Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore has clarified why quarterback Bryce Underwood has not yet been heavily involved in the rushing attack. Following a difficult road loss to Oklahoma, Moore made it clear that protecting his young quarterback remains a priority.
“(If) you run your quarterback, you better have two,” Moore said. “And I’ve always believed that, even did that with JJ (McCarthy). JJ wanted to run every game. And I was like, no, you’re gonna get hit, you’re gonna get hurt.”
Through two games, Underwood has recorded just five carries for negative sack-adjusted rushing yards, relying primarily on his arm. He has completed 30 of 55 passes for 393 yards with one touchdown.
Moore acknowledged that designed runs will eventually be part of the playbook, but only when the staff feels confident about managing the risk.
“We will (run Underwood), and I think there’s parts of where we tried to in that game, they just were pretty good at not letting us, because they didn’t want him to run,” Moore added. “And I think there’s ways we can get him to run in different ways and make sure he’s protected. So we’ll work that as we go game by game and have a strategy for that.”
Underwood impressed in his debut against New Mexico, throwing for 251 yards and a touchdown in a 34-17 win while completing 67 percent of his passes. His first road test came at Oklahoma, where he finished 9-for-24 with 142 yards in a 24-13 defeat.
Michigan now turns its attention to Central Michigan in Week 3. The Wolverines return to Ann Arbor seeking consistency after the loss in Norman. Saturday’s noon kickoff at Michigan Stadium will be the programs’ first meeting since 2013, when Michigan rolled to a 59-9 victory.
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