On Jamar Browder

He's learning the playbook and, you know, trying to take it slow and make sure we bring him up the right way. But he's basically a big receiver. The ball’s in the air—he’s gonna fetch it. He's a fetcher. He’s a high-point-the-ball guy, and they’re super competitive young men.

On Freshman WR making an impact

Well, last year our two freshmen weren’t here for spring ball. The years before, Fred—Fred Moore—Samaj Morgan came in the spring, so you saw those guys play early in their careers. So I think it’s more or less those guys coming in during the spring, learning, and then, you know, during the summertime having an opportunity to catch their breath and refine things in the playbook. And then when camp starts, those guys are acclimated to the playbook.

So we have two of them, you know—Marsh and Browder—here. And, you know, Jacob (Washington) just graduated high school. So, so far, so good. The guys are very hard on themselves because, you know, they’re perfectionists. But, you know, one of the things we tell them is it’s a marathon, not a sprint. You’ll get it. And when you learn it, you’ll play fast and not make mistakes. And you’ll be confident in everything that you do."

On adding size at the position:

Yeah, you know, as you guys know, we want to get bigger, right? We want to get bigger in the receiver room. You know, we had some attrition, and we tried to make up for it via the portal or through high school. But, you know, we chose the portal, and McCulley's been a great addition. You know, he’s a young man who's played a lot of football. Head down, working hard, leader in the room. And he's a guy that, you know, we're leaning on to help with the young guys in developing that—as far as, you know, off the field—how to conduct yourselves, different things like that. But Donovan's been a great addition.

On Fred Moore and Samaj Morgan:

I think a lot of times when I say Semaj, I always think of Fred Moore because they both came in together. You know, we were asking a lot of them as sophomores, and we really didn’t have older guys in our room. It kind of put the stress on those guys. But thus far, we’ve seen the best version of Semaj and Fred. They're just older, more experienced, and those guys— they know what their roles are. They know what the expectations are. And you can see them coaching the younger guys. You see Fred working with Marsh. Same thing with Semaj working with Marsh. So it’s been great for us.

On adapting to Coach Lindsey’s offense:

I think more or less it’s kind of getting acclimated to some of the newer things we’re doing with Coach Lindsey. You know, for those guys, understanding how the game is played. It's not so much like, 'Okay, I play this position, I’m doing this.' They can play all the positions now. They’re older. They’re more mature. They understand how to win in one-on-one matchups, understand what the defense is doing to them, what the coverage dictates and whatnot. So we’ve been blessed, and so far, so good, to see what those guys' development has been.

On bigger receivers and matchups:

Well, it’s just what you’re asking the quarterback to do, right? You know, with the smaller guys—obviously, you like dynamic guys, right? Dynamic guys with the ball in their hands. But what the bigger guys give you is the one-on-one matchups. You can throw the ball up to those guys. You know, most people call them 50/50 balls. But, you know, if the ball’s in the air—it’s ours. That’s the mentality we have.

And when you’re starting to roll out 6-3, 6-4, 6-5 guys—most of those guys have basketball backgrounds, right? Ball’s in the air—it’s a rebound. They’re boxing people out, using their big body. So that’s something we did not have last year for the most part. We do now. We feel good about the additions that we made to address that. But to me, it takes stress off the play caller and the quarterbacks.

On car comparisons for his receivers:

If all your receivers were cars, what cars? Good question. I’m trying to think of what they would think they are. Some of the bigger guys—they wouldn’t want to be like F-250s or anything like that. Those guys would probably want to be like Maseratis. They look at themselves as that.

Let me see—Fred Moore would probably make himself as a Lamborghini. Samaj would probably give himself like, I don’t know... what'd you say, Dave? Be something fast—be a small fast car. Be a Porsche. Yeah, I guess Samaj would be a Porsche. But I’m gonna give those guys car names. When they get in their seats, they’re gonna have a car name.

On Eric “Soup” Campbell returning:

Man, I thought that’d be the first question! To me, it’s like full circle right now. When I came in—17 years old—he recruited me. He was my receivers coach here. Just to watch him in the room—the first thing Soup wanted to do was redecorate the receiver room, which is awesome. I told Soup he’s an interior decorator anyway.

