Two young Michigan wide receivers have stepped up this spring
Michigan Wolverines football has 10 starters to replace on offense, including both of its top two receivers, Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson. Junior Tyler Morris hauled in 13 receptions for 197 yards and 1 touchdown last season. He’s primed to step up but will need others to alongside him.
Sophomores Fredrick Moore (2 catches for 14 yards in 2023) and Semaj Morgan (22 receptions for 204 yards and 2 scores), along with senior Peyton O’Leary (2 grabs for 13 yards and a touchdown) are in the group that could emerge.
“We got a lot of younger guys — me, Fred, Semaj, Peyton — who hadn’t played a whole lot,” Morris said Tuesday. “As a room as a whole, we’re expecting everybody to step up, everybody to step into their new roles and be their best selves.
“I’ve been telling the guys, ‘We don’t got Rome, we don’t got CJ, but that don’t gotta be a bad thing. It’s our chance to go do something.’ Just every day coming out understanding that we, as a group, individually, we haven’t done a whole lot yet — and this is a year that we can show what we can do.”
RELATED
• Michigan spring ball quick-hitters: Wideouts, cornerbacks that are stepping up, offensive lineman weight loss, more
• How Jaishawn Barham has fit into Michigan’s LB unit this spring: ‘We threw him in on the deep end’
Morris pointed to Moore and Morgan as two who have caught his eye during Michigan’s spring practices.
“I would say Fred and Semaj,” Morris said. “Really, it’s everybody. But Fred and Semaj, I feel like just being young guys, they were the freshmen last year and this year they’ve shown they can step up.”
Morgan was a difference-maker for Michigan in a limited role last season, both as a pass-catcher and runner (adding 4 rushes for 67 yards and 2 touchdowns). Twenty one of his 27 targets and 18 of his 22 catches came within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, though, and Michigan may need him to do more down the field this season.
“Semaj last year had a lot of the quick game stuff,” Morris explained. “And this year, I told him, ‘That was nice, but we need you to do more.’
“And that’s just kind of expectations — we need everybody to step up. Fred, we’re going to need him to be one of those deep ball receivers. Peyton — he hasn’t played a lot. We’ve talked about it, too. We need everybody to step up and be able to do everything.”
Morris noted that Moore and Morgan having a year under their belt could allow them to take a big jump, like many receivers do in their second season.
“I think there’s just a lot of stuff that you learn by playing football at the receiver position,” the Michigan wideout said. “Sometimes, it can be hard just to come in right away and understand football, so I feel like with the more reps they get against our defense in practice and the more opportunities they get, everybody’s going to step up and make more plays than they did.”
Moore played just 107 offensive snaps for Michigan last season, many of them late in games that the Wolverines had all but won. Morris explained why he believes the sophomore can have success.
“Fred can be really good,” he noted. “He’s just a really fast, twitchy athlete. Fred can really step up and have a good year, and that’s kind of our mentality.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for a lot of us, because we haven’t had the opportunity, being the young guys. And now, we’re young and still in a position where we can really make something happen and have a huge impact on this team. He has an opportunity to really step up and be great.”
