Urban Meyer has coached Tim Tebow, Braxton Miller and Cardale Jones. When he talks about what a quarterback is supposed to look like, he's speaking from real experience.

"If God said, 'I'm going to go make me a quarterback,' it's going to look a lot like Bryce Underwood as far as size and athleticism," Meyer said on July 10. "He's a great kid. He worked at it."

Meyer, the former Ohio State Buckeyes coach, appeared on The Triple Option podcast alongside Mark Ingram II and host Rob Stone and was asked about Bryce Underwood. He opened with the most striking thing the Michigan Wolverines quarterback has going for him.

Meyer is talking about something you cannot teach. Six-foot-four, elite arm, speed to hurt you with his legs. That combination does not come around often.

But Meyer was also clear that the tools did not show up the way they needed to in 2025. He went straight to the reason why.

"Are there some things missing? Sure," Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast. "He got thrust into a really tough situation. Someday they're going to look back at that situation and go, 'What in the h*** was happening there?'"

Underwood played his entire freshman year without a dedicated quarterbacks coach. He ended up with 11 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a 60.3 completion percentage.

For the top recruit in the country on a multi-million dollar NIL deal, that was a structural failure.

"You're going to invest millions of dollars into a quarterback and then not have a full-time quarterback coach with young quarterbacks?" Meyer asked.

Meyer coached Tim Tebow at Florida and won two national titles with him. His point isn't theoretical. A young quarterback needs someone in his ear on every single rep. That was missing for Underwood, and it showed up in the numbers.

"I always take the side of the player," Meyer said. "I'm gonna say they'll develop him."

Meyer made clear where he lands on Underwood's future despite those concerns.

Bryce Underwood has already started working on last season's shortcomings

The development Urban Meyer called for is already happening. Bryce Underwood spent the offseason working with quarterback trainer Jordan Palmer, who has worked with Josh Allen, Sam Darnold, and Joe Burrow, among others.

Palmer gave a specific assessment of what he has seen from Underwood this offseason.

"I've been blown away with how Bryce approaches development and how he's able to compartmentalize a lot of new things," Palmer said, per Wolverines Wire. "But honestly, I'd be impressed if he were 27."

Underwood also got the dedicated quarterbacks coach Meyer said he needed last year. The Michigan Wolverines' new head coach, Kyle Whittingham, hired Koy Detmer Jr. from Utah specifically to work with Underwood daily.

Underwood summed up his own mindset heading into 2026 simply.

"I'm working smarter than I was last year," Underwood said, per On3.

Do you think Bryce Underwood lives up to Urban Meyer's quarterback blueprint in 2026? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Farheen Fathima

Edited by

Akanksha Biradar