Bryce Underwood is currently committed to play college football at LSU even though Michigan is willing to pay him an astonishing amount of money through NIL. The Class of 2025’s top-ranked recruit does not seem interested in playing for his home-state school regardless of financial compensation.
He seemingly taunted the Wolverines on Instagram shortly after earth-shattering news about his recruitment made its way to social media on Thursday morning.
Underwood, a five-star prospect, grew up approximately 20 miles from Ann Arbor. Even though campus is just 30 minutes up the road, he took only one unofficial visit back in July of 2023 and never returned. The 17-year-old phenom has been committed to play for the Tigers since January.
In the six months since that decision, Michigan lost J.J. McCarthy to the NFL and started three different quarterbacks during the 2024-25 college football season. Neither Davis Warren nor Alex Orji is the answer. Sherrone Moore is hovering right at .500 through his first 10 games as the head coach.
As a result of poor play at the position, the Wolverines are in desperate need of a quarterback for the future and they do not currently have one committed in this upcoming class. They want Underwood. They are prepared to make him an offer he cannot refuse.
According to multiple reports on Thursday morning, Michigan is going to offer a financial package worth more than $10 million. It would be the largest known deal in NIL history, which dates back to 2021.
However, Underwood has said before that money is not the most important factor in his decision because he can make exponentially more money in the NFL. The program that gives him the best chance of one day going No. 1 overall is where he will end up. (We’ll see.)
Bryce Underwood trolled Michigan!
Not long after the $10 million number was made public, Underwood posted a photo of Phillip Wright to his story on Instagram. Wright is a three-star recruit in the Class of 2025 who was previously committed to Michigan and flipped his commitment to LSU.
There is no way to know what message Underwood is trying to convey with this post. Maybe he will ultimately end up flipping to Michigan for seven zeros. This new development would indicate otherwise.
It appears as though Bryce Underwood is reaffirming his commitment to the Tigers amid all of the scuttlebutt surrounding the Wolverines and NIL. For him to specifically use a photo of Wright feels very intentional in its message— especially considering that he previously laughed at a rumor about his supposedly imminent flip just last month.
LSU offensive coordinator Joe Sloan played a big role in Underwood’s decision. He is still going to get paid more than $4 million wherever he goes. Is $6 million really going to be the difference when the goal is to win a national championship and a Heisman Trophy en route to the NFL? It doesn’t seem like it.
We will not know for sure until at least December. Underwood might choose to make his final decision during the Early Signing Period. He could also choose to wait until National Signing Day in February.