Kyle Whittingham Announces Bryce Underwood's Expanded Role to Help Michigan
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Kyle Whittingham is all set for a new life as Michigan’s head coach. Ahead of the 2026 season, the former Utah head coach is putting final touches to his team. That also includes outlining how he is planning to use Bryce Underwood.
“Yeah, if you watch Jason Beck’s offense the last few years, you know it’s RPO heavy, and quarterback runs will be a part of it,” Whittingham said during Michigan’s press conference on August 22 when asked if he plans to deploy them a lot during this season.
“Bryce certainly is a very good runner, and it wouldn’t make sense if we didn’t employ some of that. You can’t run him to death, and you can’t wear him out and expose him to too many hits. But in critical situations, the fourth and short tight red zone. I mean, that’s where you really start to benefit from some QB run game.”
During his freshman season, Underwood registered 392 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. Overall, the Wolverines used RPOs to use Underwood’s dual-threat ability. That included inside zone runs with backside glance and slant routes. The QB had the option to pull and throw into the gap left by LBs stepping up to defend the run.
However, the Michigan offense was still not RPO-dominant. At times, Kirk Campbell used them as pre-snap outlets. But this is totally different from how Jason Beck sees it. For the new Michigan offensive coordinator, RPOs form the foundational structure of his offense.
Predictably, Whittingham is not giving everything away at this point of fall camp. But we can expect a totally different utilization than anything we saw from Underwood last season. There was a degree of uncertainty from the coaching staff around Underwod’s dual-threat ability. It seemed like they were not aware of what their freshman QB is capable of.
This could be because of Underwood’s failure to properly read coverages, especially against Oklahoma at the start of the 2025 campaign. But those issues are part of a freshman season.
Jason Beck has a well-documented history of maximizing athletic, dual-threat quarterbacks. He pairs a high-percentage passing game with highly efficient, situational rushing metrics.
In traditional offenses, the quarterback is a passive distributor. Who stands still after handing the ball off, allowing the defense to play 11-on-10 football against the running back. The quarterback’s run in short-yardage and red-zone situations forces the defense to assign a linebacker or safety exclusively to spy on Underwood.
This freezes defenders, creating wider running lanes for physical backs like Kalel Mullings and making it significantly easier to convert critical third and fourth downs.
Michigan’s offensive line will have several new starters and working on building interior chemistry under Whittingham’s new staff. Drop-back passing requires a line to hold blocks for 3 to 4 seconds, whereas RPOs rely on immediate, quick-hitting releases. As the ball leaves Underwood’s hands in under two seconds on most RPOs, it will neutralize elite opposing pass-rushers and protect the quarterback from taking blindside hits. This is also the next stage of the QB’s growth.
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