Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. The playback here recaps a recent conversation with Camden County 4-star OT Micah Morris.
Camden County junior OT Micah Morris has been a major recruit dating back to his freshman year. He’s just kept growing and getting better ever since.
Morris aims to see the game of football empower him with a criminal justice degree. The fact he’s maintained that college plan for years now shows off the uncommon focus he has placed on his future goals.
Micah Morris. The bounty hunter. FBI agent. That sounds as good to important to him as any prolonged football career.
It is fun to imagine a guy who looks like Morris working in that field, too. Not just on a football field.
Morris opened eyes at the Opening Atlanta regional last year. He was named to the top 5 of the OL/DL trench battles in the spring of his sophomore year. He joined Georgia signee Tate Ratledge as one of the few young players who were able to slow down future Clemson 5-star signee Myles Murphy that day.
He’s had an interesting offseason. That’s aside from putting on some good weight. The 6-foot-5 junior is now up to 335 pounds and looking every bit like the mauler that shows up on his junior film. It was why former Georgia line coach Sam Pittman has prioritized him for years in the 2021 class.
Morris was set to commit back in December. He was that certain of his decision, but then the college football off-season happened. That’s the one which seemingly goes on without a snooze button.
Georgia and Auburn both had transition at the offensive line coach position, among others.
When all of that started happening, the nation’s No. 4 OT and No. 44 overall prospect (247Sports Composite ratings) hit the pause button on his pending decision.
“The main thing obviously was all the changes in coaches,” Micah Morris said. ..”With all of those changes at all of these schools I really needed to reevaluate these schools and see which places fit me better. Coaches aside. Just as a place I would be happy at.”
He was asked where that approach stands now. When he measured that question, he let out a breath before sharing his answer. It was a long breath.
It was evident that this stuff won’t be easy for him.
He plans to take 1-2 more unofficial visits in March before setting up his official visits. He feels that he needs to also see Auburn and Florida. There is a working date to check out Auburn on March 14, but that’s not set in stone.
“I will start setting up my official visits,” he said. “Then after that, that is when my decision will be made.”
There is a ballpark timeline.
“No later than the end of the summer,” he said.
He said he has been to check out Georgia at least six times by now, including a trip at the end of January.
“My favorite part of this visit was getting to talk to all the coaches again,” he said. “Pretty much with all of the visits I have been taking lately, it has all been about getting reacquainted with all of the coaches. Just feeling the vibe and building back the relationships.”
He left UGA knowing where he stood with the program.
“I feel like I was definitely a top priority,” he said.
What stands out about the Bulldogs?
“I think about other things,” he said. “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 plays a huge part in my decision. I feel like Georgia is a great school academically and athletically.”
Morris plans to graduate early in December and then enroll in January of 2021.
Micah Morris: How much did Sam Pittman’s move affect him?
Pittman’s departure did not cause Georgia to fall behind any of his other top schools. While that was the case for Bleckley County 5-star OT Amarius Mims, it wasn’t the same for Morris.
Peach County standout Terrence Ferguson recently told DawgNation the way that Pittman’s move affected him. It sounds like Morris has a similar philosophy.
“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.”
Morris felt that way about all of his schools going into his selection process.
“You are the one who has to spend three or four years there,” he said. “The coaches don’t have to.”
Micah Morris: His recent moves on the recruiting trail
When the dead period lifted in mid-January, he sought out to visit three schools: South Carolina, FSU and Georgia.
Count FSU among the schools which now also has a revamped staff, including a new head coach.
The Gamecocks earned that first trip because they were his first offer. Those three schools, plus Alabama, Florida and Auburn, should be seen as the major contenders for his decision.
When it came time to review his Georgia trip, he chose a unique word for it.
“Refreshing” was the term he used. It was his first time in Athens since the big Notre Dame win last season.
“It was good to finally get back,” Morris said. “I hadn’t been there in a while. I’ve just been revisiting all my top schools pretty much and it was refreshing to get back. Mostly all I did was sit back and talk to coach [Kirby] Smart and coach [Matt] Luke and get a sense of the situation they have and the new game plan they will be running and things like that.”
Morris was discussing the new Todd Monken offense when he made that point. Not just what Matt Luke will bring in his first full season at Georgia’s new offensive line coach.
“I feel like I could definitely fit in with the scheme they are going to put on now and how they will run the offense as far as the offensive linemen go,” he said. “I feel like I could fit in.”
Micah Morris: The word he used for the Matt Luke hire
Pittman to Arkansas. Luke to Georgia. As it turns out, the Bulldogs will get the benefit of some previous history.
“The crazy thing about it is over the summer I went to Ole Miss for a camp with some of [our] first and second-string offensive line,” he said. “All 10 of us and a few d-linemen went up there for I believe two or three days and I talked to coach Luke there every day. So it wasn’t actually me hitting the reset button with Georgia recruiting me with coach Luke. It was actually just getting more acquainted with coach Luke.”
Was that one of the better hires Georgia could have made in regard to to his recruitment?
“Yes, sir,” he said. “For sure.”
Morris is versed in Luke’s resume of sending players to the NFL, including a former first-round selection in Laramie Tunsil.
“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 head coach at Ole Miss.”
Luke told him he sees him at a specific position.
“He saw me as a tackle,” Morris said. “A very athletic tackle.”
When he was at UGA, he also got the chance to compete with Luke.
“I played corn hole with coach Luke,” Morris said while laughing. “He got lucky.”
It appears the corn hole board treated Luke quite kindly.
“I have to give it to coach Luke there,” he said. “I’m not going to lie. He got some air under those things and he was shooting a lot of holes.”
He also took notes while watching Luke coach his new Bulldogs in The Sugar Bowl.
“I just saw pure energy,” Morris said. “Always live. It would always be amped up to play for him.”
What will be the building blocks of his eventual decision?
“Academics will obviously be number one,” he said. “Then community and the fan base. The camaraderie between other players and then finally the impact I will be able to have on the team.”
He’s just looking for a shot.
“I’m not saying I have to come in and start,” he said. “All I want is a chance. If I get that real chance, then I feel it is on me and then I will have to outwork everybody in front of me if I want to play.”
Morris is now training to improve his flexibility. That’s a big push for his senior season.
“I wasn’t 100 percent happy with me and the ability I had to bend,” he said. “I lift a lot of weights and I was always tight in my back. Now since the off-season, I’ve been working on being able to have great hip flexibility and being able to stay low because the low man always wins in football.”
“That is one of the main things with me.”
Check out his midseason 2019 highlight film below.