How Michigan football's Will Johnson, Semaj Morgan became latest homegrown stars

Michigan football standouts Will Johnson and Semaj Morgan both stopped short of pinching themselves last Sunday afternoon, but it wouldn’t have been a surprise if they’d needed to.

With Christmas lights strung around their necks and Johnson’s branded signature "turnover Buffs" resting on the bridge of their noses, U-M’s underclassman duo posed for pictures and signed autographs for fans at The Blue Leprechaun on South University in Ann Arbor.

There was only one condition in order to join: Attendees had to bring a toy to donate for a child in need.

“Me and Semaj, we grew up together, playing football together, and doing stuff like this now, it’s like everything we dreamed of, everything we worked for,” Johnson told the Free Press. “It feels great to be able to do it, and do it together.”

Teammate Blake Corum helped spearhead a similar toy drive at Somerset Mall in Troy earlier this month that helped gather more than 25,000 toys for Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries. Several teammates, including Johnson, attended Corum's event, but the event at The Blue Leprechaun was a separate idea entirely.

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Both grew up in metro Detroit — Johnson, a former five-star class of 2022 recruit, attended Grosse Pointe South and Morgan, an all-state player in the class of 2023, starred at West Bloomfield — and said they wanted to pay it forward as soon as they were able.

“Me and Will, we’re the type of kids, we want to give back to give back to the community we’re from and just anybody we can give back to,” Morgan said. “We brought (the idea) to our parents and they made it come to life.”

It was an afternoon of laughs, toys and general merriment. Morgan said his favorite part was watching the faces of the young boys and girls after getting a high-five or a fist bump. but he was also notably moved when one man said he and his wife have prayed specifically for the wide receiver since they found out he was also spiritual.

Meanwhile, Johnson shifted his body into a defensive back stance as he explained to one young boy the proper balance between watching the wide receiver and watching the quarterback.

"I'm watching his hips," he explained.

Of course, the reason the line extended out the door for parts of two hours wasn't just because the players are locally connected, but because they’ve become two of U-M’s brightest young stars.

Johnson, a sophomore, was a household name before this season began. And not just because his father, Deon Johnson, won a Rose Bowl at cornerback under Gary Moeller in the early 1990s.

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Johnson took the Big Ten by storm last year when he supplanted senior Gemon Green in the starting rotation, earned freshman All-American honors and garnered some future top-10 NFL draft pick buzz, even though he’s not eligible until 2025.

“That’s the goal,” Johnson said Sunday. “God willing.”

This year was a bit of a slow start for him, as played fewer than a dozen snaps against U-M's nonconference foes as he rehabbed his way back from an offseason arthroscopic knee surgery. When he returned in late September, he appeared back to his old ways.

Johnson notched the first pick-six of his career in a win at Minnesota, recorded five tackles against rival MSU, got another interception and a pair of pass breakups against Purdue, and then added two more breakups against Penn State before he came up with, to this point, the biggest play of his career.

That was against Ohio State, lined up in man coverage against Biletnikoff Award winner Marvin Harrison Jr.. Johnson jumped a slant route, picked off the pass from Kyle McCord and returned it to the OSU 7 to set up U-M’s first points.

“I get mad at myself that I didn’t score,” Johnson, named to this year's All-Big Ten first team, joked last week.

Morgan's rise to stardom has come much quicker. A three-star recruit, he wasn’t rated in the top 10 in the state of Michigan or in the top 500 nationally.

Even though Morgan is the lone freshman to contribute on U-M in a significant way, he still is not surprised by what he has done.

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“Not really; to be honest with you, I want to do more," he said. “For a young guy, I’m in a pretty good place, but I’m not complacent or comfortable. ... I don’t feel like I’ve been playing like myself to be honest with you.”

In high school, Morgan said, he used to "play so crazy." But at the Big Ten level, he had to earn his stripes and play more within the confines of the offense to earn trust. In recent months, he has done just that and proven to be one of U-M's most electric players with the ball.

The freshman has caught 17 passes for 183 yards and rushed three times for 60 yards; despite having just 20 touches on the season, he's tied for third on the team with four touchdowns.

Morgan nearly had a fifth on special teams: He made two tacklers miss in the Big Ten championship game, then raced up the left side line 87 yards — for the longest punt return in Big Ten championship game history — before getting tripped up inside the 10.

That play, he confirmed, was more to his standard.

Forgive Morgan for all these lofty expectations — he simply doesn't know anything else. Born and raised in southeast Michigan, Morgan joined an elite program just a few miles from home, helped it win a third straight Big Ten title, earn a third straight trip to a College Football Playoff and become the first Big Ten team to enter the CFP semifinals as the No. 1 seed.

Though Morgan didn't pinch himself Sunday, he feels he needs to, just about every day, to remind himself it's all really happening.

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“I’ve been saying that since I got here, this whole ride has been a dream,” Morgan said. “I just got to keep going, keep pressing and keep pressing because it’s gonna be even more of a dream if you just keep working hard, things like that, then go to the championship and win.

“So we have accomplished a lot, but we also gotta keep going.”

Four-star freshman joins the Wolverines

Another potential southeast Michigan standout was also on hand at The Blue Lep on Sunday.

Jeremiah Beasley, a four-star linebacker from Belleville, stopped by to support Johnson and Morgan, two players he has known for a while.

"Will played with my older brother in 7-on-7, I grew up with Semaj and played 7-on-7 with Semaj," Beasley said. "So I just wanted to come out and support them."

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A four-star recruit, Beasley is the No. 7 ranked player in the state of Michigan and No. 31 among all linebackers in the nation and decided to enroll early at U-M to get as much of a head start as possible. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound defender graduated from high school earlier this month, and is officially off and running with the Wolverines.

"Did my first practice yesterday, going to the bowl game with them and everything," Beasley said. "That will be good for me. After that, it's early enrollment, starting classes when they get off break, then spring ball and all that, so something to work towards."

Beasley, who still lives at home just 20 minutes from Ann Arbor, laughed as he stopped and thought about the fact that just a few weeks after playing in his final high school football game (a 36-32 loss to Southfield A&T in the Division 1 title game at Ford Field on Nov. 26) he soon would be dressed for practice with the No. 1 team in the nation at the Rose Bowl.

Then again, he has grown up with Morgan and watched his friend become an early fan favorite and difference-maker. Even though it's early, Beasley is already taking notes.

"That's like motivation," Beasley said of Morgan's standout season. "To see somebody that young can come in and have that big of an impact, that like tells me you can come in and play early and do what he's doing or even better."

Contact Tony Garcia: apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Will Johnson, Semaj Morgan became homegrown Michigan football stars