The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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a bigger impact at wide receiver, with a 25-yard reception and a trick-play touchdown pass, connecting with fifth-year senior Drake Johnson on a nine-yard completion after receiving a lateral from O'Korn. Morris brushed off talk after the game that he will earn 2016 snaps at wide receiver, telling radio sideline reporter Doug Karsch he did it just to help the team out. Whether or not a position change occurs, Morris has fallen behind his teammates in the competition to start under center. The 6-4, 209-pound O'Korn showed off a better arm and quicker feet than Speight in the spring game, but wound up com- pleting only 42.9 percent of his pass attempts. He admits that sitting out last sea- son after transfer- ring from Houston may have created a few bad habits, running the scout- team offense fearlessly (maybe reck- lessly), and he's working to play the type of mistake-free football demanded by head coach Jim Har- baugh. "I had free reign and could throw the ball up into triple coverage and give a guy a chance if I wanted to," he said. "Obviously, you can't do that when the game is on the line, when the ball is your livelihood. "The biggest thing for me is tak- ing care of the football. There are so many times I make strides and then one little mistake or one big mistake. Someone starts to separate himself, then a mistake happens and we're back to even. That's the nature of the competition. "We're all competing our butts off, sometimes you have a good day, sometimes you don't, sometimes it's outstanding and then you make a mistake and it brings you back down." O'Korn has one decided advantage over his competition, though: experi- ence. He has 19 games under his belt, including 18 starting assignments for the Cougars, while Morris has started two games and played in eight, and Speight has seen action in only five games without a start. "I think it's going to be me [that wins the job] because I have experience at the starting posi- tion, and there is no substitute for experience," O'Korn said. "That goes with good experiences and bad ex- periences. I had a lot of great experi- ences my freshman year at Houston and I had some bad experiences my sophomore year. "I kind of appreciate them now. You learn from them and turn those mistakes into triumphs and victo- ries, and I think experience definitely plays in my favor." Speight has only one positive ex- perience to his name, but it was a big moment. He led Michigan on a DIGITAL BONUS: CLICK THE ICON TO PLAY OR STOP THE PODCAST Quarterback Wilton Speight discusses his performance in the Wolverines' spring game.