On Friday, the Big Ten Network crew of Dave Revsine, Howard Griffith, and Jake Butt closed out their 18-team fall camp tour by coming to Ann Arbor and taking in the Michigan Wolverines. And one person appeared to have come away the most impressed of the trio, and it wasn’t the Michigan Man.
Griffith was a star fullback for Illinois back in the late 1980s, and his attention seemed to be wholly captured by the offensive side of the ball. Of course, it was hard to miss freshman phenom Bryce Underwood, the former No. 1 player in the country coming out of high school.
Seeing Underwood for a second time in a calendar year, Griffith couldn’t help but marvel at his talent — though he did give one caveat.
“Yeah, I had an opportunity to see him this spring, and he was just as impressive today as he was in the spring,” Griffith said. “He’s a talented young man, and I think right now what we’re seeing is a guy that has all the attributes, all the physical skills to really be a great quarterback. But we really won’t know until he steps out on the field, and that’s when we’ll actually know. But he has all the things. He does everything the right way. So the point, the arrow, as they say, is pointing up, but he is immensely talented.”
But it isn’t just the Bryce Underwood show, and there was a lot that Griffith liked outside of the quarterback. In fact, he gave high praise to one position group, indicating it could be among the best in the conference — despite not getting a lot of attention.
Because of that, Griffith believes the whole of the offense could come together, because if the run game improves, it opens up a lot of options for the other aspects of the offense.
“I will say this, this running back group here has an opportunity to be the best running back group in the Big Ten Conference,” Griffith said. “They’re shifty. They’re quick. They can hit the home run. It is a tremendous upgrade at the running back position of what they have, and this offensive line coming together. I think it’s going to be tremendous for them.
“And then we talked about outside (receiver). I personally think because of what you have at quarterback right now, that’s going to help the guys outside. And normally we look at how can the weapons outside help the quarterback, but because the ball can be pushed down the field, those guys can go get it. I think sometimes they were limited last year and what they could do based on what was happening at the quarterback position. But this is an offense that has a chance to be as explosive as they’ve been in a long time.”
Michigan will open up the season on Saturday as it hosts New Mexico at The Big House. The game will kick off at 7:36 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast on NBC.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: BTN’s Howard Griffith praises Michigan’s improved offense, RB group, Underwood for 2025
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
