Former NFL Safety Rips Bryce Underwood’s 5-Star Grade

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Su’a Cravens, a former USC All-American and NFL safety, watched Michigan’s 20-14 loss to Minnesota on Oct. 3 and aimed his criticism past Bryce Underwood and at the people who graded him a five-star recruit.

“Whoever graded Underwood as a 5-star QB should be interrogated for their reasoning … this is hard to watch man.”

Cravens posted it on his X account during the game, and the target is worth noting. Plenty of people spent Saturday night on Underwood. Cravens went after the evaluation.

Underwood completed 47.6% of his passes for 101 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns in the 20-14 loss to the Golden Gophers. He also rushed 10 times for 20 yards, an average of 2.0 per carry, and did not reach the end zone. Michigan’s only offensive touchdown came on a 5-yard Jordan Marshall run, and the other came on Nathaniel Staehling’s 79-yard interception return.

What Bryce Underwood’s Five-Star Grade Promised

Five games into his sophomore season, Underwood has completed 59.3% of his passes for 881 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions, and he has not been reading defenses well. He has rushed for 212 yards on 57 carries, 3.7 per attempt, with two touchdowns.

Those are the numbers of a serviceable Big Ten starter. The recruiting industry graded him as something else entirely: the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class on the 247Sports Composite, at 0.9998, one of the highest ratings the service has ever issued. That gap is the whole of Cravens’ argument. The player has been the story for two weeks. The grade has not.

Tommy Carr Changes the Question

It is hard to believe that there is a conversation about Underwood being benched for freshman quarterback Tommy Carr, but here we are. A quarterback who is not playing like a five-star recruit while being paid like one is the uncomfortable part, and it is the part a recruiting grade cannot answer. The question is, how much longer can this coaching staff keep Underwood as the starting quarterback?

No Decision Until Penn State

Head coach Kyle Whittingham has not decided who will start for Michigan against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday, Oct. 17. The Wolverines are 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten, and they are on a bye this week. No matter who he names as the starting quarterback, there will be a major outrage.

If Underwood keeps his job, then it will be based on NIL decisions. If Carr is the starting quarterback, then it will be based on football decisions.

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