Ready or not, Mike Morris is going to be unleashed on defense this season. The story about the Wolverines' defense has been thoroughly told over the last few months, there's going to be a lot to replace with big shoes to fill.

Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo are no longer going to walk through the doors of Schembechler Hall as players and with them is a loss of production from a sacks and tackles for loss standpoint.

For Morris, what has departed doesn't concern him. Sure, he loses great teammates and friends. Instead, as he said during his recent appearance on the In the Trenches podcast, it's an opportunity.

"I'm really excited," Morris said. "I didn't get to do a lot of the stuff that I wanted to do because of Aidan Hutchinson and I accepted every role that I got. I loved every role that I got because I was able to help the team. I feel like, now, I can step into more of an EDGE role in this defense and dominating that aspect. I'm very much looking forward to that."

Unfortunately for Morris, he will always have the success of Hutchinson hanging over his head. It's a lot to replace and a lot to replicate.

However, Morris doesn't want to fill Hutchinson's shoes. Not many players truly could do that.

Instead, he wants to blaze his own path now that the opportunity to do so is within his grasp.

"I feel like those are his shoes," Morris said. "I feel like no one can fill his shoes and I'm not going to pretend like he wasn't an amazing, amazing player. An amazing athlete. I wouldn't say I want to fill his shoes, I want to create my own shoes and stand right there on my own two feet and not try to live up to his legacy or live up to his standards. I just want to live up to my own standard and do my own thing."

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