Michigan LB Desmond Morgan out for season with hand injury

Michigan linebacker Desmond Morgan is out for the season with a hand injury. Freshman cornerback Jabrill Peppers isn't out for the season but his status is uncertain going forward.

Michigan linebacker Desmond Morgan is out for the season with a hand injury, head coach Brady Hoke announced Monday.

Morgan, a senior, will take a redshirt this season and return for a fifth year in 2015. He hasn't played since the season opener against Appalachian State.

While Hoke's policy is to not give out much information about the nature of players' injuries, TheDetroit Free Press obtained a police report that stated Morgan apparently injured himself the night of the Appalachian State game, sustaining "a laceration to the right forearm gushing blood."

Morgan was seen in a sling and then a cast the next several weeks.

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The linebacker broke into the starting lineup as a freshman in 2011 and had started 31 games in his career going into this season.

Freshman cornerback Jabrill Peppers isn't out for the season, according to Hoke, but his status is uncertain going forward. He was removed from the team's official depth chart this week for the first time all season.

Peppers sustained an ankle injury that kept him out of Michigan's second game of the season against Notre Dame and then sustained a reported leg injury that has kept him out of the team's last four games. The highly-touted recruit has played in just three games this season, totaling eight tackles.

Also at his press conference Monday, Hoke said he hadn't discussed his job status with any superiors this season and said any such discussions would occur at the end of the season.

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Hoke has come under fire for Michigan's poor performance on the field this year as well as several incidents not related to Michigan's play. The most notable of those incidents was the Shane Morris concussion controversy, in which the sophomore quarterback was allowed to stay in and re-enter Michigan's Sept. 27 game against Minnesota despite later being found to have had a concussion.

The Wolverines are 3-5 this season after losing to rival Michigan State last Saturday. Michigan hosts Indiana this week.

- Ben Estes