2026 Michigan Spring Game Recap

It was a defensive slog with few big plays (if any) and the only touchdown wasn't scored until the waning seconds. Sleepy might be the best way to describe it. Despite talk about few starters playing during the week leading up, many well-known names competed today for the two teams. That includes Bryce Underwood, who played QB for both teams in the first quarter. His performance was less than ideal. Official stats are not available for this game but the BTN broadcast stated that Underwood was 3/9 for 22 yards. Underwood's first drive came while leading Team Maize, throwing a nice ball to freshman TE/H-Back Eli Owens on a slant for a first down, but then he missed freshman WR Salesi Moa down the field. In between those throws, Bryson Kuzdzal saw little running room and Underwood scrambeld and threw inaccurately to TE Hogan Hansen. There were no punts in this game, so Team Blue took over after the third down play. This drive was the longest that Underwood would lead, and it featured starting RB Jordan Marshall. Behind an offensive line of Evan Link, Ace Hamilton, Jake Guarnera, Brady Norton, and Marky Walbridge, Marshall had room to rush twice for a first down to get things going. Underwood then took a sack but hooked up with Marshall to make 3rd down manageable, which would be converted via Underwood's legs after pressure came from Dominic Nichols. Freshman WR Travis Johnson received an end-around after that, as the Michigan coaching staff tried to get all of its early enrollees involved. [Barron]The drive slowed down after that. Marshall's running room began to dissipate, though he apparently was able to pick up the first down (it was hard to tell with no marker on the screen and the thud football tackling rules used in the first quarter). The offensive staff went back to trickery in trying the Tecmo Bowl Play, but Underwood way overthrew TE Jalen Hoffman. Pressure continued to ramp up and Underwood was sacked on 2nd down by a combination of Nichols and Nate Marshall. Put in 3rd long, Underwood, tried to force the ball into WR JJ Buchanan in triple coverage. The ball should've been intercepted but Buchanan managed to rake it out for an incompletion, ending the drive for Team Blue. The Maize squad took over and Underwood's struggles continued. He threw low to Andrew Marsh, who couldn't haul it in, and had his second pass attempt batted down by EDGE Lugard Edokpayi coming around the right tackle. On 3rd down, Underwood again tried to run and was forced out of bounds short of the sticks, with the initial pressure coming from DL Enow Etta. It was a quick three-and-out and Team Blue took the ball back. Underwood handed the ball off on the first play and that concluded the first quarter and thus, the day for Underwood. His best throw was his first, the throw to Owens, but otherwise his accuracy was spotty at best and he continued to look rudimentary in his ability to read defenses. With the first quarter in the books, we moved to tackle football for everyone but the QBs. There was also a change at that position, with Tommy Carr taking over for both teams. The true freshman from Saline, MI, has been receiving positive buzz throughout spring and today was the best evidence yet that Carr is a legitimate prospect and not merely a feel-good token related to his last name. Carr's first throw was a little high but reeled in by transfer WR Jamie Ffrench but after that, Carr began to look comfortable, both throwing and running the football. He was sacked by NT Deyvid Palepale (who had a strong showing today but on the very next play, Carr expertly pulled the ball on a zone read and scampered for a first down. [AFTER THE JUMP: More recap]Mr. Hiter [Barron]A fellow, much more hyped, freshman was into the game on offense as well, with Savion Hiter rushing on this drive for Team Blue. Hiter absorbed a hard hit by S Jordan Young but then dragged LB Kaden Catchings for a first down on 3rd 1, showing the strength that Hiter already has. Carr hit WR Jacob Washington with a nice pass that had some zip on it to get Team Blue into scoring position and then another freshman RB, Jonathan Brown, got Team Blue inside the 10 yard line. Maize's defense came up with the stop, as Young made a run stuff and Carr made an incorrect bounce (should've cut it up) after correctly pulling the ball on another read. Left in 3rd G at the 5, a Carr swing pass to Hiter had no blocking in front of it and Team Blue kicked a short field goal. Stuart Blake connected from 23 yards away and it was 3-0. Next up was Carr's first stint as QB for Team Maize. His protection was iffy and the legs continued to feature, with