Colin Hurley spent the last two seasons at LSU, but the four-star recruit never played. Now, he’s part of Michigan’s quarterback room that, while it returns Bryce Underwood, who started every game as a freshman last season, has a much different look.
Underwood is the leader in the clubhouse at quarterback heading into spring practice next month, but he has plenty of competition this time around with Hurley and former Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi transferring in, as well as redshirt freshman Chase Herbstreit and freshmen Tommy Carr (Saline) and Brady Smigiel, who is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last October.
But this spring will provide competition for Underwood — last spring, he and Jadyn Davis were the only available quarterbacks — and the emergence of a backup.
The 6-foot-1, 218-pound Hurley is an intriguing prospect, and his private quarterback coach Will Hewlett, co-founder of CORTX Performance, believes he will be a strong fit at Michigan. Hewlett has worked with Hurley since he was in seventh grade, and he also works with Herbstreit and Carr, as well as older brother, CJ Carr, who is Notre Dame’s starting quarterback.
“I’m super excited about the room there (at Michigan),” Hewlett told The Detroit News. “I think those guys can have a blast together. I’ve known Chase forever, and the kid is a gifted runner, and he’s super smart as well. It’s gonna be a really intelligent room. Tommy is pretty gifted, too. I think he’s a stud.”
And then there’s Hurley, whose physical ability, Hewlett said, matches his football intelligence.
“Colin has a lot of great traits from just pure arm talent, and he’s got the athleticism, but he’s a really intelligent kid and can be challenged at a pretty high level,” Hewlett said. “When you combine those really great traits, and then you have someone that understands the game at a high level, that’s when you get the ideal talent combination that equates to great play on the field.”
Hurley was a four-star recruit in the 2024 class after reclassifying and was 16 when he enrolled at LSU in January 2024. He redshirted his first year, and then in January 2025, Hurley was involved in an early morning single-car crash near the gates of the LSU campus. He unconscious when police officers arrived. The car had been traveling at a high rate of speed, according to local reports. Hurley was wearing a seatbelt and no alcohol or drugs were found at the scene. He recovered at home in Jacksonville, Florida, and returned to the LSU football team in April 2025.
Now, he’s at Michigan to compete or playing time. Hurley is a different quarterback than Underwood, the 6-4, 228-pounder who was the top-ranked player nationally in the 2025 class. He has a strong arm and can be dangerous as a runner. Underwood completed 60.3% of his attempts for 2,428 yards and had 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also carried the ball 88 times for 392 yards and scored six touchdowns.
“Bryce is pretty uniquely gifted, obviously,” Hewlett said. “Colin is probably a little bit more of an operator. He is athletic, but it’s one of those things where Bryce is going to utilize his legs and running ability probably a little bit more and do more off-platform stuff. It’s not that Colin can’t do that, but I think Colin’s always slotted to being a little bit more pro-style.
“He’s gonna throw first. He’s gonna move through the progressions and run it when he absolutely has to. He’s uniquely gifted in terms of his sequence and how he moves through the throw. He’s a very effortless thrower. He’s got a big engine, but it does a really good job with different types of throws and different types of routes. He has lot of tools, per se, in terms of his ability to deliver football.”
Hewlett said Hurley can make any throw.
“He’s one of those guys that’s always gonna throw the right ball,” he said. “There’s what we call ego throwing. It feels good, and you just rip, and that’s great, but in the NFL, the average velocity of a ball is probably in the neighborhood of like 48 to 49 mph. That’s the most catchable speed. Most of these big-arm quarterbacks have the capacity to throw like 64 mph. Most big-arm quarterbacks in college football are going to be upper 50s, probably in the 60s.
“Colin has that engine. He’s got a big arm, but he has never, ever since I’ve known him, been attached to throwing the ball hard just to throw the ball hard. He’s very calculated in his approach to throwing the right ball. It is a talent that’s really admired, and coaches love it. So that’s a big thing that we focused on for year is what’s the right ball to be thrown here. Be on time, out early, and then place it and then use your talent of arm speed and velocity when you need to.”
Hewlett emphasized Hurley’s smarts and said he’s the type of player that once you tell him something, he gets it. Hurley also is inquisitive and quickly picks up on things, Hewlett said, and can be challenged at a high level.
“That room is gonna really push each other,” Hewlett said of Michigan’s quarterbacks. “There’s a lot of high-level throwers and great minds, so it’ll be fun.”
achengelis@detroitnews.com
@chengelis
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Why Colin Hurley’s coach is ‘super excited’ about Michigan QB room
Reporting by Angelique S. Chengelis, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
