Desmond Morgan

Desmond Morgan (born September 9, 1992) is an American football linebacker is playing his sophomore season in 2012 for the Michigan Wolverines football team. He was a 2011 ESPN.com and BTN.com Big Ten All-Freshman selection as well as a 2011 College Football News All-Freshman honorable mention for the 2011 team.

High school
In high school, he was rated as the 24th and 42nd best high school football inside or middle linebacker in the national class of 2011 by ESPN and Scout.com, respectively. Rivals.com rated him as the 25th best football player in the state of Michigan. Morgan also played quarterback in high school. Morgan was a Michigan Wolverines fan growing up, and he committed to Michigan in early February 2011.

2011 season
Morgan tweaked his hamstring at the end of training camp, which limited him early in the season. Morgan is credited with starting the second game against Notre Dame on September 10, however, he struggled with his hamstring in the rivalry game. Brandon Hawthorne started the next five games. After seven games and a bye week, Morgan replaced Hawthorne as the starting weak-side linebacker based on superior performance. In announcing Morgan's promotion to the starting lineup, head coach Brady Hoke said, "Desmond's got a great future. He's doing a lot of good things. We're excited about him." In his second career start on October 29, 2011 against Purdue, he had a team-high nine tackles. Morgan established career highs with 10 tackles in both of the final two games of the season: he posted 5 solo (including his only quarterback sack of the season) and five assists on November 26 in The Game against Ohio State and then he had seven solo tackles and three assists in the January 3, 2012 Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech. For the season, he earned 2011 Big Ten All-Freshman team recognition from both ESPN.com and BTN.com as well as 2011 College Football News All-Freshman honorable mention honors.

2012 season
Morgan missed the September 15, 2012 game against Massachusetts due to injury.

On October 13, 2012, Michigan designated Gerald R. Ford's former jersey, No. 48, as a Michigan Football Legend Jersey. Morgan was honored as the first recipient of the Ford legend jersey, switching from the No. 44 jersey to No. 48. He earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition in 2012.