three scrambles in the first four plays of the drive. The one non-QB run was a throw a little behind Hogan Hansen, but the TE made the catch for a first down. Another iffy throw came next but this one was snagged in marvelous, one-handed fashion by Salesi Moa. CB Jo'Ziah Edmond delivered a PBU on the next play but Carr bounced back with a stellar throw to Hansen on a quick out route. Time was ticking down in the second quarter as Maize approached the red zone, with Carr's 3rd down scramble giving the team a goal-to-go situation, but with only seven seconds left. On his one shot at the end zone, Carr delivered a catchable ball to classmate Jaylen Pile in the end zone, but the ball was dropped. Alas, the team decided to send transfer K Trey Butkowski from Pitt out to attempt a 29 yard FG that would have tied the game, but Butkowski pushed the kick wide. Not great. The score stood at 3-0 for Team Blue at halftime. [Barron]Blue got the ball to begin the second half, with Carr continuing to QB both sides. I was not able to track offensive lines while also following each play, but I did notice an increasing number of reserves joining the lines in this period, with Brooks Bahr and James Kavouklis playing snaps for Team Blue on this drive. Michigan's staff looked to get Ffrench back involved on this drive, feeding him two swing passes to get things going before Hiter received commendable blocking to convert a 3rd 1. Hiter followed this up with a chunk run on what was one of the longer runs of the game and the drive was in motion. Ffrench was fed another ball, this one a comebacks route and a poor tackling effort from CB Shamari Earls gifted him extra yards. Earls bounced back with a better tackle on Hiter, who bounced his run outside before Earls brought him down. Carr then took a coverage sack credited to LB Adam Bazzi, setting up a 3rd 6. Carr zipped in a really nice pass to TE Deakon Tonielli, but the receiver dropped it. The kicker rotation meant Stuart Blake was back outside for the ensuing field goal and he remained perfect, splitting the uprights to bump Team Blue's lead up to 6-0. Just as the first Blue drive of the second half began with multiple short passes, the first Maize drive did as well, these two being screens to Salesi Moa. Carr remained in rhythm by ripping a bullet to Kendrick Bell on a post route for a chunk gain. A few runs followed before Carr sent another screen in Moa's direction. He finally targeted Moa down the field with a pass and it looked like a good throw, but was PBU'd by either Taylor Tatum or Kainoa Winston. Faced with 3rd 8, Carr continued to show off his legs and broke a scramble for a first down to get Team Maize inside the 10 yard line. Tomas O'Meara was given the rock on the next play, which ended the 3rd quarter. [Barron]The 4th quarter started with Carr dumping it off to Eli Owens, before a quick tackle by Winston. That got Maize down to the 3 and they went back to O'Meara, who plowed ahead to the goal line. On 4th 1, O'Meara got one more carry, but ferocious penetration by DT Bobby Kanka, supported by LB Markel Dabney behind him, stoned O'Meara right at the line of scrimmage and delivered a great run stuff. A turnover on downs, and a signature moment for Kanka, who would show out in the 4th quarter of the spring game as Palepale had featured at the same position in the first half. Carr was no longer the full-time QB in the 4th quarter. He remained Maize's QB, perhaps because they needed a comeback, while second-year QB Chase Herbstreit took over for Team Blue, with famous father Kirk in the Big House stands. Herbstreit did not show off his arm on his first drive, scrambling on one drop-back and otherwise handing the ball off to Jonathan Brown. The RB ripped off one long run that Herbstreit tried to help block for but it was called back on penalty. The drive ended rather prematurely with Bazzi stopping Brown on a 3rd 2 situation and the focus was back on Team Maize. The first play of the next drive was maybe the best throw of the day for Carr, who dropped a dime deep near the goal line to WR Jamar Browder. Unfortunately, Browder did not locate the ball correctly and it bonked him in the head before falling incomplete. Jaylen Pile, guilty of dropping a pass earlier in the game himself, got his first catch on a screen but didn't do much with it. Carr's legs were necessary to keep the drive going as protection started to break down, breaking the pocket and dumping it off to Browder underneath to set up a 4th 2, which he converted by scrambling. [Barron]The drive came to a screeching halt shortly thereafter as Team Maize began to approach the end zone, runs by