No. 1 Belleville: QB Bryce Underwood has a chance to complete unheard of MHSAA feat

Belleville’s first practice of the day was winding down and first-year head coach Calvin Norman was shooting the breeze with a reporter when a question popped into his head:

“Has any quarterback ever won four state championships?”

That possibility, at least, has existed six times in Michigan high school football: Farmington Hills Harrison (1997-2001), East Grand Rapids (2006-10) and Grand Rapids West Catholic (2013-17) each won five consecutive state championships, but none had one quarterback start four of them.

Three other schools — Ithaca (2010-13), Detroit DePorres (1981-84) and Muskegon Catholic Central (2013-16) — won four straight titles, though none of them had the same quarterback all four years, either.

Norman was not putting the cart before the horse, but he was naturally curious — because a year from now, that question could become quite relevant.

Belleville, the Free Press’ preseason No. 1 team in the state, is coming off two consecutive championships and is the overwhelming favorite to make it three when it begins the season Friday against River Rouge at 7 p.m. in the Prep Kickoff Classic at Wayne State.

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Norman’s question is pertinent because Bryce Underwood is going for his third title and he is only a junior.

In 2021, Underwood was only a freshman when Belleville defeated Rochester Adams, 55-33.

“All I know is we won,” Underwood said. “I had five touchdowns, that’s it. That’s all I remember.”

That’s enough.

Underwood put on an awe-inspiring performance for anyone, much less a freshman. He completed 12 of 21 passes for 284 yards and five touchdowns. He also carried the ball five times for 62 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown run.

Underwood’s memory of last season’s title game isn’t much different.

“Three touchdown, we won,” he said. “That’s all the matters.”

A season ago, the Tigers drilled Caledonia, 35-17, as Underwood completed 15 of 25 passes for 155 yards and two TDs. A third touchdown came on a 48-yard run as he gained another 149 yards on 10 carries.

Underwood, who passed for 2,751 yards and 37 touchdowns last fall, is back, and his goal for his junior season is pretty much the same as it was for the previous two years.

“We win the state championship,” he said.

While Belleville will be the red letter game on every opponent’s schedule, he believes the Tigers are better than a year ago and so is he.

An inch taller and 15 pounds heavier, he's now 6 feet 4 and 210 pounds.

“He put on a lot of weight,” said linebacker/running back Jeremiah Beasley, who has committed to Michigan. “He stayed in the weight room. He’s reading defenses better, his leadership is better, just everything.”

Norman replaces disgraced former coach Jermain Crowell, who was fired from Belleville after the Michigan High School Athletic Association suspended him from coaching for two years.

For the previous four seasons, Norman was a Belleville assistant after serving as head coach at Detroit Cody from 2008-18.

He has had a bird’s eye view of Underwood’s growth as a quarterback since his freshman year.

“His confidence is way up, obviously” Norman said. “He’s definitely working harder in the weight room, a lot more so than I’ve ever seen since he’s been there. But I push the weight room.”

New to the staff is offensive coordinator Spencer McCourt, who played at Bloomfield Hills Lahser and Northwood University before serving as a graduate assistant at Bowling Green.

Norman is delighted with what he has seen from McCourt since he began making tweaks to the offense, which is making a difference with Underwood.

“He’s more accurate with his throws,” Norman said. “He definitely understands coverages more, so not to make so many bad throws. Once again, with coach McCourt being around mentoring him, man, it’s a big plus to have him, he picks up information really quick.”

McCourt has never seen Underwood play in person. But he has watched a lot of game film on him, and, as everyone knows, film don’t lie.

The allure to taking the quarterback coach job at Belleville is the opportunity to help Underwood reach his potential.

“He doesn’t even know what he’s capable of yet,” McCourt said. “He’s a horse. It kind of bothers me when people say it’s God-given ability. He works really hard for it. That’s cool to see when a kid’s really talented.”

The reason Belleville is ranked No. 1 is that Underwood is not the only "really talented" player on the team.

Beasley is a returning all-state linebacker, but he could be an all-state running back as well.

“I like linebacker better,” he said. “Just being able to run around and hit people. That’s what I like best about linebacker.”

If you’ve watched Beasley carry the ball, it seems his mission is to run around and hit as many people as possible there, too — he doesn’t run away from defenders, he runs into and over them.

“You know it’s always good to get at running back and run the ball,” he said. “It’s always fun to run the ball and get the crowd hyped.”

With the depth Belleville has at running back, a coach might choose to limit him to defense to keep him fresh for that spot.

But keeping Beasley on the sideline isn’t much of an option for Norman.

“We have, like, six running backs that can go, but Jeremiah runs in a way that, man, you’ve got to recognize him as a running back,” Norman said. “Just his low center of gravity and how he runs and how he sees the hole — he sprints to it.

“Yeah, he’s going to get a lot of touches. He’s going to be hard to bring down.”

There is a lot more to the Tigers than just skill positioned players. Junior Lamar Fairfax will play offensive guard and defensive tackle; he is another weight room maniac, capable of squatting 500 pounds.

Add center/defensive tackle Ronald Jackson to the mix and there is the makings of a terrific line on both sides of the ball.

“Jackson’s similar to Lamar Fairfax,” Norman said. “These guys are strong, they’re fast, athletic. They’re not typically what you would normally see as a D-line spot because they’re so athletic they can move. They’re going to be really difficult to block.”

Another standout is wide receiver/defensive back Adrian Walker, a two-way factor last season as a sophomore.

How Walker adapts to different situations amazes Norman.

“Some of these things are not on coaching, they just have this natural ability to know how to play the game of football,” he said. “That’s where he’s at. His IQ of understanding his position, where he’s playing at and what he needs to do, it’s not so much coaching, he just has the ability.

“He’s fast, he’s so athletic so it’s going to be difficult to cover him and it’s also going to be difficult to throw on him.”

One of the reasons it will be difficult to throw on Walker? He has to go against the consensus top junior quarterback in the nation each day in practice.

“It’s not easy at all,” Walker said. “His throwing ability is great. I know there’s no quarterbacks better than him, so whenever I play I’m used to having him as the quarterback.

“He’s the No. 1 quarterback in the country for a reason.”

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1. Order his book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” right now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: No. 1 Belleville: QB Bryce Underwood halfway to unheard of MHSAA feat