The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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NOVEMBER 2021 THE WOLVERINE 51 FOOTBALL RECRUITING crap.' You hope for the best, but I kind of knew it was a torn ACL. Once it was con- firmed, it was, 'Let's get it repaired and get back to work.' It's not like you can take back time. That's really the only option." Morris' mother, Shirley, had a bit of a different reaction. "I was scared," she said. "I was worried what that would mean for him with col- leges and his future. There was no ques- tion about him working and getting back. The question for me was, would other people believe in him the same way we do?" Just two days after the injury, Tyler and his parents had a long discussion about his future and how they wanted to handle the recruiting process moving forward. At the time, Tyler was considered a Michi- gan lean but was slated to make an official visit to Notre Dame and was interested in seeing programs farther away from home like Florida and Texas. Tyler had a summer decision in mind, but with the injury, the Morris family was forced to look at the recruiting process from a new perspective. "It accelerated the process," Michael said. "I wouldn't say he enjoyed the re- cruiting process, but he was interested in what was out there. He had gone up to Michigan a couple of times, and that was his No. 1, but there was curiosity. He also wanted to see other campuses. When the injury happened, we sat down and talked about it. "I said, 'We can reach out to the school that you're interested in or we can wait and go through the rehab process and see who's still interested.' That was the first time Ty let us in and said Michigan was his No. 1." Tyler didn't just tell his parents that Michigan was his favorite. He told them he was ready to put an end to the process and commit that day. "Anybody that knows Ty knows he's matter-of-fact and logical," Shirley said. "When everything happened, he said, 'Nope, I'm done — I'm going to Michigan.' We were like, 'Slow down.' "He said he didn't want to do anymore recruiting stuff and wanted to focus on rehab and school. He said, 'Let's call Michigan and pray they are still inter- ested.' " It turns out Tyler and his parents had no reason to worry. "We called them and said this is what happened," Shirley said. "They said it was no big deal; let's get the recovery going. It was a mixture of happiness and crazy calm. We're done. We don't have to be on six hours of Zoom calls every week. It's over. We can focus on his rehab and Michigan. It was a sense of relief that we had a home." Tyler called the Michigan staff and committed on a Monday night and made it public the following day. Michigan stayed true to its word about getting his recovery going. Less than 24 hours after Tyler informed Michigan of his decision, Michael received a call from Dr. Asheesh Bedi, U-M's head orthopaedic team phy- sician. Bedi, who has clinical and research interests in ACL injuries, then put Mi- chael in touch with Dr. Mark Bowen, a team physician with the Chicago Bears. Bowen wound up performing the proce- dure — much to the elation of the Morris family. "[Michigan has] been pretty incred- ible," Shirley said. "We asked them if they had a doctor that they thought would be better for us. They hooked us up with a doctor that they approved of and would work with our insurance. They've been super supportive in that regard. They talk to Tyler all the time and send us texts. They've been incredible." "They've been really supportive," Tyler added. "They set me up with a surgeon. Coach [Josh] Gattis, Coach [Steve] Casula and Coach [Jim] Harbaugh all text me and check in with me. It was really cool that they set me up with a doctor that works with NFL guys. They've been really sup- portive and great through everything." Harbaugh has been there with him ev- ery step of the way and was even one of the first people to reach out to Michael on the day of Tyler's surgery. "The day Tyler had surgery, we were at breakfast, and the phone rang," Mi- chael remembered. "It was Coach Har- baugh. He asked, 'How is our guy doing?' It's those little things. He didn't have to do that. He has 90 other things to worry about. But those little things go a long way in making you feel like family. It validates the decision that your child has made." Tyler was unable to walk for three days after the surgery. The first step in the re- habilitation process involved simple ac- tions like lifting his leg. It was all about "turning the muscles back on." Eventu- ally, Tyler began to walk and work with weights. He worked diligently at physical ther- apy sessions at PRO Sports & Spinal Rehab under the guidance of Dr. Randy Cybulski and kept a positive attitude throughout the first couple of months. "I was obviously disappointed," Mor- ris said. "For a day, I was in that mindset where I was just trying to absorb every- thing. After that, I tried not to focus on what I was going to miss. I'm focused on what I can control. I knew I was going to work through rehab and all of that. "At first, it was just getting the strength up and getting my mobility back. The big- gest thing was building the muscle. For a while after surgery and even now, my leg is a lot skinnier than the other one." The injury occurred in mid-April. Fast forward to now, and Morris is already running and appears to be just ahead of schedule. He still attends physical therapy three times a week but recently started getting on the field for speed training with Josh Taylor, a personal trainer and owner of Chicagoland-based Xtreme Speed. "I've mainly been focusing on upper- body work and keeping him strong up top," Taylor said. "When I got the clear to focus on more speed work, we worked on straight linear work. We're waiting for the clear to do lateral and change-of- direction work. It's more so been about acceleration and top-end speed. "He's been looking good out here. He's right up to speed. He's opening up really well and his mechanics are back on point. Morris "Being apart from everything pushes me that much more. I'm going to want to be on the field more than everybody. I'm focused on now, but in the future, it's going to be about win- ning Big Ten championships and national championships, and doing what I can do to help the team."