Kendall is the most recent example of the importance the team places on player development. While his progression has been the most pronounced of the Eagles’ young crop of offensive line talent, there are a handful of others waiting in the wings.
In the case of rookie Micah Morris, assessing his growth behind the scenes can be a bit trickier, as his opportunities to this point have been reserved for scout team work and developmental periods. He hasn’t dressed for a game yet, but listening to Morris, his fixation on dialing in the details — both big and small — and applying coaching points is evident.
The 23-year-old, who possesses intriguing power and athleticism, is used to waiting his turn. In the meantime, Morris is acting as a sponge, ensuring he’s always ready in the event his number is called.
As part of a season-long Inside The Birds “Rookie Diary” series, I’ll be checking in with Morris every week, learning more about the first-year offensive lineman and chronicling his rookie campaign.
On Thursday, we chatted for our second installment.
Andrew: All right, man. So, let’s circle back to your Week 2 goals. You mentioned getting your second step down in the running game and setting up your end tables. Let’s start with the football part first. How’d that first goal go for you? 
Micah: “I think it went pretty good. Started off where it always starts off, pre-practice. Just making sure I’m loose, making sure my core is activated, warming up my core before I go out there, and just continuing to get a deeper understanding of the game. And, like, you know how it works; It’s not just all about raw strength, you know? You gotta build it up from the ground up, ’cause that’s where the base is.
“It starts with the feet, first two steps, but the core’s gotta be engaged and ready at all times. So definitely pre-practice working out the core, make sure my hips are loose during the windshield wipers, feeling my back crack every time I turn as I’m loosening up. Cat cows, just making sure I’m ready, then taking individual very serious, especially the starts. That’s when I can do it on air, get my boom, boom, boom, boom, boom … the first two steps down.
“Just then taking that to the second part of ending whenever we go against, whenever we give ourselves a look, running in and hitting somebody, making sure hand placement’s there, but still getting those first two steps to bring that proper power. Then that transfers into team periods when I’m giving the starters and the twos a look whenever I’m on scout team or giving them a look, making sure I’m doing the same thing, making sure I’m running my feet.
“Then when it’s time for development at the end, whenever we go developmental guys against developmental guys, just doing those same things and applying it and then just seeing the benefits of it and seeing how my game’s continuing to progress because of it.”
Andrew: And how about setting up those end tables?
Micah: “I got ‘em done. So, we play Monday, so everything got moved a little bit. The movers was supposed to come for the guest room today, but I had to cancel that because they were gonna be here there at 4:00, and it’s past 4:00 now. We’re just wrapping up, so I had to cancel that, but I’ll figure out when I get them to come in and do that and then. But everything else is good.
“I made another Lego set yesterday. I did the Thanos glove, and then I got a Wolverine one, and then I got, I think, a 1972 Batmobile. So, next week I’m gonna do the Wolverine claw. Then the week after that I’m gonna do the old school Batmobile.”
Andrew: And you got the Batman versus Superman one done last week? I remember you showing me the photo of it.
Micah: Exactly, yeah.
Andrew: How long did that take you to put together?
Micah: “The Batman versus [Superman], that one was only, like, maybe an hour and a half, but the Thanos one was a little longer. That one was about three hours, I think, on and off. But I was watching TV and talking to people.”
Andrew: Your parents went to the game against Tennessee, and I believe you said your aunt and uncle as well. Was that the first time that your mom and dad got to see you at the professional level?
Micah: “Yeah, it was. Well, yeah, first game time. They came up to open practice. But yeah, that was the first game. My aunts and my girl came to the home preseason game, but that was it as far as, like, family-wise. And then … timeout, I take that back. No!”
Andrew: [laughs]
Micah: “They came to the first home game. I’m tripping. I’m tripping. They came to the first home game. They came to the first… Oh my goodness. They came to the first home game. I’m sorry.”
Andrew: You played football in Georgia your whole life, so you’re used to the heat and those types of extreme conditions. What do you do in terms of precautionary measures to get yourself ready for that, based off of everything that you’ve experienced?
Micah: “Hydrate. And it doesn’t start the night before, it starts the week before. So, you know you know your schedule, you know what the weather should be like when it’ll be around, so just hydrate. I mean, that’s it. But I also grew up in the south, so I’m used to the heat. But I mean, at a young age, hydration was a key factor, ’cause I was five or six years old practicing out there in 90-degree heat. So, you gonna learn to hydrate or you gonna pass out. One of the two.”
Andrew: What are some things that you’ve either added or maintained in terms of the recovery process, that you do to make sure you’re right for each and every practice?
