PHILADELPHIA — Just under two hours before the Eagles’ 1 p.m. kickoff last Sunday, Micah Morris took the field with many of his fellow offensive linemen.
His routine is a bit different from that of the starters, who simulate get off and working in unison with the player beside them. Morris, along with other reserves like John Ojukwu, alternate holding the pad as teammates accelerate out of their stances and strike the pad, driving them backwards.
Morris, like every reserve is committed to serving the team in any capacity while waiting patiently for their opportunity. With the Eagles light in the trenches going into Sunday’s game, though — the Eagles dressed only eight linemen, with center Drew Kendall (knee) serving as only an emergency option — Morris was a play away from potentially being pressed into service. The offensive line made it through the game unscathed, however, with Morris logging two snaps on special teams.
The Georgia product returned to work this week focused, as he always is, on fine-tuning details behind the scenes and servicing the starters on scout team. With help expectedly on the way Monday night, Morris doesn’t have much of a path to playing time, but the 23-year-old is focused on daily improvement and committing fully to the process.
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 Friday, we chatted for our seventh installment.
Andrew: Last week we spoke about you fusing together confidence and fundamentals. How do you feel you did accomplishing that? 
Micah: “I think I did fairly well this week, especially in the pass game, making sure I’m square. And definitely working on whenever I’m in slide pro or man pro just, at guard, taking up the B gap so my tackle doesn’t get picked off. I feel like I did a good job this week just making it’s a point of emphasis and applying it to my game.
“Obviously, not just laying back off and creating a mismatch… Creating, I guess, off levels between myself and my tackle. Just because I’m the B gap, being able to pass off twists, and that comes with, like you said, the confidence and putting the fundamentals together, just knowing I can take up the B gap. And then even on slides, I can definitely be confident with it because I have my center coming with me. If they do do a stunt when he goes inside of me, I have a blocker coming with me. So, I feel like I did a good job of that this week.”
Andrew: For you personally, what factors do you look for at the end of the week to determine whether you had a good week of practice?
Micah: “Well, I like to think of whatever I started off with in the week, and I try to look at it from a, I guess, third person perspective, from a bird’s-eye view. Not worrying about what I was thinking during that play or how I was feeling during that play, just what it overall looked like. How did it look on film? Not if it was the last play of a 12-play rack, how did it look as a film, and grade it as a whole. And if it looked acceptable, it looked good — like a person was confident and knew what they were doing — then I said that was a good rep or a good rack. Even if I was exhausted and it looked bad, that was a bad rep. It doesn’t matter.”
Andrew: How about the independent hand striking? You mentioned last week how that’s become a focus.
Micah: “It’s going very well. That was more so like the, I guess, the phone booth situations in the pass game. And then the one-on-one and two-on-two reps during the, I guess, when the skill players are doing 7-on-7 and all my D-line does one-on-one. So, I feel like that helped me out well this week. And then, additionally with the independent hand strike, it’s just keep keeping me square, keeping my base ready. And keep me also, it makes me wanna keep my feet hot ’cause I’m throwing each one, and not just striking both, which could lead me to lunge and keep my feet still. The independent hand strike keeps my feet moving, so overall just helps my game.”
Andrew: I know you’re a big weight room guy, “Platinum Club” at Georgia and all that. Do you have a structured weightlifting plan here with the Eagles? Is there anything that you do outside of that on your own?
Micah: “At my apartment, I mean, I do extra cardio. But as far as weightlifting, I try to stick with Jordan Mailata. His program’s good, I’ll tell you that much. [laughs] So, I just stick out with him, workout with him, so I trust him completely. And obviously he’s the strongest thing I’ve seen, so it was good.”
Andrew: Is there anything in particular that you focus on? You mentioned cardio…
Micah: “Cardio and mobility/flexibility, I’d say. Obviously, in the trenches, you can always be more flexible. And then, I guess, squat, lower body, upper body. I mean just getting as strong as I can while still continuing to, I guess, improve my flexibility. ‘Cause whenever I was home, like I guess, was that pre or post OTAs? Whenever we get that little break before the season.
Andrew: Yeah, after OTAs.
Micah: “Then I went home, I was doing yoga like two, three times a day. Just trying to work on flexibility, do different things. And then I made the mistake of starting to go to Pilates and, oh my God, I don’t understand how a plank is a resting position. But that’s beyond me. So, it was good. I got some good workouts there. Then just trying to find ways to ease it in and just, not necessarily do it three times a day, obviously, but just do it periodically just to stay loose and stay nimble.”
Andrew: So that post period after OTAs, was that the first time you experimented with yoga?
