Micah Morris: Why the future criminal justice major is more than just a big get for Matt Luke

Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry is about all things Micah Morris after the Camden County offensive lineman committed to Georgia on Wednesday night. 

Micah Morris was at G-Day last April. He was at the Notre Dame game in September. The All-American Bowl selection has been to Georgia many many times.

The same goes for Alabama, Florida and South Carolina, too.

If one listened real close, there was always a good chance for Morris to choose Georgia. It felt that way right up until the point Sam Pittman and other college head coaches and line coaches relocated during December. That month is always big for moves in college and pro football.

Then it felt that way again in late January.

Morris established his top 5 schools last week. The thinking there was he was going to need his official visits to figure out how close his top two or three schools were.

Yet in a time in our lives when everything has slowed down, this global pandemic sped things up for Morris. He committed to Georgia. 

He didn’t know when he was going to get to take his visits and saw no need to slow-play his commitment decision any further.

The Camden County senior-to-be still felt at home at Georgia. Morris ironically got to know first-year line coach Matt Luke very well last summer at an Ole Miss camp. They connected.

It meant when Kirby Smart moved fast to replace Pittman, that transition was smooooooth. We might have to go back to “The Dukes of Hazzard” to find a man named Luke fitting in so well in the state of Georgia.

The current roster of five public UGA commitments in the 2021 cycle now shows five Georgians. Morris ranks as the nation’s No. 11 OT prospect on the 247Sports Composite ratings for the 2021 class. That’s good for No. 73 overall.

He becomes the second-highest rated Bulldog commitment for the 2021 cycle. That decision moved the Bulldogs up to No. 14 nationally in the 247Sports Composite ratings.

That’s about all the stuff that one can fit on the back of a bubble gum card with Morris, but there’s a lot more to know here about the future Bulldog.

It makes sense to share the letter of appreciation he posted on his Twitter feed right after his exclusive commitment announcement with Rusty Mansell of 247Sports.

We just don’t see notes like that after a commitment. It is an impressive reflection of his character. It would be novel to see that retweeted as much as his commitment announcement.

It would be a novel thing to see this tweet get as much social media love as his commitment announcement. (Micah Morris/Twitter)/Dawgnation)

Micah Morris: Getting to know the person here a bit more

Family has always mattered a lot to Morris. He had hoped to commit back on December 17. That is his father’s birthday. He had hoped to honor him with that commitment release.

That would be Mario Morris. His father has been like “Super Mario” raising up this newest Bulldog.

“He’s just been everything,” Morris said. “He’s the person who taught me how to play football at a young age. He’s the one who took me early in the mornings to go work out on the weekends. Ever since I was 10 or 11 years old, we’ve been going out to the track. Running. Conditioning. We go lift weights and come back and do drill work.”

Micah Morris actually grew up a huge Alabama fan. Of all things. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)/Dawgnation)

“He’s just always been the most important person in my life as far as football and just teaching me how to be a man.”

He plans to be a criminal justice major at UGA. He’ll play for the G and then might wind up a G-Man. Or in law enforcement. Maybe even a bounty hunter.

Morris is also a video gamer. He picked up “Madden 20” and “NBA2K20” on early release when they came out. He was ready for the latest “Call of Duty” game when it dropped, too.

When Black Friday came and went last November, I remember him telling me he was going to wait in line for one of those 65-inch TV specials.

He’s an offensive lineman, though. It was going to be pretty hard for any video game to keep him from his mother’s macaroni and cheese and red velvet cake once they hit the dinner table.

Don’t get that twisted, though. He has a serious head on his shoulders when it comes to prioritizing what really mattered at the core of this college decision.

When watching his film, he’s always been an All-American in progress. Bob Sphire started him as a freshman at Camden County and we’ve always seen glimpses.

He’s just 16. He won’t be 17 until this fall. But at times he was just too nice to the man in front of him as a freshman and sophomore.

The 2019 season was when he decided it was no longer time to be nice.

“After getting my first two years under me and going from the Wing-T to the Spread, now it was time to play. Enough of thinking I could be this or this. Or I was going to be this or that. It was time to go out there and show it.”

Check out that junior highlight reel below. He was definitely getting his hands on his guy first in the run game.

“With my pass protection, it was knowing what they were going to do and beating them to the point,” he said. “If their legs are turned outside, I know what they are going to do. So I beat them inside and then just stone them at the line. If they are trying to beat me with speed, I will just keep on making them run the hoop until eventually I hit them on their side and they fall on the ground.”

He gave up one sack in 2019. It was a counter play that turned into an RPO. He was supposed to block on the end, but he went down to block on the “three” technique.

Scan that film again. It shows exactly why he averaged 6.1 pancakes per game in 2019. DawgNation might need to call him Micah “IHOP” Morris.

