Previously: Last year's profiles. S Quinten Johnson, S Daxton Hill, CB DJ Turner II, CB Jalen Perry, LB Joey Velazquez, LB Anthony Solomon, LB Charles Thomas, DE David Ojabo, DE Gabe Newburg.

Belle Glade, FL – 6'6", 258
		24/7	3*, #576 overall #41 SDE, #59 FL
		Rivals	4*, 5.8 rating #18 WDE, #42 FL
		ESPN	4*, 80 rating #38 DE, #52 FL
		Composite	3*, #397 overall #27 SDE, #48 FL
		Other Suitors	FSU, Clemson, Miami, Tenn
		YMRMFSPA	Chris Wormley
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post from yours truly.
Notes	Twitter. American Heritage (Nick Eubanks). FSU decommit. Early Enrollee.
Film
Junior year: His hudl page has individual reels from games last year but no comprehensive package.

Mike Morris isn't supposed to be here. His dad, also named Mike Morris, was a Seminole in the late '80s. FSU did not repeat their Devin Bush mistake this time around, offering the younger Morris as a rising sophomore. A commitment followed shortly after. Then things slowly bent out of shape.

Part of this was Morris not living up to the early hype, which was considerable. He was 58th in 24/7's first set of 2019 rankings. He'd fall into the 500s by Signing Day. And part of this was Swenson effect where the new coach isn't as enthused as the last one was. Morris started visiting places like Clemson, Miami and Tennessee, and then FSU's 24/7 guy started asserting that FSU gave him the "we want you to play a different position" brush-off:

"We either see him making a move to offensive tackle or flipping to another school so that he can remain at defensive end," Newberg said. "Right now it’s hard to see him filling a need at the defensive end position for FSU."

Morris disputed that…

Morris was frustrated with reports of the coaching staff at Florida State wanting him to play offensive line, even though he has been told on multiple occasions that head coach Willie Taggart’s staff sees him as a defensive end.

“They said defensive end,” Morris said. “My dad called again to confirm and there was just conflicting reports. I was really confused and never knew the truth.”

…but shortly after the OL chatter started he set up a visit to Ann Arbor and flipped two days later.

[After THE JUMP: big man is big]

Because of the odd shape of Morris's recruitment and some ill-timed injuries the scouting out there is very thin. Takes dating from his FSU commitment either didn't happen or fell into the memory hole, and wouldn't be particularly relevant three years later even if they existed. It does seem like ESPN put up an evaluation around then, because it does not describe the very big SDE type he turned into:

Lean, lengthy prospect that displays good wiry strength for build. …flashes good first-step. …Needs to continue to develop frame and fill out. Needs to work to be more consistent with pad level.... nice ceiling

Morris sat out the relevant camps as a rising senior because of a torn labrum, and while he was a soft commit for a long time his sudden flip didn't spur the national level folks to talk about him.

The only things that addressed Morris as a player from 24/7 was a brief early mention from Steve Lorenz that Don Brown was "very high" on him and a couple of takes from an FUS camp where he played TE and proved "he's definitely a defensive end." A second report said he "uses his hands and size well" as a DE.

Rivals had more since they're more consistent about putting up post-commit analyst takes, but even those are a bit thin. Rob Cassidy's take boiled down to "is big, but not that fast":

"…incredible size and power … not particularly quick …moves fluidly for a prospect of his size. …high ceiling … carries a touch of bad weight  …hampered by injury last season"

He expounded a little more later:

"…great build. … giant ceiling because he has the traits you can't teach. …pretty athletic … really needs to hone in and develop as a defensive end… high-upside guy that just might not pay off right away."

Touch The Banner:

…big body who hasn’t stopped growing yet … good get-off, and he uses his hands well to strike blockers. He shows an ability to play low and be extremely powerful. …needs to improve his stance, and he plays too high …tendency to loaf if the play is run away from him. …could end up playing strongside end, or he could become a 3-tech at Michigan. I think he could be a dominant 3-tech with Michigan’s coaching staff.

Rivals ended up comparing him to Chris Wormley, which is also our take for these reasons…

Physically, Morris and Wormley are quite similar. …Both have strong, thick lower bodies that generate a ton of power and decent burst for bigger defenders. Neither of them would be described as explosive or twitchy, but they can both move for being bigger bodied defensive ends … could eventually develop into a massive and athletic defender who can slide inside if necessary, just like Wormley did.

…and some others discussed below. A lot of his junior film above is at DT, which makes his stat lines over the last two years of some note. This is getting after it for a DT at a high-level Florida program:

• Registered 89 tackles as a senior, including 25 tackles for loss, five sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and blocked a punt which he returned for a touchdown.
• Recorded 84 tackles, 31 tackles for loss and four sacks as a junior.

That's doing work. Mostly of one variety. When you have 56 TFLs and just nine of them are sacks you are a particular kind of player.

That's more or less fine in Don Brown's system. Obviously you'd like to have a strongside end who was a real rush threat, but the #1 job there is to wipe TEs and demand double teams so the rabid squirrels of the linebacker level can get to the ball. Morris should get there.

Why Chris Wormley? Wormley was a jumbo strongside end with the ability to play three-tech. He was a premiere tight-end mauler and superior run defender as an anchor; as a rusher he was useful but not explosive. In addition to the above comparison, here's a NFL draft scouting report that sounds like a good outcome for Morris:

…stop thinking of him as a "defensive end," at least so far as that designation brings to mind players like Myles Garrett or Wormley’s former teammate, Taco Charlton. …played the vast majority of his Michigan snaps at defensive end and he could land there in the NFL. But he does more damage between the tackles than he does encircling the pocket. He is a DE-DT hybrid, with an emphasis on the DT skill set.

At minimum, in part because of his bulked-up frame, Wormley could help any defense set an edge vs. the run. He rarely gets driven back off the line at the snap, and he keeps his hands up and active in an effort to lose blockers.

…is not, and likely never will be, an elite pass rusher in the traditional sense.

Carlo Kemp is another DE/DT hybrid, although we haven't seen the finished product yet.

Guru Reliability: Low. Virtually no takes. Those that exist are mostly "is big."

Variance: Low. Has to add some weight but that won't be a problem and whatever concerns there are about losing his get-off are relatively minor given his projected role on the defense.

Ceiling: Moderate-plus. Unlikely he's going to be an out-and-out star but clean fit at anchor is encouraging; size gives him a shot at being an NFL rotation-level guy.

General Excitement Level: Moderate-plus. This wasn't an out of nowhere flip once FSU didn't have a ton of interest; it was Don Brown identifying a guy who he thinks can keep his viper clean and going after him hard.

Projection: Redshirt. Piles on pounds until he's around 300, which will probably take a couple years, and then enters the post-Paye melee for an open DE slot opposite Aidan Hutchinson. As discussed in the Newburg post there are going to be a ton of moving pieces there that make a projection tough.

Meanwhile Morris could end up sliding inside. He'll get multiple shots to get on the field and should be a rotation piece for much of his career, with a good shot at a year or two as a starter.