Maybe Tommy Carr should be Michigan’s QB1, but not against Penn State or Indiana

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Heading into a bye week and fresh off the worst offensive performance since its 2024 loss to Illinois, Michigan’s offensive players and staff have had a couple of days to let that reality sink in.

Once thought to be an offensive unit that could take a big leap coming into the season, taking a leap is exactly what it’s done, just in the wrong direction.

In the wake of the loss to Minnesota, the Michigan fan base has been clamoring for change of any kind when it comes to the offense, and even head coach Kyle Whittingham admitted a need to evaluate everything and make some “tough decisions” about what to do going forward. Quarterback Bryce Underwood has been the individual taking most of the blame from the fan base, and folks are justified in their desire to see him benched after how things have gone.

Although Underwood has major pedigree from his days as a recruit, plenty of money in the bank, and has even shown some positive flashes in 18 games as a starter, the lows have been very low, and it’s becoming apparent that he likely isn’t Michigan’s quarterback of the future.

Benching Underwood would likely mean moving on to freshman Tommy Carr, someone who’s shown some good qualities in a limited sample size and drawn some positive reviews from Whittingham and the coaching staff. There’s a chance that he might actually be the program’s quarterback of the future, and the argument could be made that there’s no time like the present to find that out.

Maybe not immediately, though.

With still more than a week until its next game against Penn State, now seems like a perfectly logical time to start grooming the freshman to take over. However, even if he is the guy going forward, Michigan and Whittingham need to make sure it’s because they’re truly comfortable with where Carr is in his development rather than just being uncomfortable with where Underwood is in his. Starting a freshman quarterback before he was ready last season was likely what started this whole dilemma, so there’s no need to make that mistake again.

In other words, right now could be the time to at least get the wheels turning for Carr and make sure he’s ready to start rather than speed-running him through the next two weeks just for the sake of making a change. It makes even less sense to act rashly at the quarterback position when the offense as a whole has a laundry list of issues to fix.

When looking at Michigan’s next opponent, Penn State, even with that being a home game after a bye week, it isn’t the best place to ease in a new quarterback anyway. For as bad as Penn State has been this year, its defense hasn’t been the issue. D’Anton Lynn’s crew has still been rather sound this season, particularly against the pass, allowing the second-fewest passing yards per game in the nation. After that, Michigan faces an even better defense in Indiana.

By choosing to start Carr against Penn State and Indiana before he’s truly ready, Michigan runs the risk of giving him too much of a challenge right away, something that could shake his confidence and greatly stunt his growth as a player.

Instead of throwing Carr to the wolves, it would make more sense to play the long game and plan to start him against Rutgers on October 31. Even though it’d be a road game, the environment shouldn’t be at all hostile. Heck, in the New York-New Jersey area, it might end up being somewhat of a pseudo-home game for Michigan. That matchup is much more inviting for a first-time starter, with a home game against Michigan State to follow.

One might argue that Michigan doesn’t have a better chance of beating Penn State or Indiana with Underwood at quarterback, but as long as Michigan continues missing blocking assignments, making play calls that don’t make sense, or making dozens of other missteps offensively, it won’t matter who’s under center.

If you’re Michigan, you might as well give Underwood a final chance to prove himself against stiff competition while giving Carr the best chance to be fully ready. If the coaching staff is dead set on starting another quarterback in the interim before Carr is ready, then veteran Colorado State transfer Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is still available to them.

Furthermore, once any starting quarterback (and team captain, for that matter) is benched, there’s no going back, and the staff needs to be confident that there are better results on the other side. After all, making a quarterback change would only be done to either salvage a season or fully commit to the future. And given that things are trending toward there being nothing to salvage, with games against Oregon, UCLA, and Ohio State also looming, I’d lean toward the latter being the primary goal going forward.

The Wolverines need to do everything they can to make sure they’re setting themselves up for a successful future, even if it means postponing Carr’s turn as the starter until he’s as ready as possible.

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