Name: Semaj Morgan
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 174 lbs.
High school: West Bloomfield (MI) West Bloomfield
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #0
Last year: I ranked Morgan #16 and said he would be a starting wide receiver (LINK). He started four games and made 27 catches for 139 yards and 1 touchdown, ran 6 times for 32 yards, and returned 9 punts for 100 yards.
TTB Rating: 76
After a breakout freshman season in 2023, I thought Semaj Morgan would have a fun 2024. He was a bit of a jack-of-all trades who could catch, run, and return punts.
And then he did absolutely nothing in 2024.
You want a fun statistic? Out of 177 players in Michigan history with 19 catches or more in a season, Semaj Morgan's 5.1 yards per catch is tied for the lowest . . . and the person tied with him was running back Anthony Thomas (33 catches, 168 yards in 1999).
Want to know what's arguably worse? The only player with 17 catches or more in a season who had a lower yards per catch than Morgan and Thomas's 5.1 was the 2024 version of Donovan Edwards (18 catches, 83 yards).
In other words, the passing game in 2024 was historically bad. Not that you didn't already know that.
On the plus side, I think Morgan is better than that. He was better in high school and he was better as a freshman. I'm going to chalk up the pitiful 2024 campaign to poor quarterbacking and poor offensive coordinator-ing, and both of those positions have been upgraded going into 2025. I think offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey will have a better idea of how to use Morgan, and I think Bryce Underwood/Mikey Keene will be able to get him the ball in more advantageous ways.
Prediction: Part-time starting wide receiver; 30 catches for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns
Morgan's speed comes with potential ... dude needs to go from a guy who once made a play to a Playmaker!
ReplyDeleteYep the QB play was so atrocious I think all the receivers get a pass or maybe an incomplete grade, in their honor.
ReplyDeleteSee what I did there?
Here's a sobering fact: The #1 receiving target got elevated from being the #3 target in 2023 and saw his yardage production go DOWN. Woof!
The best receiving TE in Michigan history and a first round NFL pick couldn't surpass 600 yards! We talk about wasting Nico Collins but even he topped 700 yards. What happened with Loveland, Morris, Morgan and company last year was a debacle.
I hope with Bryce/Keene and Lindsay the passing game is a lot better this year and the receiver production will bounce back accordingly, even with a lot of the same faces (save Loveland of course). Sounds like McCulley will get a lot of the targets but I'd look for a big bounce back year for Morgan too -- especially if Lindsay delivers on his reputation as a guy who likes to use the screen game. Feels like Michigan is long overdue on this front, to counterattack defensive aggression against the run.
Morgan in particular would be a beneficiary if screen passes are functional. I still like his game and his aggressive attitude.
QB play was awful, especially when the Gimmick couldn't be trusted to throw the MF ball. An argument could even be made that Warren & Tuttle were trusted TOO MUCh
ReplyDeleteBut our Receivers still got targets, and I can remember only a couple tough catches (OLeary had one, and I think Morris had one against sparty) . That's it. What is needed when QB does get the ball there is a guy who can either "go up & get it," or - once he gets it - MAKE A PLAY. That was absent last year
No argument needed -- Warren and Tuttle were trusted WAY too much. That's why Campbell was fired.
DeleteMichigan didn't start winning tough games with Warren until it treated Warren like Orji with a limp. To win the games against Alabama (12 attempts 73 yards) and Ohio State (16 attempts 62 yards) the passing game looked a lot more like USC (12 attempts 32 yards) and Minnesota (18 attempts 86 yards) than it did against Oregon (23 attempts 165 yards) or Indiana (32 attempts for 137 yards).
Campbell was incompetent. Don't know if he stunk at game planning or stunk at skill evaluation, or both, but the QBs were managed ineffectively and therefore the offense was managed ineffectively.
The only option, if you wanted to win with this collection of QBs, was to not pass.
Campbell's malpractice may have cost Michigan a playoff berth. Better gameplans, not great just not insanely dumb ones, turn Ls into Ws against Indiana and Illinois. Probably Washington too. If that Michigan team is 9-3 coming off a road win in Columbus they are at least in the conversation for a playoff berth. And with the way the defense was playing to close the year, you never know how that team might have done in the playoff...