Micah: “Consistently, yeah. I mean, we would do it at Georgia during the season on Fridays. It was just once a week. But constantly, like daily, I would be doing it. Yeah, that was my first time.”
Andrew: What’s the hardest part? I’ve never done it before.
Micah: “I think overall bar yoga is the hardest, in my opinion, just because of the intensity and it’s free weights and moving and stuff, and a lot of core stability. And then, mat Pilates, I think, is hard, too, just because literally as a bigger guy, I don’t see how they are not tired. Like I’m… It’s mostly like a lot of ladies in there, and they’re talking and have full conversations while they’re in a plank, and there’s like a pool of sweat around me. I’m fighting for my life out there, and they’re just like talking and asking me questions. I’m like, ‘I cannot talk right now.’ [laughs] But no, it’s fun. It’s good. I got to meet people in the community, so it was cool. I enjoyed it.”
Andrew: I imagine the more you do it, the better you get at it.
Micah: “Yeah. At first those arms gonna be shaking though, for sure. No, it was good though. It was a good time.”
Andrew: That’s a good forewarning. You mentioned your apartment complex. I believe you said you moved in there about a month ago. How’s everything there?
Micah: “It’s good. Everything’s good. The air fryer came in yesterday, so I have everything now, so it’s all set up. Have not got to a new Lego set yet. I’ll probably do that tomorrow after practice, honestly.”
Andrew: You had cousins that came to town. Did you get them over to Angelo’s?
Micah: “Yeah, I got to Angelo’s. Yeah, I took them to Angelo’s. I got an upside down pizza for everybody, then they each got their own Philly cheesesteak. And my cousin Cal got one with the long hots, like peppers and-
Andrew: Oh, that’s, that’s what I do.
Micah: “Yeah, I don’t like that hot stuff like that, but my dad loves it. He loves them. But yeah, it was good. It was a good meal.”
Andrew: That’s how I do it, cheesesteak with long hots and Cooper Sharp cheese.
Micah: “And then we went to the Penrose Diner. It was good.
Andrew: I went [Thursday] before practice. What’d you get?
Micah: “Oh, I just got the omelet with all the meat in it. I just got a meat lovers omelet. It was chill. What’d you get?
Andrew: I had a nice five-egg omelet.
Micah: “Oof. I know that was good.”
Andrew: I nearly fell asleep afterwards.
Micah: “You got that itis.”
Andrew: Definitely did. In the meeting room, who would you say is the funniest? Who provides the levity in the O-line room?
Micah: “Jordan Mailata for sure. I feel like that’s just being a leader, you know? I mean, he never lets the lows get too low. So, if he has a crazy joke, he can sense the room, he can read the room. He’s been there for a very long time, and obviously understands the team and the players, and he takes the time to learn everybody from the people who’s been here just as long as him to Markel and I, rookies. So, he definitely knows how to read the room, read the players, and he makes sure everybody’s afloat. So, anytime it’s tense or anything like that, or a rough day, or rough week, he knows how to keep the O-line room smooth.”
Andrew: Have you switched from the notebooks to the tablet yet?
Micah: “No, I still got three more pages left, but this is the last week. It’s like honor, so I’m going back to the tablet now.”
Andrew: I was thinking back to something that we talked about a few weeks ago, Del Frisco’s. Have you ever been to Fogo de Chão, a Brazilian steakhouse?
Micah: “No! I was watching the Sixers game and I saw an ad for it, and I didn’t know there was one here. There’s one in Jacksonville, Florida, which is 30 minutes from where I grew up at in Camden, and I used to go there for, I guess like Sundays after church or something. Or, like, birthdays I would. That’s where I would go like once I got older. I didn’t know there was one here.”
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Micah: “So, I saw that, I’m gonna have to go. Yeah, I didn’t know there was one here.”
Andrew: Yeah, there’s one in Philly, and then there’s one in King of Prussia right by the mall.
Micah: “Yeah, KOP. I went to KOP for the first time, I think, last week or the week before. It’s smooth. It’s pretty good.”
Andrew: I went to the Fogo in KOP last Saturday.
Micah: “Was it good? I know it was amazing.”
Andrew: Went there solo, sat there for like 90 minutes just chilling.
Micah: Ah, just get into it! [laughs]
Andrew: Any Costco runs?
Micah: “No, not yet. Not yet.”
Andrew: Well, you spoke before about getting some, was it brisket? And you did some grilling…
Micah: “No, they sell like these big pieces, like slabs of steak, and it’s like, I don’t know how they do it. I think it’s like 80 bucks or something. It’s like, I swear, you can get like 12 pieces of steak.”
Andrew: That’s really good value.
Micah: “I did that. That’s the last time I went, though.”
Andrew: When you were growing up, was there a particular offensive lineman that you emulated? One or two?