But it’s cool, because we talk about it a lot. Soup went in and we have all the pictures of former players in the receiver room. You can see the boys kind of looking and marveling like, 'Man, wow.' And we do history lessons with them. We do trivia before we start every meeting.

The other day, it was like, 'Coach Campbell—who was the first 1,000-yard receiver that Eric Campbell coached here?' And the boys are looking on the wall—they’re cheating, trying to do it in chronological order. They’re like, 'Honey Tumor?' It’s like, 'No, actually, it’s Tai Streets.'

So we’re teaching them the Michigan way. And now it’s not just me in there. Now I have Soup in there. It’s been awesome. He’s been an amazing addition.

On Chip Lindsey's impact and offensive opportunities:

I mean, for the most part, it’s been—the terminology for us has been good because it's very similar. But he’s an innovative, smart guy. Been around a lot of football. Really, he’s saying the same things, just calling it differently. I’m trying to talk without giving too much. But, no, it’s been great.

Has he opened it up? I just think it’s more opportunities—let’s just say that. More opportunities for the receivers. And those guys know they have to be detailed at everything they do. It’s been great. Chip—like I mentioned, I’m smiling and gloating about Soup—I feel the same way about Chip. He’s been an amazing addition. The boys love him, all the coaches love him. It’s a vibe with him—you know, the Southern flair. He’s smart, he’s intelligent, he’s a great guy. We love the Southern accent.

On wide receiver trivia and Michigan legacy:

I try to take myself out of the trivia questions, because then they start asking Soup all these questions about me. But, no, it’s been good. It’s been fun with the trivia and things of that nature. We've also made highlight tapes of all the guys. Man, it’s been awesome. You see the guys in there just watching tape—from AC, to Nico Collins, to Ronnie Bell, to Braylon Edwards, to Marquise Walker, to Terrell, to Marcus Knight. You go down the list—DA. It’s a rich tradition of receivers here at Michigan.

And you can see the boys take pride in that. On the wall, it’s a collage of guys throughout the history of Michigan football. It's like, 'Who’s gonna be the next one of you guys in this room that enters that wall?' And they’ll say, 'Hmm,' like, 'Yeah, we’ve got to get to work to be on this wall.' So it's pretty cool.

On Donovan McCulley’s leadership:

That guy for us is Donovan McCulley. He’s the oldest guy in the room. Has the most experience. Played over a thousand snaps in his college career. So quite naturally, you think he would be the next guy in the room and on the wall. And that’s what he’s ascending to. I’ll tell you what—he’s on track to do that. He’s just got to keep attacking it and challenging himself every day. He’s been a great addition thus far.

On young receivers Marsh and Browder:

Once they learn what’s in our offense, you know—they had to swim a little bit. Rightfully so. They should still be in high school right now. But you can see it. You see the talent. Marsh—you can see the talent. Browder, 6-5 receiver, can stretch the field, high-point the ball. It’s just a matter of, like I said—myself, Soup, and Jack—just the three of us continuing to develop the guys. But their trajectory—those guys are on track to do some good things for us this season.

On freshman quarterbacks Bryce Underwood and Jadyn Davis:

Yeah—Bryce and Jadyn, both. Jadyn looks good. They’re both doing some really good things out there. Bryce is just like the receivers in the sense of—he’s learning. You see the physical talent: ball placement, arm strength, mobility. You see all that stuff. And you get excited because you know what he can be once he gets a full grasp of the offense. Same thing with Jadyn Davis. You're like, 'Man, okay—this is why we went down to Charlotte and got him.' Those guys are competing and learning. And you’ve got great coaching—Coach Lindsey leading the way. It’s been awesome watching their development.

On redshirt freshmen Channing Goodwin and I'Marion Stewart:

Those guys have had really good springs. Channing’s a legacy kid—dad played here. When I think about Channing, you just see the football DNA pop up every day. Really good athlete. Smart guy. Can play all positions. All he’s doing is making a lot of plays. We’re really encouraged by where Channing is.

