Throughout the offseason the discussion around the Michigan defense centered on how Michigan would replace Aidan Hutchinson, the #2 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Hutchinson set the Michigan single season sack record in 2021 with 14.

Mike Morris was pegged as next man up by coaches, something he himself talked about often and never shied away from.

Morris was not on the Bednarik Award watchlist to start the season, he was added yesterday, it turns out because he is now a semifinalist for the award given to the nation's best defensive player by the Maxwell Club.

8 games in the 2022 season Mike Morris leads the team with 5.5 sacks and is the highest rated defender for the Wolverines according to Pro Football Focus. He has been the leader of Michigan's committee approach, a "no star defense", in what first year defensive coordinator Jesse Minter calls year 2 of the defensive scheme installed by Mike Macdonald last year.

The Bednarik Award has been given out since 1995, when then linebacker and now head coach Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald won the first award. Michigan's Charles Woodson won the award in 1997, he is the only Wolverine to win the award.

Last season, Georgia's Jordan Davis won the award. 14 of the award's 24 winners went on to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.

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