Dave Portnoy is one of the most influential people in the media right now. The guy doesn’t care what fans think of him and that has generally gone to his advantage. He now most likely has Michigan football fans on his side as well.
Bryce Underwood is a high school quarterback, currently playing for Belleville High School. Underwood is a five-star recruit and is considered to be the number one recruit in the 2025 college recruiting class.
His recent commitment to the University of Michigan Wolverines football team has fans super excited for the teams future in the Big 10, and Dave Portnoy apparently had a lot to do with his commitment to the school.
Portnoy was recently on a Barstool Sports podcast and he got into talking about he was able to convince Underwood to join the Wolverines for their 2025 season. He did mention that it wasn’t all him during the process.
Dave Portnoy details his involvement in flipping No. 1 overall recruit Bryce Underwood〽️👀
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) November 26, 2024
(via @stoolpresidente)
Read: https://t.co/cYCWP5rJr8 pic.twitter.com/YGaTK7gLTY
Dave Portnoy Had Help From The Second Richest Person In The World When Recruiting Bryce Underwood
After claiming that he got a call from the Michigan football team, Portnoy went on to explain what was said on that phone call. “They said, ‘Hey, there’s this donor who wants to talk to you. I said that I’m doing this [landing Underwood] 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.”
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The woman who wanted to talk to the Barstool Sports owner was none other than Jolin Ellison, the wife of the Larry Ellison. It is reported that Larry Ellison is the second richest person in world with net worth of over $240 billion.
Jolin reportedly mentioned that she was a Michigan super fan and never wanted to relive the Brady Hoke era again on a call they had later that night with Larry in attendance. The next night they set up a zoom call with Underwood and his parents, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now that Dave Portnoy helped to convince Underwood to come to Michigan, the 17-year-old signal caller will reportedly earn over $10 million over four years with the Wolverines, and he will also be a Barstool sponsored athlete. Quite the feat for young quarterback.
