Bryce Underwood will start Michigan's season opener as a true freshman quarterback after flipping from LSU. He is the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class and becomes the fourth true freshman in program history to start a season opener, the first since Tate Forcier in 2009. The move capped a $12 million NIL deal involving Larry Ellison, Tom Brady and Dave Portnoy. Portnoy pledged $3 million annually to help land a top quarterback and recounted being contacted by Michigan about a donor named Jolin, who is Keren Zhu, a Michigan alum and Larry Ellison's wife.
"They said, 'Hey, there's this donor who wants to talk to you.' I said I'm doing this by myself, and I don't need to talk to anybody. And they said, 'Please, this woman is a big fan of Barstool and you; she'd love to talk to you. Her name is Jolin,'"
"They said, 'Oh, her husband is a guy by the name of Larry Ellison. Have you ever heard of him?' Oh, Larry Ellison? The No. 2 richest guy on the planet? Yeah, I'll take that phone call"
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