Michigan football countdown to kickoff: 90 days until 2022 season
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 3 opener against Colorado State. We’ll discuss the current Michigan events, upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
No. 90’s name should get called quite a bit this fall. Michigan defensive end Mike Morris is ready to take off, after waiting his turn behind NFL players over the last few years — most notably, Kwity Paye, Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo.
Morris had only appeared in one career game before he was a sub-package player last season. The 6-6, 278-pounder moved around along the defensive line, willing to shift inside on pass downs. 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 the edge.
“I’m really excited,” the Michigan defensive end said on the In The Trenches podcast this spring. “I really didn’t get to do a lot of the stuff I wanted to do because of Aidan Hutch. I accepted every role that I got and I loved every role that I got because I was able to benefit the team. But I feel like now I can step into more of an edge role in the defense and dominate in that aspect. I’m very looking forward to that.”
He showed he can be disruptive, with 17 tackles, one stop for loss, a half-sack, two pass breakups and one interception.
While Morris’ role and playing time may be similar to what Hutchinson’s was last year, he’s not trying to become the Michigan legend. He wants to carve out his own path.
“Those are his shoes,” Morris said. “No one can fill Aidan’s shoes. I’m not going to pretend like he wasn’t an amazing, amazing player, an amazing athlete. I want to create my own shoes and stand right there on my own two feet and not try to live up his legacy or live up to his standard. I want to live up to my own standard and do my own thing.”
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Michigan has seen nine edge defenders picked in the last six NFL Drafts, and while Morris doesn’t show up on projections just yet, he could become the Wolverines’ next to go pro at the position.
Mike Morris is an emerging leader for Michigan
At the TUFF youth camp in Ann Arbor Sunday, we asked Michigan graduate wide receiver Ronnie Bell who else has stepped up as a leader this summer, and Morris was the first defender he named.
He’s not the first to mention Morris as an emerging leader, though. His name came up constantly throughout spring ball, from players and coaches alike. We also saw him lead first hand, taking control at the youth camp and looking and sounding like a coach while leading drills.
“After the season we had to all look and realize that the guys that we relied on last year aren’t going to be here,” Morris said. “They’re not going to be on the sideline with us; they’re not going to be with us. So a lot of guys had to step up, including me, with that. We just had to realize that. In spring we attacked it in every single way. We built leadership. We built great team values. Everybody was vocal [and] was present. Everybody was striving to be the best player for the team and themselves so we can win another Big Ten Championship.”
