Michigan WR Tyler Morris on status for fall camp, early enrollee standouts, 'opening up the playbook'

It wasn’t long ago that Michigan Wolverines football freshman wide receiver Tyler Morris was in the shoes of the campers at quarterback J.J. McCarthy‘s BG10 Champions Camp in LaGrange, Ill. A product of LaGrange Park Nazareth Academy, before transferring to Plainfield East, Morris helped coach youth and high school players last Sunday. Along with 20-plus of his new teammates, he set out to give back to the very community that helped him become a four-star recruit and one of Michigan’s top signees in 2022.

“It’s cool to be around the community, and just around Chicago, doing camps like this because a couple years ago it was me,” Morris told TheWolverine.com. “This is kinda cool to see how things have changed pretty fast.”

Just like that, Morris is one semester down at Michigan. He suffered a torn ACL during his spring 2021 season at Nazareth, so while he went through spring practices with the Wolverines, he was held out of contact periods. He’s expected to be back, full go, by the time fall camp rolls around in August.

“Right now, I feel really good,” Morris explained. “We just don’t have practices right now, really, but I’m doing workouts [at] 100 percent [health]. Practice — I’m supposed to be 100 percent, out of my brace by the time fall camp starts, so I’ll be good.

“I was able to do a lot of practice [in the spring], I just couldn’t do contact. So I feel like I got a lot more comfortable playing football again.”

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In addition to rehabbing, the No. 157 overall player in the class of 2022 per the On3 Consensus spent extensive time with Michigan head strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert and his staff from January to April, and he feels better off for it.

“All around, it’s just helped me. I feel faster, stronger, just more solid,” Morris said. “So definitely I feel like I’ve developed physically over the last few months.”

The 6-0, 175-pounder is in a crowded wide receiver room that returned all but one player who caught a pass last season, but he hopes to contribute this coming campaign.

“Really, I’m just trying to do the best I can, have a solid role on the team,” Morris said. “I just want to be in a spot where the coach feels comfortable putting me in and I can really get some playing time and have a significant role on the team.”

If Morris is able to make an early impact, he’ll be one of several Michigan freshmen who should see significant playing time, including fellow wideout Darrius Clemons. When asked to identify early enrollees who impressed him the most during spring ball, though, Morris went with two defenders.

“I’d say [defensive tackle] Mason Graham,” Morris said. “He’s going against [graduate offensive lineman] Olu[segun] [Oluwatimi], who’s one of the best centers in the country, every day — and he’s competing. He’s stood out. 

“[Defensive back] Will [Johnson] — he’s going to play a lot. Watching him, I can tell, his technique, and going up against him, there’s a whole bunch of little things that a lot of DBs don’t do.

“Those two probably stood out the most.”

‘Opening up the offense’

Michigan saw offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, the 2021 Broyles Award winner for the nation’s top assistant, leave for Miami (Fla.) this offseason. Head coach Jim Harbaugh moved quickly to promote quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss to co-offensive coordinator with offensive line coach Sherrone Moore, who already held a co-coordinator title but will now be even more involved in the operation.

From the sounds of it, Michigan’s two co-coordinators are planning on adding new wrinkles to the offense for this season. Michigan leaned on a run-heavy attack last year, rushing 41.7 times per game, which was tied for the 23rd-most in the country. Now, with two capable quarterbacks returning in senior Cade McNamara and McCarthy, along with a plethora of playmakers, the Wolverines may be better off airing it out a bit more, especially with the departure of running back Hassan Haskins, who rushed for 1,327 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2021.

“I like them,” Morris said of Moore and Weiss. “I like how it’s two different ones, so we have two minds going into play calling and stuff like that.

“I’ve heard that they’re opening up the playbook a little more this year, so I like what I’m seeing and what should be going on this year.”

A boost from Ron Bellamy, Ronnie Bell

Michigan hired Ron Bellamy to coach wide receivers back in January 2021, but due to some shifting on the coaching staff, he unselfishly accepted a move to coach safeties. Now, ahead of 2022, Bellamy is back coaching the position group he was a part of as a player, and players have raved about his early impact.

Morris has already learned a lot about football since arriving in Ann Arbor, including intel on the defense that Bellamy has provided.

“Bellamy has taught us to look at the defense, which is something in high school, you really don’t look at the defense,” Morris said. “But looking at the leverage pre-snap, where the safeties might roll and the different coverages they might be in. I feel like I’ve definitely learned a lot, in terms of reading coverages.”

Graduate wide receiver Ronnie Bell is a returning captain and opted to remain at Michigan as opposed to enter the NFL Draft. He’s taken young wide receivers like Morris under his wing, and the two have grown a bond. Bell missed spring practice, since he too is recovering from an ACL injury.

“Ronnie has probably been the biggest help,” Morris said. “He’s been there so long that he knows the offense in and out. With him not practicing really, he was kinda another coach. I was always talking to him when I had questions about plays and what I should do in this situation, so I feel like I’ve learned a lot from him.”