13 line in the third quarter for 153 yards and a touchdown to McCulley where the receiver took a slant to the house after bouncing off a defender. Underwood finished with his best passing performance to date for Michigan: 19-of-28 for 270 yards and a touchdown. 

McCulley played a big part in the performance Saturday, making a number of electric catches in a breakout performance. And his running mate at receiver, Marsh, caught all four of his targets for 80 yards in his first career start as Moore moved Goodwin to the bench out of the bye. 

“He made plays in spring, but was still trying to figure it out, right?” Moore said of Marsh after beating Wisconsin. “And he made plays in fall camp and was still, but it started to click. And when it starts to click with talent, then you start to play fast and you stop thinking. And he got to that point, more last week, but really this week for sure you could see it, so, the opportunities were there and we always say it's an open competition, so everybody's got opportunity. The depth chart is a living, flowing organism.

Marsh and Underwood, who arrived in Ann Arbor together in winter, have shown a keen connection. Marsh was on the receiving end of the 32-yard pass in the first half, adjusting to a back shoulder throw down the sideline. 

With McCulley and Marsh looking the part of a reliable 1-2 punch at receiver as big-framed targets for Underwood down the field, the quarterback’s continued development with each rep, and further tailoring of the offense by Chip Lindsey and Co., Michigan has a clear recipe for the passing offense to take the next steps. 

And with their collective talent, the Wolverines are bullish on how high the ceiling can be for the passing game. 

“We really just gotta do better as a whole and I would say we really did show that today, that we can go out there and make plays when we need to,” Marsh said Saturday.