O'Meara being bottled up. The most notable play was a Bobby Kanka sack on 3rd down, which set up a 4th 10. With no one open, Carr had no choice but to heave it to the end zone and it was knocked away. The turnover on downs came with 2.5 minutes remaining but with a timeout in the pocket and the 2 minute warning, Maize could get the ball back with a quick stop. They got that, taking advantage of field position to force a three-and-out deep in Blue territory. Herbstreit pulled on a zone read but got nothing out of it and 3rd down ended in a sack when DL Travis Moten blew up the Tecmo Bowl Play near the goal line. The nonexistent punt gave Maize favorable field position around midfield to try and win the game, which they would ultimately do. The worst decision Carr made in the game came on this drive, a bad read that ended with a ball in double coverage, though Browder managed to yank the ball away from the defender and come down with the catch. Carr then looked shorter, firing three slants, crossers, out routes to move the ball firmly into the red zone. Maize then handed it off to run the ball down inside the five, while the clock continued to tick away on Team Blue. This was the fourth trip to the red zone for Tam Maize in the game, having been empty handed in all of the prior trips. The run had gotten Maize down to the 3 and they were going to keep it on the ground. The 2nd down carry took Maize to the 1 and on 3rd down, they finally found paydirt. O'Meara surged ahead and broke the goal line, the first and only touchdown of the game for either team and with under 30 seconds left, Maize had tied the game. The all-important extra point followed, which was fitted through the goalposts to give Maize a 7-6 lead. [Barron]It wasn't totally over, as Blue theoretically had time to drive for either a long field goal or a try at the end zone. Herbstreit threw the ball away on first down but a pre-snap defensive penalty nullified the play and reset the clock to 17 seconds. With that extra time, Herbstreit delivered a dart to Deakon Tonielli, getting Team Blue up to the +40. The clock stopped to reset the chains but Blue opted not to spike it, with Herbstreit instead holding it and then throwing it away. That wound the time down so that the next play would almost certainly be the last play of the game. The coaching staff opted against a very long field goal attempt, so they tasked Herbstreit with getting it to the end zone. The young QB rolled to his right and managed to heave the ball into the end zone, but it was batted down by Maize defenders. Ballgame. Your final score was 7-6 in favor of Team Maize. I have little else to say about this game that was not covered in the narrative. It's difficult to keep track of line play or all the rotations live, so that is best left to rewatch. The stand-outs for me were, in some order, Tommy Carr, Bobby Kanka, Deyvid Palepale, and Salesi Moa. The RBs were all good, largely as advertised, and most other skill players had a moment or two where they flashed. The biggest storyline will likely be the play of Bryce Underwood, although Kyle Whittingham was quick to emphasize that Underwood is the no questions asked QB1 of his football team in the postgame interview. Beyond that, there's not much to take away from this. It's an exhibition and just one glimpse into all of the player development that's been going on in spring ball. The next time that we will see the team on the field, during the opener against Western Michigan on September 5, will be after far more practices and many more hours in the film and weight rooms. For now, the Wolverines remain a young team of talented players that is still adjusting to its new coaching staff and growing along the way. That's all I have at this time. Log in or register to post comments Michighen April 18th, 2026 at 6:29 PM ^ Is there a Tommy Carr fan club yet? I want to join. He looks like a QB. Joined: 09/04/2011 MGoPoints: 2889 MechE April 18th, 2026 at 6:47 PM ^ Hot take: Underwood gets benched in favor of Carr at some point this season Joined: 06/30/2008 MGoPoints: 559 S.G. Rice April 18th, 2026 at 7:04 PM ^ The first quarter was just silly. Pointless. And we were deprived of punting! Joined: 07/18/2008 MGoPoints: 30310 FauldsSzn April 18th, 2026 at 7:05 PM ^ I have concerns with Underwood. Joined: 08/22/2025 MGoPoints: 2689 KBLOW April 18th, 2026 at 7:06 PM ^ IMO, Underwood looked bad. Like, no improvement over last year, type of bad. Here's hoping he makes big strides in the next 5 months. Joined: 06/30/2008 MGoPoints: 38799 2026 spring game bryce underwood tomas o'meara tommy carr salesi moa bobby kanka deyvid palepale savion hiter