Everything Michigan WR coach Ron Bellamy said during his fall camp press conference

On Semaj Morgan and Fred Moore’s development

They’re older, more experienced. They attacked the offseason. They knew last year wasn’t up to our standard, and they challenged themselves. They challenged our room to be better. Those guys, being juniors now, have been around the program, their third year. They’ve been on the National Championship team to understand what the standards are. Daily, every day, they’re chasing excellence.

[Sign up for Maize & Blue Review for $1 and get PLUS access for 7 days!]

On Anthony Simpson’s potential role this season

He’s a good player. Explosive, comes with production. Very familiar with a lot of things that we do, where he came from, his last stop, and his relationship with Coach Casula. He’s been a great addition to our room. Just another veteran presence, a guy that does things the right way, loves football, and it’s been spreading in our room.

On not having a 1000-yard receiver for a few years and the eagerness to re-write the script

2013 Jeremy Gallon. Yeah. Yeah, that’s something we talk about. The guys, obviously, as a group, collectively, our goal is to win, beat our rivals, win the conference, and win a national championship. But the guys do have individual goals, and they understand the history of the receiver room in Michigan. It’s what Coach Lindsey’s bringing, and what he’s doing, what we’re doing as an offense. It’s been great. It’s been great for receivers. It’s been great for the team.

On whether getting a receiver to 1000 yards means something to him

Absolutely. Every year, and I felt in 23, I felt Roman was close to eclipsing that. We chose not to. You, we’re a very dominant team, and a lot of fourth, I believe, seven, six or seven fourth quarters he didn’t play in, that we didn’t chase that number, and it allowed guys Semaj and Fred Moore to play their freshman year. We’re not a program that chases numbers. We’re more on the developmental side of things. That’s something that we talk about. The boys know that. Last thousand-yard receiver has been Gallon, and, hopefully, we can change that this year but we’d rather win. Hopefully, we can win and do that. That’d be great.

On how he felt about his group during the scrimmage over the weekend

The thing I feel really good about our group is that we’re deeper. We’re deeper than we’ve been in years past and you have, to name a few, Kendrick Bell and Peyton O’Leary, guys that — mentioned Fred and Semaj, and McCulley’s played a lot of football, and having a guy like Simpson and Joe Taylor and Channing Goodwin, I’Marion Stewart, those guys are older, and then bring the three freshmen in, Marsh Browder and Jacob Washington. So, we feel our room is much deeper than it has been last year, even the years past. So what that means for us is competition. That means competition, and the guys got to bring it every day because the best guys, the best players, are going to play.

On how many players he has that can play multiple positions at receiver

I would say most of them. Most of them can play multiple positions. They’re pretty smart football players. I think intentionally, when we recruit, we recruit guys that can do that. We know we can do that. We shift, we move a lot, we ask a lot from our receivers in that regard. Rather not tell you who could do that or who we do that with, but overall, most of the guys can do it. They’re pretty sharp.

On how much easier is it to sell the offense with Bryce Underwood’s presence

I feel like they like Bryce more than they like me. Nah, but it’s great. Bryce is great. When the kids come on campus he’s, especially with the receiver position, he makes sure he spends time with them. And I think that’s important, and it’s important for him to develop relationships with guys he’s potentially going to be throwing to.

On what Donaven McCulley has brought and what he could be

Man, I’ll tell you what, his work ethic, second to none. He loves working. He’s the first one out there, last one out there. Reserved guy, doesn’t say much, but he shows up in the run game. Loves to block, pass game. He’s, right now, refining his tool set. Making sure the top of the route’s clean. Ball skills are pretty elite. Like, he’s doing the things that we were asking him to do. And he’s doing good things.

On whether he sees similarities between McCulley and Jamar Browder

Six-five. Big guys, both guys can run and jump. You look at their athletic traits, obviously McCulley, his fifth year in college and Browder being in his first year, he’s a little bit more physically developed than Browder. He’s a little bit more experienced as a route runner, different things to that nature. But could tell Jamar, he watches everything that Donoven does and tries to emulate it. And that, to me, that’s exciting when seeing guys doing that as opposed to saying let me do it my way and then if it doesn’t work so be it. But he’s trying to emulate McCulley as much as possible. Yeah, quarterback’s been awesome,. It was a great competition with those guys.

On his evaluation of the passing game so far in camp

Having the addition of Jake and Jadyn, JD2’s balling, and Bryce and Mike, those guys are doing a heck of a job. Chase Herbstreit, those guys are really — when Chase gets his opportunity, he’s doing some great things. As a receivers coach you’re watching those guys on a daily basis and watching them compete and watching them get better and better each and every day and put more and more on their plate. It’s been awesome to see their development.

On the potential of the passing game

Sky’s the limit for us. It’s quarterback and receivers on the same page. I know Coach Moore, Coach Lindsey feels — they feel very confident that we can throw the football and we got to do it. Can’t talk about it, got to do it. It’s great to do the stuff between the week in Schembechler, but got to do it on Main Street, and that’s our goal. We got to keep attacking it and keep getting better and better every day, challenge each other.

