ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It’s not usual that high-end college football teams have to rely on first-year players, let alone wide receivers. And while Michigan football doesn’t have to rely on their trio of talented wideouts, it is confident that it can if it wants to.
Though a fourth has entered the fray in fall camp with Kendrick Bell converting from quarterback to receiver, there have been many accolades all offseason for Karmello English, Fredrick Moore, and Semaj Morgan. Wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy shared why they’ve put themselves into the conversation for playing time in their freshman year.
“What I love about them is they love football. And I love their approach to the way they attack football every day,” Bellamy said. “All three of them came from great high school football programs. And those guys, they understand that commitment to success, they understand: show up every day, you learn, and you to learn from the mistakes that you’ve made. And every day you see growth, and that’s what’s super encouraging as a coach. They’ve got the trust of the coaches and the players.
“So just keep growing. They’re still young, but every week, every day, every opportunity to just keep building their confidence up and let it grow.”
Trust is a difficult thing to build, especially early. It’s a credit to their consistency as well as work ethic that all three are gaining the trust of their coaches and teammates. Because to do so, they have to know the playbook, their assignments, their routes, block willingly, catch the ball, and make defenders miss. There’s a lot that goes into being a top-flight receiver.
For Bellamy, the big thing is that the three crave more. They master the tasks they’re given and then they ask for more. For a position coach, that’s the best-case scenario.
“Just knowing them. Obviously, having recruited all three, and you go watch their senior years of high school football, watch the success that they had, go look at the level of competition they played, those guys — and two out of the three came in in the winter for spring ball,” Bellamy said. “But those guys have unbelievable character. That’s first and foremost, those guys love football and they’re competitors. And when you have those traits, it’s just a matter, from a coaching standpoint, how much can they retain? What is the best position to put these guys in to be successful?
“And they want it, these guys want it more than anything. They don’t look at themselves as freshmen. They look at themselves as football players. And obviously, we know being a freshman comes with making some — you’re gonna make mistakes. But those guys strive to be perfectionists in every day in and day out. Those guys just give me more, ‘I want more, feed me more. Hey, Coach,’ they come in, texting late at night, just asking for more information. And that’s the qualities of a champion.”