Didn’t get a chance to do a lot last year because he wasn’t with us this time last spring. I mentioned that earlier—when young receivers come in the spring, it helps their development. Neither one of our freshmen came in the spring last year—they came in the fall.

But I'Marion—same thing. I'Marion Stewart has been having a really good spring as well. Doing a lot of his work in the slot and as a returner. We’re super excited about him.

On Bryce Underwood’s leadership:

It’s been awesome. I sit back and watch—if there’s, like, miscommunication or something or the receivers don’t do this—and he walks over and kind of says how he sees it. 'Come over here, you’ve got it.' Little pep—he’s always high praise, high encouragement. For a 17-year-old kid, that’s huge.

I’ve been around a long time. Played with some great ones here at Michigan, and played with some great ones as a coach. Just to see those leadership qualities in a 17-year-old kid—it’s quite impressive

On Eric “Soup” Campbell’s coaching style:

Technician. Soup’s a detail-oriented guy. He’s always been like that—chasing the details. And it really helps.

One thing that helps me is—having one of the larger position groups on the team, numbers-wise—it’s having another set of eyes. And not only that, he’s the greatest receivers coach ever in the history of Michigan football. To have that guy and his expertise, someone for me to lean on—things he may see differently than me—and me getting feedback from him: 'Try this,' or 'Do this.' He’s a father figure to me.

And it’s someone—when he makes a suggestion, which isn’t often because a lot of things I do, I learned from him—when he makes a suggestion, I sit back and listen. He’s done it for such a long time. Thirty-seven years. Coached Biletnikoff Award winners, been around a Heisman Trophy winner, first-round picks. The guy knows what he’s doing. For me, it’s a blessing. For our room, for our football program, it’s a blessing to have Eric Campbell with us.

On Jayden Davis’ progression:

Super confident. And I think for a quarterback, having the poise and confidence within himself—he knows the system. He’s thriving every day. Making plays. Knows where to go with the ball. Totally different kid now. Just a more confident version of himself. He’s doing a heck of a job. Really love where he’s at."

On depth and competition in the WR room:

Numbers create competition. And the guys know—you look around the room—this is probably one of the deeper rooms we’ve had since I’ve been at Michigan. Obviously, we’ve got work to do. Guys still have to go prove themselves. But it’s not just young guys forced to play. Now Fred has experience. Semaj has experience. You look at the young guys—now you’ve got Channing Goodwin and I'Marion Stewart pushing the Fred Moores, the McCulleys. McCulley has the most experience, so now it’s like: I go chase him.

Everyone’s chasing someone. To me, that creates competition. And if it’s healthy, it brings out the best version of the kids. I’m super excited about the competition we have in our room because we’re a deeper unit. We’ve still got to put the work in."

On defensive backs standing out:

Yeah, every day we go back and forth. Those guys are on scholarship as well. But I’ll tell you what—Jyaire. He’s really good. I really like Jyaire. Zeke’s doing some good stuff—he’s the Swiss Army knife, can play every position in the secondary, which is awesome.

But let me tell you who I mentioned to Coach Morgan the other day: Shamari Earls, a freshman from Virginia. He’s a long, sticky corner—really skilled. Those types of body types, built a little longer than Will Johnson—those guys give receivers problems. Even if you beat them initially, they can recover with their length and athleticism. He’s a kid we’re expecting big things from. And obviously, his recruitment—everybody in the nation wanted him. And you can see why. Think he’s going to be a really good player."

Final thoughts:

Just keeping the guys together. We didn’t have the season we wanted as a team, as a program. You self-reflect. I always look at myself—starts with me and our room. What can I do for myself to get better? Because if I’m better, they’re going to be better.

One thing I came to was—they’re good football players. They were always good football players. It’s how can I give them opportunities to present how good they are?

And one of the things I said was—we’ve got to create more competition. That’s what we’ve been chasing all offseason. Competing. And they know what’s at stake. They know nothing’s given to anyone. You’ve got to go out there and earn everything. When opportunities do present themselves—who makes the best plays? Who makes the most plays? Who’s most dependable? And I think those are the guys that ultimately put themselves in position to play.

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