{"id":903,"date":"2025-04-16T18:23:39","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T18:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/16\/michigan-receiver-semaj-morgan-ready-for-more-in-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-04-16T18:23:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T18:23:42","slug":"michigan-receiver-semaj-morgan-ready-for-more-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/16\/michigan-receiver-semaj-morgan-ready-for-more-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan receiver Semaj Morgan ready for more in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Semaj Morgan, perhaps more than anyone else on the Michigan football team\u2019s roster, understands the burden of expectation.<\/p>\n<p>The receiver was a true freshman, playing in his fourth ever collegiate football game for the Wolverines, when he caught his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/semaj-morgan-showing-flashes-of-the-receiver-he-can-become\/\">first<\/a> touchdown. Then he caught another one three games later, before running in two more that season, one being a 44-yard dash against Purdue. All of that, coupled with an electric, juke-filled 87-yard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=L8g6agOFfGg\">punt return<\/a> in the Big Ten Championship, built up significant hype around Morgan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And after Roman Wilson\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/roman-wilson-selected-by-the-pittsburgh-steelers-in-third-round-of-nfl-draft\/#:~:text=In%20the%20third%20round%20of,wide%20receiver%20with%2023%20starts.\">departure<\/a> to the NFL ahead of last season created a void in Michigan\u2019s receiver room, that hype turned to hope. Morgan\u2019s skill was apparent in flashes, and as a sophomore, he was anticipated to earn even more opportunities. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/ahead-of-potential-breakout-season-semaj-morgan-looking-to-be-a-complete-receiver\/\">Expectations<\/a> were high.<\/p>\n<p>On paper, his sophomore-season statline of 27 receptions for 139 yards and one touchdown isn\u2019t too far off his production freshman year. But on the field, catching passes from a quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/sportsmonday-michigan-football-offense-back-to-square-one-and-it-needs-to-stay-there-davis-warren-michigan-state\/\">carousel<\/a> and serving as one part of an offense that greatly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/sportswednesday-what-went-wrong-for-michigan-this-year-and-why-it-wont-happen-again\/\">struggled<\/a> to throw the ball, his impact was negligible.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>When asked to reflect on last season, Morgan didn\u2019t dance around the topic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just feel like our culture wasn\u2019t that strong last year,\u201d Morgan said April 11. \u201cAnd this year is going to be stronger, for sure. Our culture is strong, competitive, blue collar. We won\u2019t complain, we just always going to work. \u2026 Our culture is just based on hard work, just putting our head down, doing what we got to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morgan isn\u2019t making excuses for himself. Over the offseason, he targeted speed and explosivity as two areas to work on. More \u201cunsatisfied\u201d than \u201cunhappy\u201d with his burst last year, Morgan knew there was room for improvement. He worked out with track coaches and focused on running drills to refine his form. It was, at first, an exposing practice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really wasn\u2019t running right, I never really ran the correct way,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cBut I\u2019m just learning how to get my mechanics right, get my feet together. So, I just can\u2019t wait to see that part of my game, because it\u2019s gonna be different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morgan\u2019s technique isn\u2019t the only thing poised to improve this fall. Chip Lindsey, the new offensive coordinator who Morgan called a \u201cfootball geek,\u201d is expected to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/chip-lindsey-identifying-talent-and-adapting-in-spring-practices\/\">reinvigorate<\/a> the passing game. Bryce Underwood, the freshman phenom who Morgan played with in the 7-on-7 circuit in high school, is expected to lead that passing game. Donaven McCulley, the 6-foot-5 graduate transfer from Indiana who Morgan said \u201creminds me of a taller version of myself,\u201d is expected to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/after-down-year-michigan-receiver-room-and-chip-lindsey-ready-for-a-reset\/\">contribute<\/a> immediately as a top receiver.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>That\u2019s a lot of expectations. Morgan is happy to put himself on that list. And when asked if people are going to be surprised by Michigan\u2019s retooled offense this season, Morgan was frank.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think they will, and they should be, to be honest with you,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIt might be a little different than tradition, but it\u2019s gonna be great for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For both himself and the receiver room, Morgan is expecting the unexpected.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to fixate on Morgan\u2019s freshman season, to pull up his highlights and rewatch his <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CFBONFOX\/status\/1731174281072001533\">viral<\/a> postgame interview after the 2023 Big Ten Championship. Back then, Morgan\u2019s magnetism was hard to ignore, even amid a roster loaded with National Championship-level talent.<\/p>\n<p>But now Morgan is a junior. Surrounded by a clump of reporters in Schembechler Hall, Morgan keeps his words honest and straight to the point \u2014 no sugarcoating, all business. There are still flashes of freshman-year Morgan, like when he can\u2019t help but grin when asked what car best represents him, eventually landing on a gray Corvette Stingray.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Otherwise, though, Morgan is fully aware of the impact his production, or lack thereof, will have on this team and this season. He knows what\u2019s expected of him. Maybe, a down year was exactly what he needed.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<div class=\"newspack-popup-container newspack-popup hidden  newspack-inline-popup      \" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#000\" id=\"id_162162\" data-segments=\"\" data-frequency=\"0,0,0,month\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Please consider donating to The Michigan Daily<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Semaj Morgan, perhaps more than anyone else on the Michigan football team\u2019s roster, understands the burden of expectation. The receiver was a true freshman, playing in his fourth ever collegiate football game for the Wolverines, when he caught his first touchdown. Then he caught another one three games later, before running in two more that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[222,433,211,995,996],"class_list":["post-903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-michigan","tag-morgan","tag-ready","tag-receiver","tag-semaj"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":905,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions\/905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}