'I want to be bigger': Why — and how — Michigan EDGE Mike Morris got up to 292 pounds

Michigan Wolverines football has 10 scholarship players listed at the EDGE position. Of those 10, the average weight is 251.9 pounds. And then there’s an outlier — senior Mike Morris at 292 pounds, the sixth-heaviest defensive player on the roster. He’s up 14 pounds from his 2021 listing, and he was intentional about making big gains this offseason.

“It feels great,” Morris said Tuesday evening, speaking to media members one week into Michigan’s fall camp.

After last season ended, Morris went to nutritionist Abigal O’Connor, one of Michigan’s unsung heroes who the players consistently rave about, with a goal in mind.

“I got with Abigail O’Connor, our nutritionist, and I said, ‘I want to be bigger. I want to be bigger. I want to play all levels of our D-line,’” Morris revealed. “So that’s what our game plan was — but I also wanted to maintain my speed and my athleticism. So that was the game plan the whole month of May, and we did that and I feel great.

“I passed my conditioning test with flying colors, running with linebackers, quarterbacks and the tight ends. I feel great.”

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Playing behind All-Americans Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo at Michigan’s EDGE spot last season, Morris was unselfish and willing to play anywhere along the defensive line. Here are Morris’ most common positions of alignment last season: EDGE (173 snaps), three-technique (81), five-technique (66), nose tackle (18). That’s 45.8 percent of his snaps at a position other than EDGE.

Morris said early in the offseason that he wasn’t going to try to be the next Hutchinson, who finished as the 2021 runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, college football’s most prestigious individual honor. Instead, he’s paving his own path, which includes a different role.

“I’m a big body at 292,” Morris explained. “I can rush from the nose, the three, a wide-three, a five and outside and the ghost nine. I can rush all levels of the defense, which is what I wanted to do, but now I’m in a position where stuff can be ran through me, instead of me running it through Aidan and ‘Jabo. So that’s probably the difference [between this year and last year].

“My vision was, I wanted to be dominant at every level of our defense, no matter where I’m at — if I’m dropping in coverage, rushing from the nose or the three. I want to be dominant at every level of the defense, so I wanted to put on more weight in order to be that dominant.

“At 280 last year, I felt like I was making an impact, but I really wasn’t very physical in that middle. But now, with [strength and conditioning coach Ben] Herb[ert], Abigail, I feel like now I’m a lot more physical, a lot more physical. Just the weight room, eating right, taking the right protein with Abigail and just taking care of my body.”

Morris has also added more responsibilities as a leader this year. We saw it on display at Michigan’s late-July player-led practice in East Grand Rapids, Mich., when he was the most vocal out of the defensive players. Numerous teammates have mentioned Morris as the one who’s stepped up the most after the Wolverines lost linebacker Josh Ross and Hutchinson as captains from a year ago.

“I feel like a lot of eyes are on me, not only by the coaches but by my teammates as well, which means a lot more to me, because I have a lot more younger guys now at my position group,” Morris said. “They’re looking at me like, ‘OK, what is Mike ‘Mo doing? What is he doing? Let me see if I can apply what he’s doing to my game and make it better.’ That’s the difference right now.

“In the spring, it was more of us, so it wasn’t too many young guys in my group. Everyone knew Hutch as the leader of the group, but now it’s me and Uppy [graduate EDGE Taylor Upshaw]. That’s probably the [biggest] difference.”