As IU football achieved perfection in 2025, Tyler Morris planned ahead for 2026

IU football wide receiver Tyler Morris.

Indiana wide receiver Tyler Morris is a two-time national champion. Most people will, understandably, only remember the first.

In 2023, he hauled in 23 receptions for 248 yards and two touchdowns and returned 10 punts, helping Michigan win the College Football Playoff.

In 2025, he watched his Indiana teammates complete a perfect 16-0 season from the sidelines.

Morris was slated to be a major piece of Indiana’s 2025 offense as the slot receiver and punt returner. He chose the Hoosiers out of the portal to play alongside Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. and build on Indiana’s 2024 success. A non-contact injury in spring camp wiped those hopes away within seconds. Morris did not play a snap in 2025 as he recovered from a torn ACL.

The season was not a waste by any means. It was an opportunity to adjust to Indiana’s system and look ahead to 2026.

“With everything I did as far as recovery and working out and just trying to learn and all that, I just wanted to be as prepared for this year as I could,” Morris said on Wednesday. “And I would say it took probably nine months until I was feeling back, just able to run routes and all that.”

Throughout those grueling nine months, Morris completed his injury rehab, attended meetings, did stationary work and even stayed after practice to join the rotation of receivers on the jugs machine. He did so throughout the entire 2025 season.

Morris began practicing during the 2025 postseason. He worked out with the team in the practice periods open to the media before the Rose Bowl and national championship game. While he never saw game action, he learned the Indiana system through experience and by being around those who knew it best.

“I think it helped me learn the offense for sure. I think it can be a little difficult at times just coming in first year and not understanding the offense, just learning something new,” Morris said. “Just being able to sit back and then being able to talk to guys like Elijah (Sarratt) and EJ (Williams) and Coop (Omar Cooper Jr.) and just see how they see thing and just being able to sit back and kind of see how a game week goes, but not necessarily have the pressure of having to make sure I’m going out and getting it right, it just made things easier for me.”

In 2026, Morris will be featured as the top option in the slot with mostly different targets alongside him. Sarratt, Cooper and Williams are all in the NFL now. Younger players like Charlie Becker, Nick Marsh, Davion Chandler and Lebron Bond replace their spots in the depth chart. Morris prepared in advance by building relationships during the 2025 season.

“The way I saw it was kind of trying to talk to the young guys for the most part because just being around, I understood the older guys, they understood how it goes,” Morris said. “I just wanted to talk to them, kind of tell them how I see things and just get them really ready for next year because I knew that was a group of guys I would be going into the season with.”

Morris is prepared to lead the young group of wideouts in 2026 for an Indiana team that has aspirations to repeat what it did in 2025. While Morris was not on the field for it, his second national championship season was a step toward a potential third.

“I’m definitely just excited for the season to start. It’s been so long since I actually played in a game,” Morris said. “I think it’s kind of one of those things where I’m kind of just more so, like, grateful just to be able to even go out and play.”

Indiana’s Week 1 matchup against North Texas will be the first game action for Morris since Michigan’s 13-10 win over Ohio State in 2024. It will be his first game in a Hoosier uniform. It will be his second season-opener for a program beginning its defense of a national championship.

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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