Micah Morris was very impressive last April at the Opening. He was still very raw but made the final five contest and held his own agains future Clemson 5-star signee Myles Murphy. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)/Dawgnation)

Micah Morris: How Matt Luke and UGA plan to use him

Morris is another member of this class who now plans to enroll early. That makes four of the five commitments for 2021 at this point.

When Morris met with Luke in January, he laid out a specific plan on a day while he destroyed him on the corn hole board.

“He saw me as a tackle,” Morris said. “A very athletic tackle.”

Morris liked seeing the “pure energy” he saw out of Luke on the sidelines at The Sugar Bowl. That was a smart play by Luke there. He probably knew that a lot of his potential signees in the 2020 and 2021 would be watching.

It gave him a glimpse to show what he was all about before he met them face-to-face.

“Always live,” Morris said of what he saw. “It would always be amped up to play for him.”

Morris knows about Greg Little (NFL third-round pick) and Laremy Tunsil (NFL first-rounder) and how they fared at Ole Miss. He’s also heard about A.J. Brown (NFL second-rounder) and D.K. Metcalf (NFL second-rounder) and Dawson Knox and Evan Engram (NFL first-round pick) in the Rebel draft history, too.

“Coach Luke knows how to take players and develop them from high school in college to make them into NFL stars,” he said. “As far as any other position goes it is pretty much the same, you saw that from the time he was the head coach at Ole Miss.”

He won’t enroll at Georgia thinking he has to be the left tackle. Or the right tackle.

“Me personally I feel like I can play any position on the offensive line that helps the team win,” Morris said. “Wherever I am needed, that’s where I will be at.”

Maybe not at center. He hasn’t snapped since middle school.

“I’ve always felt like one of the things I have always been good at is being able to adapt as an offensive lineman,” Morris said. “I’ve always felt like as long as I had good coaches helping me and showing me what they need me to do then I can adapt to any situation and offensive scheme of pass blocking and run blocking every play. I’ve been able to make the holes and protect the quarterback as needed.”

He has played in the Wing-T and in the Spread so far at Camden County.

Check out the pure brute strength on display here during a COVID-19 quarantine home workout.

Micah Morris: The Georgia degree mattered a lot here

What stands out about the Bulldogs? The academic side of this decision has always been a cornerstone here.

“I think about other things,” he said earlier this year. “Eventually football will be over. A degree from whatever college you choose to go to is really what you are going to make your money off of and live off of for the rest of your life. A degree from Georgia coming from the state of Georgia really means a lot.”

“A degree from Georgia even outside of the state of Georgia means a lot. So academics play a huge part in my decision. I feel like Georgia is a great school academically and athletically.”

He also valued the school community and the fan base. He wanted to make sure there was a camaraderie there among the current team and the future players on the team, too. Morris as able to build relationships with Georgia tackle Warren McClendon and 2020 signees Carson Beck and Nazir Stackhouse over the last year, too.

Morris has been well schooled by his circle at Camden County High School in South Georgia.

He knew how to move his feet, set his hips and fire his hands. But he also knew not to far too much in love with a position coach.

“I went into the recruiting process knowing that it is obviously as business,” Morris said. “Because at the end of the day coaches are liable to switch. But you as a player have to go somewhere you feel you would be comfortable at aside from the coaches. Coaches aside and all that.”

“You have to go to an environment and a place where you feel like you could live there for at least four years and get a quality education and be around a community where you feel like you can just live there and not have any worries. When you reach that point where you feel that way about a school, then that is where I feel like you should go.”

Micah Morris is the first public offensive line commit for Georgia in the 2021 recruiting class. (Micah Morris/Instagram)/Dawgnation)

Micah Morris: Who might join him on the line in this class? 

Micah Morris visited Georgia a lot over the last three years. When he did, he usually saw 5-star OT Amarius Mims and 4-star OT Terrence Ferguson there, too.

They seemed to always be together.

It was a nice view for DawgNation recruiting fans to ponder. But it was always going to come down to three independent things.

“I know definitely throughout this whole recruiting experience that [Mims] and TJ Ferguson and I have all really became great friends together,” Mims said back in November. “Obviously you want to play with somebody who you know is a physical player and a great offensive lineman. Whichever college you go to, you want to go play for a great offensive line. You don’t want to just go somewhere without people you know who are going to give all they have got every play.”

“The friendships I have made with those guys are ones that you would love to continue to see with that guy next to you in college.”

Morris was inside Sanford Stadium for two games last fall.

“When I was there and watched the Georgia offensive line I would see just ‘Dawgs come out and tear up just whatever was in front of them. Just size wise they are just physically going to outmuscle you. I’ve never seen an offensive line that huge in college that was able to have the other team’s will for most of the game. If not all of the game.”

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