ANN ARBOR, Michigan -- Infamously, there is only one tunnel leading to the locker rooms at Michigan Stadium. By the time Oregon and Michigan's players walked into it after their game on Saturday, it was painfully clear which team was head and shoulders above.
After the teams exit the field, a group of high school players in maize bubble coats follow, with Michigan inviting recruits on hand back to the locker room to continue their visit. One player was apparently not among them: five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood, the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2025.
Rumors swirled around campus all last weekend that the signal-caller, who lives about 30 minutes away in Belleville, would be a surprise attendee at the game (his teammate, Elijah Dotson, was on-hand). The night before, LSU offensive coordinator Joe Sloan was in attendance at Belleville's first round playoff win, in which Underwood threw six touchdowns in a 68-0 blowout win as the Tigers chase their third state championship with Underwood behind center. Underwood is an LSU commit for now, but many recruiting insiders view a flip to Michigan as a forgone conclusion, even if he did not make it to Ann Arbor this weekend. A significant compensation package is being prepared for him.
The website On3 initially reported a figure for Underwood may near $5 million, but multiple conversations CBS Sports and 247Sports have had with sources across the industry paint the real number to be something closer to double that (over the course of several seasons). There should be no surprise at the high cost of doing business in the NIL era with a highly-touted prospect.
RELATED: Inside Michigan's hopeful flip of No. 1 recruit Bryce Underwood
Underwood would be only one part of Michigan's offensive transformation, but he'd be inarguably the most important one. The 6-3, 205-pound QB has been compared to Texas' Vince Young by 247Sports director of recruiting Andrew Ivins, and would almost certainly be in line to compete for the starting job from the day he stepped on campus in Ann Arbor. Flip watch for Underwood intensified after four-star QB commit Carter Smith decommitted at the end of October.
To say that Michigan mismanaged its quarterback situation is a bit of revisionist history. Coach Jim Harbaugh left the Wolverines four days after the national championship on Jan. 20. By then, the quarterback musical chairs had already stopped. Each of the top 25 portal QBs in 247Sports' rankings had already enrolled at their new schools. Michigan also thought it had a capable starter and a reliable offensive identity with Alex Orji heading into fall camp, whether they were communicating it out of true belief or simple necessity is in the eye of the beholder. Either way, what they've put on the field has been an unproductive mishmash of offenses with poor results throughout that go beyond just the quarterback's influence on the offense. The question for Michigan is if they could afford to also go into the portal for a quarterback if they do sign Underwood in order to fill out their QB room and what might happen to either Davis Warren or Alex Orji, not to mention true four-star freshman Jadyn Davis, who's currently taking a redshirt season.
How they got here is now a moot point, how they move on is what is most important, and as coach Sherrone Moore looks to put his stamp on the program, how he fixes what's broken on offense will tell the story about whether this year (5-4) can be considered a mulligan or if it's the new norm.
With or without Underwood, Michigan can't afford many more walks up the tunnel that felt like Saturday's.
"If Moore can't pull off one of the biggest flips in recent years, the pressure is only going to continue to mount," Ivins said.