Michigan special teams coordinator names kick, punt return leaders
ANN ARBOR – Michigan Wolverines special teams coordinator JB Brown spoke to the media this week as the program moved into its next phase of fall camp. So far, leaders for the kick and punt return jobs are familiar names.
Brown confirmed to the Ann Arbor media that sophomore wide receiver Semaj Morgan and junior wideout Tyler Morris are involved in the battles right now. Cornerback Will Johnson has also been in the mix as Michigan looks for more explosive touches in the return game.
“Semaj is back there. Tyler’s back there. They both have been doing a great job,” Brown said. “Will’s been back there. A lot of people have been back there. We’re trying to gain depth in that role. You’re gonna use a lot of guys throughout the season. There’s gonna be injuries at some point during the season. So you’re gonna have to have a stable of returners back there. So we got a lot of people working. They’ve all gotten the ball really well. They’ve all put a lot of work in the summer ball, put a lot of work in this fall camp.”
Last season, Michigan leaned on walk-on Jake Thaw in the punt return game as a safe and reliable option. Former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh teased that quarterback Alex Orji could be a generational talent back there, but that never came to pass.
No superlatives this time around. Michigan just wants a stable of athletes competing for and winning the jobs.
“There’s gonna be a lot of athletes back there,” Brown said. “We’re gonna try to get the most explosive guy with the ball in his hands and we’re gonna try to go score as much as we can. Or get great field position for the offense.”
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Michigan has never been shy to play starting-caliber players in that phase of the game, and Brown will retain that mentality moving forward.
“100% still the case,” Brown said. “We got a lot of guys like Makari Paige [who] is a great safety, he still wants to play special teams. So you guys will still see those guys out there. They all want to do it. And again, we have a lot of guys that are role players as well that are doing a great job — that are not starters. So really pleased with the culture of the team and how they’re handling it. A lot of it will be still be the same. We’ll have some new nuances. But again, they love playing teams here and it’s a great job for me.
Michigan fans have PTSD from Ronnie Bell tearing his ACL during a return in the 2021 season opener, but it has not and will not deter any decision made on starting-caliber players getting special teams reps. Brown says the best players will be on the field as much as possible, and they want to be.
“I think you’ve just got to play football,” Brown said. “And then you play it at a high speed and then I don’t think you have to have that in the back of your mind. You just play as fast as you can, as hard as you can, as long as you can.”
