Report Card 2014: Jordan Morgan

What more can we say about Jordan Morgan’s final season? Michigan’s redshirt senior was the bedrock of this Michigan team in every way but offense: he was the leading rebounder, the quarterback of the defense and the team’s emotional center. Morgan was the consummate leader, and exactly the kind this young, talented team needed; on a team stocked with NBA talent. Morgan was an example of what can happen when you keep your head down and put in the work. (Photo: Dustin Johnston)

The final few regular-season Big Ten games served as an extended send-off for Michigan’s elder statesman. Morgan finished his career having presided over everything from a losing record to a national title game appearance, finally finishing it with a heartbreaking — but somehow edifying — loss to Kentucky in the Elite Eight.

As Michigan climbed its way to the top of the basketball world, Morgan’s own career had its share of ups and downs. The Detroit native came in as an unranked, out-of-shape center recruit, registered a revelatory redshirt freshman season with Darius Morris and then suffered benching as a result of Mitch McGary’s NCAA tournament run last season.