2023 Season Countdown: #29 Tyler Morris
Name: Tyler Morris
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 185 lbs.
High school: La Grange Park (IL) Nazareth Academy
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #8
Last year: I ranked Morris #93 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He caught 3 passes for 25 yards.
TTB Rating: 83
Morris tore his ACL during the spring COVID season of 2021, which also knocked out his senior season in the fall of 2021. It was a very unfortunate way to finish out his high school career. He enrolled in the spring of 2022, but with some veteran receivers ahead of him and having missed a year of football, it was unlikely he was going to play much last season. He played in eight games and caught 3 passes for 25 yards.
There have been some rumblings this spring and summer that Morris is going to have a breakout fall. He played with J.J. McCarthy in high school, so they already have a built-in connection. Michigan lost leading wide receiver Ronnie Bell to the NFL Draft, so the team needs to replace his production. Morris has a decent chance to be the starter in the slot, but I don’t see that position turning out the numbers that Bell had (62 catches, 889 yards, 4 touchdowns) with Cornelius Johnson and Roman Wilson returning on the outside. It’s also possible that Michigan uses running back Donovan Edwards a little more in the passing game after he had just 18 catches for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns last season. Johnson will be gone after 2023 and Wilson could be, too, so perhaps 2024 will be a bigger year for Morris.
Prediction: Part-time starting slot receiver; 20 catches, 240 yards, 2 touchdowns