With Ronnie Bell now in NFL, young Michigan WR hopes to fill his role

ANN ARBOR – On Michigan’s second offensive drive against UNLV on Saturday, it faced a third-and-6 from its own 43-yard line.

Sophomore receiver Tyler Morris lined up in the slot and ran a curl route just past the sticks. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy looked his way initially, but when the pocket started to collapse, he stepped up and appeared like he was going to try and rush for the first down.

Morris, who played his freshman and sophomore seasons with McCarthy at Nazareth Academy in Illinois, saw the UNLV linebacker closet to him start to pursue McCarthy, and that’s when Morris immediately turned up field.

Just before crossing the line of scrimmage, McCarthy hit his open 5-foot-11, 185-pound receiver for a 15-yard gain.

Morris hauled in all three of his targets for 40 yards in the 35-7 win, and all three catches moved the chains for the Wolverines.

“Just being able to find open spaces, knowing what the quarterback is looking for, understanding down and distance and doing what you can to get open at the time the quarterback needs you,” Morris said Tuesday night on being a reliable third-down receiver.

The Michigan offense and play-calls might be different than what McCarthy and Morris ran at Nazareth Academy, but their chemistry has been rekindled at the college level.

Morris, like McCarthy, was a highly rated recruit out of high school, but he missed his entire senior season while rehabbing from a torn ACL.

The former four-star prospect caught three passes as a freshman for the Wolverines, but with McCarthy losing several of his top targets from last season, including leading receiver Ronnie Bell, there’s an opportunity for Morris to become a prominent piece of this year’s offense.

He reportedly was battling through an injury during preseason camp and was listed as questionable for the team’s opener against East Carolina and played just 11 snaps. However, he was off the availability report on Saturday and played 27 snaps – third-most among receivers behind Cornelius Johnson and Roman Wilson.

“I felt good,” he said. “Just being out there playing, more comfortable than I was last year. It’s kind of helping just being an all-around route runner. I feel like I’m stronger, more confident. All around, I feel like I’m improving.”

With Bell now with the San Francisco 49ers, Michigan will have a new leading receiver in 2023. Like Morris on Saturday, Bell had a knack for moving the chains on third downs. Morris changed his number to No. 8 this season – the same number Bell wore at Michigan. He hopes to help fill a similar role, too.

“That’s kind of how I took it,” Morris said. “He was somebody that I learned a lot from last year. With what I learned from him and him being gone, I saw it as an opportunity to step up.”

Defensive back Mike Sainristil, who primarily plays nickel for Michigan covering slot receivers, said he has had some competitive battles with Morris in practice.

“He’s definitely very precise in his routes, very detailed in his routes,” the 5-foot-10 Sainristil said Tuesday. “He is very strong at the catch point. He’s not the biggest receiver out there but he plays bigger than he is. There’s something about when smaller guys out there on the field, when they are able to play a lot bigger, it’s a sight to see. I love that.”

McCarthy said Saturday was hopefully just the beginning of a productive connection throughout the season.

“I expected that out of him,” McCarthy said postgame. “I was just waiting for the opportunity that he was going to have to capitalize on and was just really happy to see him out there. It brought back some old times, so it was great.”