Bryce Underwood Gives a Glimpse of His Character In the Face of His Benching

College football has changed forever. Players are not amateurs any longer. Or at least the guise that they were is gone.

Players are paid. The money that they’re paid is mostly public. That means any sympathy for those players went out the door the moment the money came in the door.

Bryce Underwood is no exception to this rule. His recruitment was a spectacle. Michigan pulled out all the stops to try and pull him away from LSU. If there was a big name person connected with the program, the Wolverines leveraged that relationship.

Ultimately, Michigan was able to land Underwood, and the promise of a bright future came with him.

You know what has happened from there. Underwood has not been good enough. The situation around him has been worse. His second season, which was supposed to be different from his freshman year, may have ended on Saturday when Underwood was given a seat on the bench as Michigan was unable to score in the first half against Penn State.

What happened from there is just as telling.

It Would Be Easy

Again, college football has changed. Tom Brady often says that players commit to teams, they don’t commit to programs anymore. As a result, each player is truly in a year-to-year relationship with the team that they play for.

Anytime a move is made, questions are asked how that will affect not only the recruiting class coming in, but the players already on the roster.

Underwood was no different. There were concerns that he would bolt for greener pastures after Sherrone Moore was fired last December. It would have been easy for anyone else to bolt after Moore was dismissed.

Underwood was a key voice in keeping the team together, and was ultimately voted a captain for his sophomore season.

Being a captain at Michigan is something that Tom Brady has called the greatest honor in his football career. Think of all the accomplishments that Brady has earned over his time in football and consider how heavy of a statement that is.

Being a captain means being a leader when things are not going well on the field or off of it.

Things were not going well on the field for Underwood, and he was truly tested on the field when he was seated on the bench.

Other players presented with the same situation as Underwood have sulked. They have pouted. Others have left the program they were with altogether in the name of doing what was best for themselves.

This Is Different

Underwood could have easily followed the lead of others around the country and done the same. When Tommy Carr entered the game, Underwood could have tossed a towel over his head and sulked on the sideline.

Underwood plays for a program that has “The Team” written three times in its tunnel as they head toward the field, from the most famous speech from their legendary head coach whose name dons the football facility.

It sounds corny, but football is truly an all for one, and one for all type of sport. There is not another sport where players attempt to execute things for each other, knowing they will receive no glory for it. In fact, they risk serious injury along the way.

It’s that essence that leads to some of the great camaraderie that football brings to everyone who has played it. Anyone who has stepped onto a football field knows exactly what I’m referencing.

That has changed over the years as football has become more of a business with each passing day.

What Bryce Underwood did on Sunday, however, did remind the rest of the world that it is still possible to be a good teammate in the face of ultimate embarrassment.

Underwood did not sulk on the sidelines. He did not talk to teammates about how he was leaving.

He was engaged. He was supportive. He was seen dancing with someone he was replaced by after a rushing touchdown to put the game out of reach.

Underwood is smart. He knew what was happening as Carr played well in his place on Saturday. He knew the uncertainty that would follow. It didn’t matter. He did what a captain was supposed to do.  

Admittedly, this should be the bare minimum. Being a good teammate and supporting your teammates no matter the situation should be an expectation.

Anyone who has watched the way football has changed over the years knows that it isn’t. What Underwood did on Saturday after Carr.

No, things have not worked out on the field for Underwood in his season-plus in Ann Arbor.

If you still want to believe in the good that football can bring, however, Underwood’s interactions with Carr certainly gave you that.