Orji wasn't a good QB, not even close, but if you spent the entire season running a Bo-era offense, you would have been in the playoff. Yes - Orji couldn't throw - but neither could Warren. Yes - he was an INT risk - but less so than Warren. The longest offensive play of the day against OSU, gimmick or no gimmick, was with Orji. You can win with QBs like Warren or Orji, but not if you rely on them to do a lot.
QB was so bad Michigan needed to not throw to win. The OC failed to see it.
Unfortunately that's the story of the 2024 offense and that's why a defending national champion with an elite defense and Colston Loveland closed the season at 7-5 instead of 9-3 or 10-2.
Yep the receivers were irrelevant given the above. Asking a WR to MAKE PLAYS with QBs who can't throw is like asking a RB to MAKE PLAYS with an OL that can't block. Not happening.
DeleteLoveland was one of the better receivers to throw to in the last decade at Michigan and his stats went DOWN in 2024. That's because of the QBs, not the guy going in round 1 for his pass catching skills.
Orji Tuttle and Warren could not be trusted to throw the ball downfield period.
DeleteThere was no "go up and get it" opportunities because that crew was more likely to straight up throw it into the defenses arms or fumble it on the attempt. OL might have been a factor here too, TBF. Whatever it was the team almost never threw the ball downfield. This was nothing like Denard throwing to Hemingway and Gallon in 2011.
Michigan simply wouldn't do it, not even with Loveland. Loveland went from 14 or 15 YPC to 10 YPC. The opportunities were not there.
You can blame the receivers if you want but IMO the order of responsibility for the inept passing game was:
1) QB
2) Campbell
3) OL
You can ask yourself another way -- if Nico Collins and Braylon Edwards and Desmond Howard were out there would things have been much different? I think the answer is no. These guys at QB weren't going to be able to get them the ball. As with Loveland, the talent would have been wasted.
I'd love to understand what exactly went wrong in 2024, between Sherrone Moore being a first year HC, Kirk Campbell being an OC when he had no business being one, and Grant Newsome as first year OL coach when he probably was in over his head as a newbie. I've heard Moore say several times recently about how he learned a great deal over last year ... okay, learned what, exactly? He won't say, but if we could get the inside skinny it'd prove to be fascinating.
DeleteLank, we went over this last year. I know the QBs sucked, and said almost a year and a half ago that we could be an 8-win team because of that room ... "loser thinking" is what you thought of my assessment
DeleteBut even amongst crappy QBs, the gimmick was the worst. He had ONE game with ten completions, and only TWO games he was trusted to throw that many times. After the October 5 benching in Seattle, he was only trusted to pass in TWO of the remaining FIVE games, for a whopping FOUR attempts in three months, the last being an ugly pick. If anything, my spring thought in 2o24 was TOO optimistic
As for Receiver, we discussed that as well. We did not have playmakers returning. In 23, Morgan did have a long punt return against Iowa, and showed some DAWG after the catch against Indiana, cool. Morris benefited from a one-on-one matchup against a Linebacker; that's a big moment, but credit to the coaches. Moore's one & only moment came in the Bowl game - he went up and got it (unlike the FresnoSt game) ... I haven't done a 2o24 rewatch, but the only memorable YAC was Morris against NW (in garbage time); that's it. Morris did have a chance to go up & get it against ohio. We got a PI, but Morris was neither big enough or strong enough to pull it down when the moment called for a big play
As for your OL & RB comment, we saw Kalel Mullings go absolutely beast mode against Minnesota, USC and ohio. He did this behind a poor OL, often blasting threw hits in the backfield. Marshall did it too, with yards after contact coming in bunches against Bama
Did we pass too much? Yeah, probably. But Marshall was injured most the year, and Mullings all but disappeared at points. The Don was boom-bust again, with a few exciting runs and ZERO 1ooyd games and ZERO games with multiple TDs
This was not the 2o21-23 offense, so throwing sh:t at the wall (passing) was likely a desperate attempt to loosen the box
#yEp
#aNoN
#iykyk
Obsessing over old arguments in jumbled mess of post, instead of engaging in substantive conversation? I've seen this before.