Micah: “I think I’ve added more recovery in the sense as far as hot/cold contrast. I’ve added it instead of every other day or occasionally at Georgia, it’s become almost an everyday thing here. Just learning that, grabbing a recovery tool from Jordan Mailata, and Jordan does it every day, just adding the tool from him and just seeing how, I guess, less sore I am or how better I feel the next day after knowing that I’ve done my recovery after. So, it’s like it resets my body faster, for sure.”
Andrew: I’m sure you feel this way about all your teammates, but it had to be pretty special to see Drew [Kendall] go out there and get that start. You guys repped together a lot in training camp.
Micah: “Oh, it was awesome. Just getting to know Drew back in since OTAs, I know it was a short time, but still, like you’re saying, we took a lot of reps together. Just knowing the hard work and dedication and effort that he put in every day, not knowing if he was gonna have the opportunity to start, and just knowing that he worked hard. He kept going. He’s still pushing to this day. He gives it his all every time. And then just seeing him go out there and do his thing and take care of business and get the win for the good guys. So, it was awesome to see and just knowing it’s also something to look up to, look forward to, ’cause, you know, it shows that the work that we do — although we might not be starters right now — the work that we do is getting us ready for when it is our time, we go out there and perform and do what needs to be done to get the win.”
Andrew: What do you know about the city of Chicago?
Micah: “It’s cold. Obviously, the team’s great. I remember watching them in the playoffs last year. They’re special, special. Special team. Obviously, it’s gonna take a lot of work, but just go out there, putting our best foot forward, and seeing what happens.”
Andrew: And what was your favorite Monday Night Football memory growing up?
Micah: “Ooh, all-time? Probably watching Ray Lewis come out of the tunnel whenever he would do his little slide and break through. As a kid, I used to think that was the coolest thing ever. Then he was so jacked with the big arm brace stuff. Yeah, watching that or any good defense. I used to love big hits and stuff. So, anybody who was a good defense, the Seahawks back in the day when they were “Legion of Boom.”
Like, just anytime a big defense was playing on Monday night, and then obviously the whole presentation of whenever they would [present] the starting lineups, how they used to have it back in the day when they would, like-”
Andrew: Say their names?
Micah: “Say the name and everything. I just think that was the coolest thing.”
Andrew: What’s your activity of choice on the plane? Do you play cards? Do you sleep? Do you listen to music?
Micah: “It depends. If a new album comes out that I like or wanna hear, I’ll listen to the album while I’m there. I’ll download before the flight takes off, then I’ll download it. If not, I’ll cut a movie on and go to sleep.”
Andrew: What’s your ‘why,’ Micah? Why do you enjoy playing football?
Micah: “My ‘why’ would have to be the love of the game that I fell in love with at five and six. But the people I do it for is definitely my parents. They go to work – they still go to work – so, for me, the job’s not finished. My goal is to retire them. And then it just goes back, like I was thinking with my dad; he’s never complained. He’s had the bad days, but I’ve had bad days.
“But he’s taught me what it was like, and showed me what it was like, to be a man and take care of your responsibilities. And the least I could do is all the hours and all the time that him, Uncle Kevin, poured into me, the least I can do is give it my best. And obviously the professional level is the highest you can get, so just go out there and take advantage of all the opportunities that I’ve gotten and don’t take the blessing that God gave me for granted. Just be a vessel.”
Andrew: Now, we haven’t gotten into music yet. I’m a big music guy myself. What’s your music genre of choice?
Micah: “Hip-hop and R&B. I mean, my favorite artist of all time is Lil Wayne. I love Lil Wayne.”
Andrew: I grew up with his music.
Micah: “I love Lil Wayne. So, you know the Carter IV, ‘How to Love’?”
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: “That was my mom’s favorite song. That was the first rap album she ever let me listen to, but it was the clean version, and she bought that album. Like, that’s back when CDs was still a thing, so she bought that CD only to hear that one song, though. But that was the first time I was introduced to hip-hop, so I swear there was about a five-year run where I knew every single song on that album. And I could still probably sing it now. If it’s playing, I could sing it. Like, it was just, like, eye-opening to me. And then the older I got, I went back to the mixtape Wayne and the Droughts, the Dedications, all the way up to now.”
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Micah: “Like, I just love Lil Wayne. His whole catalog is elite to me.”
Andrew: Now, when I was in high school, way back in the day, I had CDs with all kinds of stuff, like the Dedications, the Droughts. All that stuff.
“Micah: Yeah, yeah. And then the older I got, my dad introduced me to DMX and the whole, the Ruff Ryder era and things of that nature. And then hip-hop. I would say hip-hop for sure.”
