Mike Morris

Pos: EDGE

School: Michigan

Ht. 6’5″ 

Wt. 275

Games Watched: Ohio State, Penn State, TCU

One Liner: Strong defensive end who wins with size, strength and aggressiveness.

Strengths: 

  • Very good size. Morris presents the ideal size that teams like to see out of their “big” ends. His size profile provides versatility to reduce inside on passing downs and allows for him to rush out of a two point stance as well depending on schemes of certain teams. He has a well built frame that is consistent top to bottom, making him a far from easy task to seal off completely when running the arc. 
  • Very good strength. Morris plays with good functional strength, and has a formidable anchor that keeps him active in both run and passing situations. He generates nice shock in his arms, and makes use of a long arm move often on tape. He has the core strength to withstand contact from stronger and longer tackles as well. 
  • Good aggressiveness. Morris flashes great aggression and power off his blocks, but this lacks consistency. I would like to see more of this explosion and momentum with an attacking mindset from Morris, something he can build in the pros.

Weaknesses:

  • Adequate twitch. Morris lacks twitch or shiftiness to win with inside counters or surprising movements when running the arc. He lacks the burst or short area quicks to generate such counters on a consistent basis.
  • Adequate rush counters. Morris needs to add to his toolbag, especially as a power rusher with a frame like his. He flashed some new rush moves towards the end of his season, but this needs to be more consistent to see wins off the edge at the next level. 
  • Marginal fluidity. Morris is not a fluid athlete and lacks bend and smooth movements off the line. He won’t win with smoothness off the line, rather more aggressive and power rushing moves that require momentum and buildup.

Overall Assessment: Mike Morris is a strong, well built 5 technique that shows some athletic upside to be a reliable edge setter at the next level. Morris flashed some great athletic plays, and broke out in his final year at Michigan in terms of production. However, Morris is primarily a power rusher who wins with size and strength at this point, as he lacks the twitch and shiftiness to be a reliable every down pass rusher at the next level. Morris projects well as an edge setting run stopper, and has solid play recognition skills to do so at the next level. 

Scheme Fit: 5t that could shade in in an even front

Pick Projection: 4th round

Grade: 6.17