Michigan's season opener against New Mexico provided true freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood the opportunity to turn all the hype surrounding his name into tangible on-field results for the first time.
It's safe to say that Underwood has lived up to expectations thus far. In his collegiate debut, he completed 67.7% of his passes (21-for-31) for 251 yards and his first career touchdown, which he threw to tight end Marvin Klein just before the stroke of halftime.
Underwood's performance drew praise from Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables, whose Sooners squad will face off against the Wolverines this weekend.
Venables sees a former national champion in Underwood
During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Venables gave Underwood his flowers and compared him to a former national championship-winning quarterback who plies his trade in the NFL.
"He’s a guy that, as I said to open up, man, he’s a little different," Venables said. "He reminds me a lot of a Trevor Lawrence. Just quick, decisive, accurate, poised, tough, consistent. And there’s a reason he was the number one player in America. He’s got a maturity and a work ethic and leadership ability to go along with that."
Lawrence, now the Jacksonville Jaguars' starting quarterback, is a player with whom Venables is very familiar. Venables served as Clemson's defensive coordinator during Lawrence's three years with the program, during which the pair were part of a Tigers team that won the College Football Playoff Championship Game in 2018.
Oklahoma's defense spent plenty of time this week observing Underwood's film to prepare for its upcoming matchup against Michigan, but Venables said that it's ultimately up to his players to determine the outcome of the game.
"We look at what’s it going to take to win? How do you win? What’s the formula to win? And there might be byproducts of that. This guy doesn’t perform well, and so forth," Venables said. "But it’s really about us. It’s about the fundamentals. It’s about the efforts. It’s about the physicality. It’s about putting ourselves in position to be successful based on what is on tape."
The eyes of the college football world — and, especially, those of Venables and the Sooners' defensive players — will be locked on Underwood when he takes the field at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. Quarterback play, that of both Underwood and Oklahoma's John Mateer, will play a major factor in the contest's ultimate result.