Let's talk Semaj Morgan.
Yesterday was you might say up and down for Semaj to say the least. He is responsible for at least 7 points maybe 10. He had a terrible drop on 3rd down late in the game,BUT there is no denying the staff trust him and loves this guy! This KID is only a freshman and you can already see he is going to be special. I can't remember a freshman wr the staff was so confident in they don't think twice about putting him out on the biggest stage.
Yes he made some mistakes yesterday, some really bad, but this kid is going to be so much fun the next few years and even next week. It's easy to knock him for yesterday, but we all will be singing his praises for a long time around here soon
Great season Semaj, can't wait to see what you do next week! Go Blue!
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:36 PM ^
Lights were a little too bright for him yesterday but he's going to be great.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:38 PM ^
One day his star will shine brighter than any primetime lights.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:46 PM ^
Exciting and explosive player but he was struggling and I thought Morris should have gotten more of the offensive snaps yesterday, that TD catch and run was special.
Morgan will get better but man we had to overcome some huge gaffes by him that kept us from winning more comfortably.
Special teams and play calling were also way too inconsistent and we still overcame that.
Play like normal in those areas next week and it would be pretty damned tough to beat us.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:18 PM ^
It’s almost impossible to associate physical mistakes to a particular cause. In the case of a young player, it’s easy to say the “lights were a little too bright for him,” but that doesn’t mean a lack of experience was the reason. Corum shorted the pitch on the attempted flea flicker and McCarthy had to make a great grab of Edwards’ errant lateral. I doubt either was caused by the bright lights. The coaches probably didn’t think that was the cause of Morgan’s issues, either, as they continued to put him out there. I’m betting we’ll see him again next week.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:31 PM ^
Corum shorted the pitch because he had a free rusher in his face tbf. That wasn't like an error in execution, honestly great play to get the ball to a place McC could fall on it.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:53 PM ^
Blake should definitely have just eaten that rusher & gotten what he could on that play. A loss of a yard is better than tossing the ball away!
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:35 PM ^
Donovan could have had as negative an impact as Semaj did, were it not for JJ's heroic save of his errant tossback.
He also dropped a pass at a crucial moment, as did Semaj. He has taken such a step backwards this year, it's getting ridiculous.
But both have the chance to make huge positive impacts vs Washington. In fact, I expect it!
Go Blue!
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:39 PM ^
Donovan continues to be the great and baffling enigma of this season. Seriously WTF is going on there? He is constitutionally unable to break a tackle or find a running lane. Must be his confidence is shot.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:37 PM ^
i think he is good
January 2nd, 2024 at 3:50 PM ^
Agreed. Semaj made some positive plays after the initial fumble. Off the top of my head, caught a short pass & almost got 10 yds, took the end around for a first down, caught another pass for a short gain. He's a true freshman & did well. I think Morris was injured pre-game, but it's definitely odd he scores the TD & we barely saw him the rest of the game. Would rather have Morris playing Semaj's minutes at this point of the season.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:39 PM ^
Proud of the staff belief in him, so important for any player to feel trust from the staff and have an opportunity to play.
I was hoping for an overhead angle on his dropped punt. He accelerated to the ball, likely an ally for him to exploit.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:39 PM ^
He was a true freshman on one of the biggest stages the sport has to offer. He made some mistakes but he’s going to get better. A lot better.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:42 PM ^
I haven't watched a replay yet, but someone in the media had said it looked like he had miles of open field and might have taken it to the house 🤷
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:00 PM ^
There was a Bama player breaking down a few yards in front of him. If Jukebox caught the punt and lived up to his name, he might have had a big return but it wasn't open.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:57 PM ^
Attempting to make a running grab of a punt is very risky for any returner who isn’t Jabrill Peppers.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:00 PM ^
People still underestimate how great Peppers was at punt returns. His ability to fair catch everything was the most impressive part of his game. Would love to have a guy like that again.
Had such a huge impact on field position and we never worried if he'd muff one.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:11 PM ^
His over-the-shoulder catches of punts were things of beauty.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:13 PM ^
I still wish Peppers would have been a RB at Michigan…he was nasty in HS.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:26 PM ^
Roman Wilson is on our team. You see his hands yesterday? Dont over think it people.
January 2nd, 2024 at 7:40 PM ^
Roman is the best punt returner and the best receiver. Michigan got burned by Bell and decided this year to not get Roman hurt on special teams. I think you have to put him back there in the championship and run with it.
January 2nd, 2024 at 4:04 PM ^
Wish I had more upvotes. JP was a fantastic weapon for field position - and then he was a threat to take it to the house.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:11 PM ^
Our punt returners likely got a lot of flack from the coaches over the course of this season when they elected not to catch punts that bounded inside of our 20-yard line and were downed. Our returners got better at coming up and decisively catching punts to help gain field position in the later stages of the season. In this case, Morgan erred on the side of aggression, which (as we all learned the hard way) is not the way to solve all your problems.
