Michigan freshmen receivers earning praise, and trust, from Ron Bellamy

Michigan has a trio of freshmen receivers who have received plenty of praise from the staff and players alike through fall camp.

With the season-opener against East Carolina only two days away, the praise might need to turn to production as the receivers have been bitten by the injury bug as of late. While there doesn't appear to be anything serious, there will be availability questions entering Saturday's game.

With that in mind, it appears that wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy doesn't have any issues playing Semaj Morgan, Fredrick Moore and Karmello English if the situation calls for it.

All three have earned the trust from the program to be given the chance to go out there and prove it.

"What I love about them, they love football and I love their approach, the way they attack football every day," Bellamy said. "All three of them came from great high school football programs. Those guys understand the commitment to success. They understand—show up every day, you learn and you try to learn from mistakes that you have made. Every day you see growth and that's what is super encouraging as a coach. They've got the trust of the coaches and the players. Just keep growing, they're still young. Every week, every day, every opportunity they have, just keep building their confidence up and let it roll."

How does one earn trust in such little time? While Morgan and Moore were early enrollees, which means both had the entire spring with the program, English has been on an accelerated path to earning trust.

For Bellamy, the trust starts with the roots of the relationship. The high school programs all three came from, including the want to and desire to play as early and often from each guy.

"Just knowing them, obviously having recruited all three, you go watch their senior years of high school football and watch the success that they had," Bellamy said. "Go look at the level of competition that they played, those guys, two out of the three came in the winter for spring ball. Those guys have unbelievable character and that's first and foremost and those guys love football and they're competitors. When you have those traits, it's a matter of 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. Obviously, we know, being a freshman comes with, you know, you're going to make mistakes. Those guys are striving for perfection day in and day out. Those guys give me more, I want more, feed me more. Hey, coach, they're coming in, texting late at night, just asking for more information. That's the qualities of a champion."