For Lamar Morgan to leave his job as defensive coordinator at Louisiana, he said it would take a special opportunity. In a recent media availability, Morgan said he got calls about multiple assistant jobs, but for him to make the move, it would have to be to one of the top 3 programs in the country.
What drew him to Michigan was everyone involved's culture and alignment. Morgan referred to the often mentioned "blue collar culture" at Michigan, but it's more than that for Morgan. Yes, the work ethic of blue-collar, but with the development of elite talent.
For Morgan, there is no better representation of that then cornerback Will Johnson.
"Will Johnson, everybody sees Will on the field, but if you are at practice, Will Johnson is like a freshman who just got here as an early enrollee trying to earn the respect of his teammates," Morgan said.
"Every time someone makes a big play, if Will isn't on the field, he's running into the end zone with everybody. The dude cares about his teammates. He's the ultimate teammate that I've ever been around. His parents do a great job, and his sister, who works with us now, they're just first class people. The dude just cares about his teammates. He's very genuine. He always wants to learn. He always wants to coach each other. I've learned a lot from him. He's just a very unique player."
Much like Will, Morgan saw the same culture and talent in safety Rod Moore. Moore suffered a torn ACL during spring practices but said Moore hasn't missed a beat taking on a different role.
"We've got coach Rod Moore. But when he got injured, this guy is here, the next day, he's the first guy at the front seat at every meeting. The guy hasn't missed anything. He's asking questions. He's just unbelievable, but that's the culture that we have here. On top of that, the talent with guys like Makari and Will."
Talent is the question of the offseason as Michigan looks to replace multiple starters in the secondary. Morgan says Michigan has a good mix of proven and unproven talent, and for many of the young players, it's just about opportunity.
"We have talent here. A lot of these young players here I think are really talented, they've just been sitting behind a lot of guys. So to me, we have a lot of talent that's proven, you guys know their names. And there's a lot of guys the last couple of years played 10-12 reps. As a coach, I have to get those guys better."
Morgan said there is no true depth chart currently but there are some obvious things we know like Will Johnson starting at CB1. When it comes to replacing players like Moore and cornerbacks Mike Sainristil and Josh Wallace, Morgan did mention the names we'd expect.
"Makari is going to step up. We've got Q (Quinten Johnson) back. You've got B-Hill (Brandyn Hillman), you've got Zeke Berry, you've got J-Mac (JaDen McBurrows) playing some nickel, playing some corner. I think there's some guys in that room that are young players that ready to go."
Morgan takes over a diverse group for sure. Elite talent, upcoming talent, but its all about development. And Michigan has the culture of development, in his eyes, already in place. Now, it's just about doing his job and getting these players ready to represent the University of Michigan.
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