Entering the season, junior wide receiver Semaj Morgan was looking to make a bigger impact.
Much was made of Morgan’s speed and how that would correlate with the velocity of freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood’s passes. After a mediocre season in the passing game as a whole last season and having a limited role in his freshman year, the 2025 season was supposed to be a proving ground for Morgan as the starting slot receiver for the No. 21 Michigan football team.
Aside from the offense, Morgan was an All-Big Ten honorable mention return specialist in both of his first two seasons. He averaged 15.5 kick return yards on 12 returns his freshman year and 11.1 punt return yards on 10 returns his sophomore season and was looking to make even greater strides this year.
Eight games into this season, though, Morgan hasn’t shown much growth in any of the categories he was hoping to improve upon — and has even taken a backslide on special teams.
“He practices at a high level, practices hard, practices with energy, but we challenge him,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said Monday. “We challenge him just like we’re gonna challenge everybody else. So there’s constant competition with him at punt returner. There’s constant competition with him at receiver. So we’ll constantly do that to put the best product on the field we can.”
Despite his regression, the Wolverines haven’t wavered in their confidence in Morgan, still retaining his starting slot receiver and punt returning jobs through the first eight weeks — two spots loaded with competition.
“I trust in him with all I have,” sophomore running back Jordan Marshall said Monday. “I trust in every single guy on the offense. I’ve seen him make plays in practice. I’ve seen him catch balls. I think it’s just in his head, and he’s going to be fine.”
Morgan has proven to his teammates and staff that he’s putting in the work to deserve a spot on the starting lineup during practice. But whether he’s in his head or in a slump, the execution on Saturdays hasn’t lived up to his precedent in previous seasons, leading to the continuous competition for his two starting spots.
As a receiver, Morgan has found success on quick swing passes where he catches the ball in motion, racking up 214 yards on 19 receptions total. But he’s also dropped many passes beyond the line of scrimmage as he leads the team with six, including one against Michigan State Saturday.
Morgan’s punt-return woes against the Spartans have also highlighted the year-long issues he’s experienced on special teams. He had just 2 return yards on two attempts, one of which he ran laterally all the way across the field for no gain and on another attempt, he caught a punt at the 5-yard line.
“Semaj is a great player, and I’m excited to see how he takes the things that have been thrown at him and takes him out on the field and just plays,” Marshall said. “… You either can take it as motivation or you can hang your head on it. … You got to be yourself. Be you at the end of the day, rely on what you’ve done your training and we’ve all seen it. Semaj can make plays.”
Morgan has proof of concept in previous seasons as a successful returner and promising receiver. So as he works through his slump in a season that has left much to be desired, the Wolverines are keeping their trust in Morgan.