On whether anyone in the ’24 or ’25 receiver class could see time early

For sure, for sure. We’re excited. This is great competition. And the one thing for me is it doesn’t matter if you’re a freshman. If are ready to play, you’re going to go out there and play and get reps. You got to be dependable. You got to make plays when opportunity presents itself and do things the right way. Great competition. The guys are flashing every day. Impressed with this group of freshmen, and then last year’s group of freshmen were I’marion Stewart and Channing Goodwin.

On whether he welcomes players having personal goals for the season

Absolutely, absolutely, because he puts himself in a position every day to try to achieve those stats. He understands it’s team goals over individual goals, but the better our team the better chances individual goals are going to be reached.

On whether any defensive backs have stood out to him in camp

Yeah, I love Jyaire. Jayire’s balling. Jyaire’s doing good. Zeke Berry, Caleb (Anderson), Coach Morgan has experience with him. My fellow Louisianan. Who else? Shamari Earls. He’s doing well. Really like him. Kid has a really, very bright future. Jaiden Sanders, a freshman from Texas. We didn’t get a chance to see him in spring. He came in the summertime, and he’s doing some good things. You can see him flashing. Talking about the corners,. I think those guys in particular, Coach Morgan’s done a phenomenal job with him. Him and his defensive guys. Those guys are going to be pretty good. I’m excited about them.

On Mikey Keene’s status

Yeah, Mikey’s doing things. Yeah, Mikey’s doing things. He’s doing everything.

On Chip Lindsey adjusting to Michigan’s schemes

It’s been great. He’s a smart guy. He’s been around a lot of great ball coaches. He is a smart guy. He understands what Michigan is, who Michigan is, our brand of football. So he’s done a phenomenal job. And the buy-in with the kids has been very, very high.

On Andrew Marsh having a polished game and how its translated to the field

Yeah, no, that’s why we love him. As you watched him in recruiting, watch his high school tape,, he’s a guy that is polished, fast, gets in and out of the breaks, has a big catch radius, super competitive. We’ve seen all those things. I’m super excited. Like any young guy, you’re chasing details every day. Just him learning offense, not just plays. Learn exactly where to be, what to do. If this happens, what is my adjustment to that? So he’s learned all those little nuances, but he’s flash. I’m excited to see his career take off. He’s a great football player, but a better person. Really love him.

Use the code MB20 on Rhoback.com for a generous 20% off for all new customers.

On Jacob Washington’s progress

Yeah, same thing. Same thing I was saying earlier about Jaiden Sanders. Jacob, the things that we loved about him was a tall guy, rangy, 6’3″, could run. Another Louisiana guy. I’m going to shout out my Louisiana guys. But he came in, he’s learning. He didn’t have an opportunity to do spring ball, and he’s learning the position, and he’s doing well. He’s right where we want him to be at, and, it’s going to take some time to get that playbook fully detailed out, but he’s making plays. Opportunity comes to him, but he can run. He’s a long guy that can run.

On who is his most physical receiver and why

McCulley. Very physical in the run game. I think a lot of times, especially coming here, coming from the place he came from, he’s a former quarterback, I think the mindset is you’re a former quarterback, they’re not as tough as the other positions, and I think he wanted to establish that first off. I think he did that in spring ball, something he continues to carry over in training camp. He’s been a physical presence. He’s been infectious in our room, where some of the younger guys see that, and they want to emulate that, and it’s not just the run game, it’s the pass game as well. He’s a physical presence. He’s showing up. If you want to press him, working to get off releases, making contested plays. I love it. I love everything about him. Keep him going in the right direction.

On what the number one jersey means to him

Special. I think of one, I think of someone that represents the receiver room. Utmost respect, a ballplayer, big-time ballplayer, someone that demands a double team, someone that demands the football. The ball has to go through that person. I think of some of the greats that have played the position. One of the things we do when we start camp, anytime really, is we, Dave (Ablauf) actuall helped me make this tape, just receivers of the past that — everyone talks about other schools and their receivers, and a lot of it is recent success, but, historically, we’ve had this over years, decades. Wee showed them the history of Michigan football, and even the newcomers, they’re like, wow, wow, wow. We’ve got to get it back there any way, shape, or form. It’s exciting. I was blessed to play with two top ten draft picks in David Terrell and Braylon and Marquise wasn’t too far off from being a first-round pick as well. Three First Team All-Americans. I’m not saying we’re there, I’m not saying we’re there, but I think we’re in a step in the right direction just getting guys that look like those guys in that room. We’re chasing that daily. Having Soup back, too, that’s a breath of fresh air for me. Having my mentor, my big brother, in the room with us and just kind of cultivating that culture.

On Fred Moore’s growth and expectations for him this season

Fred’s thing now is you’re not a freshman, you played as a sophomore, we’re counting on you. You’re an older guy, and the word we’re chasing for him daily is confidence. The more confident – that was Jyaire, he was trying to distract me. The more confident he is, the better player he is and that’s something that he came in camp super confident. Changed his body up, stronger player, more experienced. The best thing that happened to him was the success he had in the bowl game. Now it’s like, oh, yeah, I know I can do this. Now it’s time to take that momentum and carry it over to the ’25 football season.