DeleteThe QBs were all bad so throwing with them was a bad idea. Period. Campbell should have known that in March but there he was in November throwing the ball 30 times.
Throwing stuff was a bad idea, against a wall or a defense. It took till the end of the year, and Campbell being marginalized for Casula, for the gameplan with Warren to look like the gameplan with Orji. IT was the right gameplan all around. Some of us knew that in September. Campbell should have too.
The idea that passing more opened up the run game...didn't play out that way. Mullings best games were the games with the least pass attempts. All RBs are boom/bust to some degree -- give them enough carries they'll break some big ones at some point. When we leaned on our run game the RBs produced. When we leaned on our pass games, the QBs failed.
Regardless of opinions on Morris, Morgan, McCulley, etc. The opportunities were not there for receivers in 2024 and Loveland demonstrates that. Michigan had fewer WRs MAKING PLAYS for the same reason that Mullings made fewer plays when he got fewer carries. The QB has to put a ball in a place where the WR can go out and do something with it. Warren couldn't do that. Tuttle couldn't do that. Orji damn sure couldn't do that.
The WRs get an incomplete for 2024. The NFL didn't hold it against Loveland. Fans shouldn't hold it against Morgan and company either.
Those Ls are relevant. Ignoring them - and changing your username - only makes the Ls funny AND relevant
DeleteCasula let orji come in as backup, and trusted him to throw ... it went BADLY. But he had to TRY, because Marshall had already taken a load and Ben Hall could not make plays behind that OL; no other ball carrier was worthy (RB matters)
I listed several opportunities our WRs had last year ... just deny it, and accept that you've been outsmarted, AGAIN
#yEp
#aNoN
#iykyk
We passed too much. Not even you believe you. WRs are moot and made plays proportionate to opportunity. Not even u believe u.
Delete😚
Yep an EFFECTIVE passing game that THREATENS defenses can open up the run game. Michigan didn't have that in 2024.
DeleteNot with Tuttle. Not with Warren. Certainly not Orji.
They almost never threw more than 10 yards down the field.
Statistically, you look at the non-cupcake games where they threw 30+ times they did not run the ball well.
Illinois - 32 attempts -- 3YPC as a team.
Indiana -32 pass attempts -- 2YPC as a team.
Texas - 33 pass attempts -- 3.5 YPC as a team.
Ran as well or better (again against non-cupcakes) when they threw far less often.
Nobody is saying NEVER throw. But the level they threw with Orji (15-20 times a game) was the right level. Not 25, 30 or more times a game. Campbell's denial about the total ineffectiveness of Warren and Tuttle as passers cost us in September October and November.
After Oregon and Indiana debacle you had a bye week and glorified scrimmage against lowly Northwestern where you could do whatever you want. Casula took over and sanity emerged. If we play OSU or Bama in October (with Cambell in control) we get smoked because the offensive strategy was beyond stupid.
OSU - 42 runs, 16 passes. Yes we are getting close here but still almost lost because Warren threw 2 INTs in those 16 attempts. Should have thrown even less and used Orji (3 carries for 32 yards) more. At least it was close. Finally, against Bama they found the correct mix (51 runs, 15 passes, 1 less INT) for the first time since USC (46 runs, 12 passes, 0 INTs).
They FINALLY figured it out... In January. LOL! What was already apparent in September (after Tex, USC, Minn) -- don't throw -- took them a 6-week span of incompetence from UW to Indiana where they went 1-4 against teams far worse than OSU and Bama to figure out.
Orji proved he couldn't pass in camp. Warren proved he was only incrementally better as a passer, and bigger turnover risk, way back in September. NO CLUE what they were thinking in assuming sorry-ass-Tuttle, not even healthy, was suddenly going to be slinging the ball around like better version of JJ.
Illinois should have nailed the coffin of '24 passing game shut all the way but it didn't. Stupid.
A Michael Taylor level passing game needed Michael Taylor's gameplan. 180 pass attempts in 12 games (~10-15/game) - yep, sounds about right. Instead of fantasizing about JJ these guys should have been watching Bo in '88!
“Not that fast. They just can’t catch him.”
ReplyDeleteProbably an excellent definition for “football speed”.
Yep I like it.
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