Over the last few years, we’ve borrowed an idea from Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch to roll out our season preview player profiles in a power-ranking format. We’ll preview every player on the roster while ranking them by some arbitrary combination of ability, importance, and role.
We’re bringing the same thing back this season. I ranked each scholarship player (1 through 13) based on their expected impact on the 2025-26 season, and we’ll dive into each player in-depth as we near tip-off.
Next up is Illinois transfer Morez Johnson Jr.
Previously: No. 4 Elliot Cadeau, No. 5 Nimari Burnett, No. 6 Roddy Gayle Jr., No. 7 LJ Cason, No. 8 Trey McKenney, No. 9 Will Tschetter, No. 10 Winters Grady, No. 11 Oscar Goodman, No. 12 Malick Kordel and No. 13 Ricky Liburd
No. 3: Morez Johnson Jr.
#21 | 6-9, 250 pounds | Sophomore | Big
Morez Johnson Jr. comes to Michigan from Illinois after a promising freshman year for the Illini. The 6-foot-9 big man is an enforcer in every sense of the word, and brings physicality, toughness and rebounding to the Wolverine frontcourt.
He’s a former top-40 recruit, two-time USA Basketball gold medalist, and proven Big Ten contributor who averaged 7 points and 6.7 rebounds in 17.7 minutes per game as a freshman.
Dusty May spent his first season lamenting the Wolverines’ lack of physicality and the addition of Morez Johnson Jr. to the frontcourt should immediately set an edge that last year’s team simply never had.
Strengths
Offensive rebounding
Johnson was one of the best offensive rebounders in college basketball as a freshman. His 17.2 percent offensive rebounding rate was fourth-highest in the country among players who logged at least 35% of minutes.
When Johnson was on the floor for Illinois, the Illini grabbed 41.6% of missed shots (100th percentile). When he was on the bench, they grabbed just 32.1% of missed shots — a 9.5% difference (99th percentile).
There might be no better offensive rebounder than Johnson in the country on a minute-by-minute basis.
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