January 2nd, 2024 at 11:42 PM ^
AJ Henning was pretty solid back there.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:39 PM ^
The young man seemed like a humbling might do him some good. I was not hoping to have it in a CFP playoff game but I expect he will take this to heart, see the impact it could have had on this team, and make some changes for the better! If there were ever a coaching staff to help any of these youngsters positively move forward it is this one!
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:51 PM ^
Why exactly does he need humbling?
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:57 PM ^
Based on some of his comments he seemed full of himself. On a team like this it stood out like a sore thumb.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:04 PM ^
You need some dawgs who have that kind of borderline insane confidence.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:36 PM ^
The confidence that got him to Michigan? Or got him on the field this year? Or has him on a team that's a win away from a national title...but he needs to be humbled? Did JJ need to be humbled when he talked about beating OSU as a freshman?
Or you just don't like the way the young black kid talks so...he needs to humble himself?
January 2nd, 2024 at 3:52 PM ^
That seems like race-baiting. What led you to believe race has anything to do with anything in this thread?
January 2nd, 2024 at 8:41 PM ^
it's just absolutely insane to me to say he needs to be humbled, idk what else it could be.
January 2nd, 2024 at 10:36 PM ^
He's very confident and keeps screwing up. That is all. "Humbling" means keep your eyes on the ball and catch it, full stop.
The courage, aggressiveness and confidence are all good things.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:39 PM ^
His athleticism and instincts are incredible. I trust these coaches to shape these into something special.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:40 PM ^
The offense yesterday was led by our seniors and super seniors. Roman Wilson. Blake Corum. The O-Line.
There's no substitution for experience. even though JJ is a Junior, this was his 3rd playoff game.
Semaj will be a great contributor for years, possibly a star. Time will tell.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:40 PM ^
To have the chance to grow up in the CFP vs Bama with two potential game-costing mistakes, and still get the W? That’s priceless.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:41 PM ^
the call at the end of the fourth should have been to have no one back there. Risk wayy outweighs the reward. Seems like a no brainer. Jay has got to clean this up. Just do the obvious things
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:04 PM ^
I disagree. I want a guy back there but I don't want anyone fielding the punt (or trying to) inside the 5. If the punt is short at the 15, I want someone to catch it (and maybe run).
January 2nd, 2024 at 3:05 PM ^
Returner should have his heels on the 10.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:07 PM ^
Yeah, just shocking levels of bad coaching throughout.
Beyond Semaj muffing the 1st punt, he came dangerously close to touching another punt that hit the ground and caromed near him; that should *never* happen. If you're not going to field a punt, you need to run away from it like a grenade.
Then if someone needs to be back there on the last punt, Thaw -- who I assume had been told to fair catch any ball -- isn't back far enough. He should have been at the 5, but is instead at the 10, drifting backwards five yards to (not) catch it. It is always easier to move forward to catch a ball than it is go backwards. Alternative, tell him to be at the 10 and *plant* his feet there, letting the ball bounce if it goes over his head (which it would have).
The whole year, they never developed a low-drama, sure-handed punt returner (think of the multiple times Thaw got absolutely drilled by his own teammates).
A rare weak spot on an otherwise really well-rounded team.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:44 PM ^
It's a rare freshman that doesn't do the occasional freshman things. Still, very few freshman seasons run this long. If you are still playing in the rarefied air of January are you really a freshman?
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:45 PM ^
Am I alone in hoping he gets a little less PT in the natty? I agree he's going to be very good in the future, but his drop and fumble cost us big time. The freshman mistakes were concerning.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:52 PM ^
Only problem is that Thaw also comes in and drops a punt. What do we do now? Nobody else got significant snaps at punt return.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:57 PM ^
Ronnie Bell time
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:29 PM ^
Roman Wilson. Am I missing something?
January 2nd, 2024 at 3:12 PM ^
Has Roman Wilson ever returned punts? Maybe he also drops them.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:58 PM ^
I think the 49ers have 1st seed locked up and will be sitting most of their players. Maybe Ronnie Bell can come back and guest star for us?
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:59 PM ^
My take was that Thaw was put in to make sure he caught the punt, to avoid a possible freshman mistake by Morgan, just to be safe and not worry about return yardage. Of course it didn't work.
I'm glad that Thaw's mistake didn't lose the game (because, duh) or he would've felt horrible and it could've been ugly.
January 2nd, 2024 at 11:52 PM ^
Thaw’s play was baffling and I put that on the coaches. You absolutely should be instructed to get out of the way with the ball landing inside the five. We likely get a bounce into the end zone and possibly have a chance to with 44 seconds to get into FG position.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:31 PM ^
Tyler Morris - who also made a couple of good plays - the TD, and the third down catch on a bad throw behind him. He fell down short after twisting around to catch the ball. Morgan watched a 3rd down pass go right through his hands.
Morris was better prepared mentally for this game.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:41 PM ^
I heard that Stevie Breaston still has some eligibility.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:57 PM ^
Depends how he responds this week during practice. As with every game. The kid was trying to make a play, and it didn't work out. He didn't make the same mistake again. I see no reason to punish him because you are looking for things to nitpick after the biggest win in the last 25 years of Michigan football.
I mean if we are benching players that made mistakes then half of the starters would be riding pine in Houston.