2016 Season Countdown: #62 Shane Morris
Name: Shane Morris
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 208 lbs.
High school: Warren (MI) De La Salle
Position: Quarterback
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #7
Last year: I ranked Morris #30 and said he would be the backup quarterback (LINK). He redshirted.
Well, aside from anointing Jake Rudock as last year’s starter, I royally screwed up the quarterback situation. I ranked Morris #30 and said he would be the backup QB. Instead, he redshirted while Wilton Speight was the #2 guy. I also thought Zach Gentry would play some, but he redshirted, too. Rudock was good enough to have clearly earned the #1 job, so that seemed like a no-brainer. Jim Harbaugh seemed to want to preserve Morris’s eligibility for an extra year, even though he started off the year as the #2 guy. By midway through the season, Harbaugh told the media that Speight had surpassed Morris. Whether that was coachspeak to support Speight or whether it was the truth, maybe we’ll never know.
What we do know is that Speight has thrown a touchdown in his career, something Morris has yet to accomplish.
This spring, with Rudock gone, the starting job was a battle between Speight and John O’Korn. I like O’Korn’s upside better because he can run and has a better arm, but the story is that Speight makes fewer mistakes. At this point I don’t have much faith in Morris’s future. He has been passed by younger guys and keeps getting pushed farther down the depth chart. What I do potentially find intriguing is Morris’s athleticism. He was playing a fair amount of receiver this spring, and he even threw a touchdown pass to Drake Johnson in the spring game on a double-pass from the WR spot. Of course, Michigan had some depth issues at wideout in the spring, but Morris’s good size and decent athleticism maybe puts him in a spot where he can be used in certain situations.
I have doubts about whether Morris will take even one snap at QB this season, but I wouldn’t put it past Jim Harbaugh to throw him out there. There are some creative ways to use a package of, say, Wilton Speight at QB, Drake Johnson at RB, Jabrill Peppers at slot receiver, and Morris at WR. Or Speight at QB, Peppers at RB, and Morris at slot receiver. Harbaugh and his crew did a nice job of putting together creative formations and personnel packages last year, and maybe Morris can be a part of that this season. This might also be his chance to audition for a graduate transfer in 2017, because I don’t foresee him surpassing O’Korn or Speight.
Prediction: Backup quarterback/receiver