Michigan’s wide receivers are the least productive in years, but they aren’t fully to blame

Among the many challenges Michigan faces this season, getting nearly nothing from an entire position group is high up the list:

The 2024 Michigan Wolverines have all sorts of issues, many of which were anticipated in the offseason. Though perhaps the least surprising, the complete lack of contribution from the receiving corps has been one of the biggest limitations, as opposing defenses are happy to stack the box and shut down the run game, daring the quarterback to throw the ball even moderately downfield.

Saturday’s loss at Oregon saw multiple wide receivers (read: two) catch touchdown passes for the first time all season. On the year, the position group has accounted for just four receiving touchdowns — Tyler Morris leads the way with a whopping two scores.

You know who else has caught two passes that ended up in the end zone? Cornerback Will Johnson. To call the wide receivers unproductive is an understatement, and it will go down as one of the weakest groups in a long time.

Michigan has seemingly always been a run-heavy program, but that does not mean there have not been some productive pass catchers, even under Jim Harbaugh. Roman Wilson alone had 12 touchdowns last year; Wilson, Cornelius Johnson and Ronnie Bell combined for 14 in 2022; the position group combined for double-digit scores in 2021, as well. This all came with future NFL talent at quarterback, running back and tight end.

The last time the Wolverines had such a deficient receiving corps was 2017, where the group accounted for just three touchdowns (via Grant Perry, Tarik Black and Kekoa Crawford, lol). However, those three plus Donovan Peoples-Jones combined for nearly 1,000 receiving yards on the year. Through nine games, this year’s group has just 456, and that includes stats from seven (!) players.

Hypothetical pieces

No one expected All-Big Ten seasons from Morris and Semaj Morgan, but seeing the pair combine for just 33 catches and 260 yards at this point in the year says it all. The thing is, neither player actually looks that bad. There are not even enough targets to make a real assessment on either, aside from Morgan occasionally being used on end arounds and, regrettably, as a passer.

On Saturday, Morris made a great grab in the end zone, staying active on the scramble drill and using his hands to get open. Everyone remembers his sprint down the Rose Bowl sideline , so clearly this is a player with talent. Morgan showed off his receiving ability last season, too. It was not unreasonable to think the Wolverines would think about ways to utilize these weapons this year, but instead they have been rendered obsolete.

There is no good reason for why that is. The expectation was that an unproven quarterback and a bunch of slot-type receivers would yield a bunch of quick-hit slants and screens. Instead, Morgan is tied for 34th among Big Ten receivers in catches, while Morris is down at 57th. The yardage figures are even worse, but the point is Michigan is not even getting them the ball for short gains. This position group is not just struggling to find the end zone, but is essentially making zero impact on the game, which is somehow lower than the minimal hopes for this unit prior to the season.

Chicken vs. egg

The numbers, the eye test, and even recruiting evaluations show this is not a strong group of receivers, despite some individual talents. No one was banking on much from them heading into the season, and as we are seeing, the results haven’t been pretty. Michigan has two, maybe three, actual threats on offense, and none of them play wide receiver.

That said, nothing in football happens in a vacuum, and it should be questioned just how many of these issues stem from other places. We see Michigan lacks a dynamic quarterback; even at his best, Davis Warren has clear limitations and he is not going to be consistently putting his receivers in position to thrive. Meanwhile, four of the nine games have been started by Alex Orji and Jack Tuttle, who are objectively terrible passers that help their pass catchers even less.

The struggles do not stop there. Sure, Warren bails out of the pocket too fast, but much of that is due to subpar blocking in front of him. With inadequate pass protection, receivers rarely have time to run full routes, and even when they do get open, the pass rush has often already made an impact on the quarterback. As previously mentioned, the play calling has been questionable, and that also does not seem to be benefiting the receivers at all.

So, while this group of receivers leaves much to be desired, the situation around them is far from perfect. Michigan needs to transform this position group over the offseason via the incoming freshmen and the transfer portal, but this deficiency does not exist in isolation. To get back to levels of even 1,000 total receiving yards requires a ton of improvements, and those simply were not going to occur during the 2024 season.