Andrew: What’s a go-to song on your music playlist for game day?
Micah: “Ooh. Now that I’m in Philly, I would definitely say, ‘I’m a Boss’ by Meek Mill and Rick Ross. ‘Dreams and Nightmares.’ But then, ‘6 Foot 7 Foot’ is up there for sure. Then ‘Urus’ by Lucky. He’s actually from Chicago. And then Concrete is a group, Lil Yachty’s rap group; their last album. Then Rod Wave’s new album. And then Rio the Young OG, he just dropped an album. That’s good, too. And then when I really wanna get crunk, I listen to some YoungBoy. I don’t listen to him a lot, but when you wanna get hype, you can go for it.’
Andrew: Well, I know you, you like your karaoke. “John” by Rick Ross and Lil Wayne is your karaoke song of choice. Is that correct?
Micah: How do you know that?!
Andrew: I gotta do my research!
Micah: “I know that song word-for-word to this day.”
Andrew: So, when’s the last time you did karaoke?
Micah: “Oh, we had to do it for OTAs. We had to choose a song, but I chose, ‘6 Foot 7 Foot.’ That’s what I did for my song.”
Andrew: How did you do? How would you grade your performance?
Micah: “Oh, hey, I had everybody standing up. It was good. I feel like I was the best one for sure.”
Andrew: When it comes to the food scene, have you gotten around to trying any of the spots we talked about?
Micah: “Not yet, not yet. I’m gonna get to it. I’m gonna get to it this weekend. Saturday I’ll be able to go, ’cause we don’t, I think we don’t leave until Sunday, ’cause we play Monday night. So, Saturday I’m gonna go try one of them. I don’t know which one yet, but yeah, I’m trying them out.
Andrew: How about cooking? Is that something you enjoy?
Micah: “Well, I’ve been grilling. When my girl came up, I grilled on the first time in my apartment – steaks and lamb chops and sausages.”
Andrew: Wagyu? [laughs]
Micah: “That s–t was good. But it was good. I went to Costco. I saw, I guess it’s kind of an old TikTok trend now. Like, they sell big packets of meat for, like, 50 bucks, and then you can slice it up and make a bunch of little strips. So, I just threw those on the grill. So yeah, it was good.”
Andrew: Yeah. You gotta try skirt steak.
Micah: “Skirt steak? Okay.”
Andrew: So, it’s used for fajitas, but if you actually cook it as a steak, it’s really tender. I do skirt steak and scallops.
Micah: “Yeah, I love scallops. Do you saute your scallops?”
Andrew: I do. And I like to char them a little bit.
Micah: “Do you use lemon pepper on there, or you just use butter? Or what you use?”
Andrew: I just use butter. I like a lot of heat too, so I have this seasoning that I’ll throw on there.
Micah: “My dad likes the heat, bro. Like, I don’t know how he does it. When he eats spaghetti, all you smell is hot sauce. Like, I swear. And then the next day when he heats it back up in his little container, only he uses it, ’cause it’s stained with hot sauce, bro. Like, he… I don’t know, man, he just loves hot food. I think his taste buds are shot.”
Andrew: Maybe mine are, too. How about movies? I saw a really good one two nights ago, The Weight, with Russell Crowe and Ethan Hawke.
Micah: “It just came out?”
Andrew: Yeah, it just came out. It was really good.
Micah: “I’m about to go see that. I haven’t heard of it. Okay, I’ll go see that. Is that at AMC?”
Andrew: Yeah, it should be. What’s in your queue?
Micah: “I’m still waiting for Doomsday, remember?”
Andrew: That’s right. Nothing to fill the gaps there?
Micah: “No, not really. I’ve been doing my Legos on my off days. I’ll probably try to find a series to watch. I don’t know, though. Not to say it’s, like, dead on Netflix and stuff, but it’s nothing that’s really piquing my interest. I’ve been playing the Wolverine game. I have been playing that. I got the Wolverine remote control, too, the other day. So, that’s been my little joy.”
Andrew: I mean, it kind of is dead on Netflix. I spend 45 minutes trying to find something to watch and then I just give up and go do something else.
Andrew: What’s one or two things on the field, off the field, that you’re working to achieve this week?
Micah: “This week, continuing to correct my hand placement and not just grab, you know? Actually striking and keeping my chest up and not lunging over. And then another thing I would say is, I guess, consistency, ’cause I know I can do it. I’ve done it before, but just doing it over and over and over again to where it becomes not necessarily a thing I can do; a thing that I do. Just making it that something that I do, not something that I can do at times.”
Andrew: Appreciate the time.
— Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is the Eagles beat reporter for InsideTheBirds.com.