Micah: “Orlando Pace for sure, and then David DeCastro.”
Andrew: Oh, David DeCastro’s an interesting one. He comes up a little bit. What particularly gravitated you to his game?
Micah: “His consistency and his frame and the way he worked, it was just, it popped up on the screen to me. And then the older I got, obviously the Quenton Nelson’s came into play. And then Trent Williams is more closer to me I would say. But like as a kid growing up, I would say Orlando Pace and then David DeCastro.”
Andrew: You’re a big movie guy. Have you ever seen Rocky?
Micah: [in disbelief] … Yeah, I’ve seen Rocky. And I saw the preview for the new one, ‘I Am Rocky.’ (DiCecco edit: It’s actually titled ‘I Play Rocky’).
Andrew: All right. Well, okay, so how would you rank the first five?
Micah: “I’ve seen all of them. I can’t tell you the… Or whenever he beat Drago, that’s number one for me.”
Andrew: Okay. Yeah, that’s my favorite. That’s the best one.
Micah: “That’s number one for me.”
Andrew: The Mr. T one (Rocky III) is pretty good, too.
Micah: “Yeah, I’d put that one, I think I’d put that one three.”
Andrew: I would probably put Rocky II at number two.
Micah: “Which one- was Rocky II Drago?”
Andrew: No, Rocky IV was Drago.
Micah: “Okay. I have Rocky IV number one. Then I would put Rocky II. Rocky II, III, then the last two can follow as they may. That’s what I would do.”
Andrew: Have you been to the art museum steps, where he ran up?
Micah: “Yes, I have. I have. I went the first Sunday of either, I guess two months ago, when it was on the first Sunday. They do like you pay whatever to go in. So, I went for that. Yeah, it was cool.”
Andrew: What’d you think?
Micah: “It was cool. It was actually pretty cool. Yeah, like, I’d never been to something like that, so it was pretty cool, and it was relaxing. And it was, I was surprised at the amount of kids that was there. It was good to see like kids still go see art and stuff, so, you know, inspiring. That’s cool.”
Andrew: Yeah. There’s a lot of really cool stuff in the city. There’s that, there’s the historic district, and that’s a cool spot just to walk around. They got a lot of good food spots there as well.
Micah: “Oh, yeah, I’ll have to try something. I’ll have to try something.”
Andrew: So, I mentioned Clayface. Do you have any movies that are on your radar?
Micah: “I’m gonna go see Clayface. Oh, I saw Street Fighter last week.”
Andrew: I saw it, too.
Micah: “I thought it was good. It was funny.”
Andrew: It was entertaining. It lost me a little bit in some spots, but-
Micah: “Yeah, some of the plot could’ve been a little better, but I’m glad it ended so it’ll be a second one.”
Andrew: So, one of your draft mates, Keyshawn, played 48 snaps last week. There’s probably a lot of people that don’t know a lot about him. What should someone know about Keyshawn? I’m sure you get to see a lot in practice.
Micah: “He’s a hard worker. He has a great motor, and you know you’re gonna get 100% out of him every rep. There’s no, there’s no slack or no letup of him during practice at all. He’s constantly going, and he’s a hard worker. He worked his way up. Like, like you were saying, 48 snaps. No, that’s, that’s amazing. So, he’s a hard worker and he’s definitely gonna be a big contributor to this team.”
Andrew: Outside of the football realm — this is kind of an interesting question — if you could meet one celebrity, artist, actor or anything like that, who would it be and why?
Micah: “LeBron [James]. He’s the GOAT.”
Andrew: I thought you were gonna say Lil Wayne!
Micah: “No, he’d be number two, but LeBron’s the GOAT. Like, I don’t know, man. When I was a kid, man, if he ever lost, I would cry. Like, LeBron’s the GOAT, man. He’s just the GOAT.”
Andrew: Yeah, well-
Micah: “Game seven, three one, he’s the GOAT.”
Andrew: Well, hopefully you’ll get a chance to meet him this season or something.
Micah: “Hopefully. It would be a dream for sure.”
Andrew: …get out to a game or something.
Micah: “Yeah, I gotta figure something out.”
Andrew: Lastly, just one or two things on or off the field that you’re working to achieve this week.
Micah: “On the field, I would say get better with my combination blocks, especially, like, I guess in our gap plays, making sure I’m hip to hip with whether it’s my tackle or my guard. And then off the field, making another Lego set for the week. Finishing a Lego set and taking the time to do it this week for sure.”
Andrew: Sounds good. Always appreciate the time, man.
Micah: “Yes, sir. Thank you. Appreciate you.”
— Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is the Eagles beat reporter for InsideTheBirds.com.
