J.D. PicKell after Bryce Underwood flip: ‘This is a brand new Michigan’

Some great detail on Underwood’s impact at #Michigan. #GoBlue

Michigan football didn’t play a game on Thursday but perhaps set the narrative not only for Week 13 but for the rest of the regular season after flipping Bryce Underwood, the No. 1 player in the 2025 recruiting class, from LSU.

The five-star hails from nearby Belleville (Michigan) and it was crucial for the Wolverines to keep him home, said On3 analyst J.D. PicKell in a video he posted on social media.

“Hey, this is a brand new Michigan now,” PicKell said. “It’s a brand new Michigan outfit under Sherrone Moore. They’re in the ball game. They’re playing the NIL game, baby. And this is been a long time coming, I think, for Michigan. This is something that you hoped would happen with Sherrone Moore taking over. This is something that you would hope would happen with the No. 1 quarterback, No. 1 player in America in your backyard. You flip him from LSU to the hometown school. This is huge.

“This is huge on a number of levels. One, like I just said, you’re in the ball game. Anyone who says paying a quarterback in the territory of double-digit millions, allegedly over like three to four years? Like, yeah, you’re in the ball game. Second part of this, the new era of college football, having a guy at quarterback — nonnegotiable to win a national title. Nonnegotiable, because now in the new 12-team format, you got to win three maybe four games to win a natty. You can’t hide a quarterback for that long.

“So now landing Bryce Underwood, who we already established, is an absolute dude, and you would expect if he projects the way that we all expect him to project, to be a dude. Michigan’s gonna have that key ingredient, all right. So vibes are immaculate in Ann Arbor. They should be. The No. 1 player in America staying home.

“And a lot of people now,  too — and I want to make sure I say this — ‘They just dropped the bag, that’s why they got him.’ You could have, too, if it truly was about! I don’t know if it was, but if it truly was about that, you could have, too. Let’s not shout about being broke, all right.”