By Nate Allen
Special to the News-Times
FAYETTEVILLE - Coaches inevitably want a bigger and better linebacker than Grant Morgan.
Yet in defining what coaches want as a capable, smart, spirited understudy when a starter goes down or needs a rest, Morgan’s picture would fit a dictionary’s illustration.
“Grant Morgan, just a ballplayer,” Arkansas coach Chad Morris said admiringly of his third-year sophomore walk-on backup middle Mike linebacker from Greenwood.
Though a mere 5-11, 220 playing on a front seven where major college defenses inevitably employ players taller and heavier, walk-on Morgan played considerably more than many on scholarship for former Arkansas coach Bret Bielema’s 4-8 Razorbacks in 2017.
Playing all 12 games on special teams and as the backup to junior preseason All-SEC middle linebacker Scoota Harris, Morgan’s 38 tackles ranked ninth on the team.
Including a quarterback sack, Morgan posted 3 1/2 of those tackles behind the line, was credited with two quarterback hurries, broke up two passes and forced a fumble.
Obviously, the walk-on played a lot for the old regime after redshirting as a freshman in 2016 and seems he’s bound to play considerably again under new head coach Morris and new defensive coordinator/linebackers coach John Chavis.
Chavis closed spring practice thumbs up.
“Let me tell you how I feel about walk-ons,” Chavis said. “I walked on myself. We’re going to put our best players on the field and he had a really, really good spring practice. Right now he’s our backup middle linebacker. It’s going to be his job to hold on to that.”
Off workouts so far, Morgan more than holds on.
“I’ve been very pleased with Grant Morgan,” Morris said after the Razorbacks’ Aug. 12 first preseason scrimmage. “He’s working his tail off. Grant is another one that’s always around the ball.”
Under new strength coach Trumain Carroll emphasizing Morris’ team proclamation of a need for speed, Morgan accelerated his already overdrive gear during the summer conditioining.
“It went really well,” Morgan said of his summer workouts. “We focused on getting faster. It was really good. I think this is the most we ever ran in the summer. Coach Tru definitely brought an aspect of getting us in shape and running. We did 100-yard sprints all the time and I think that’s really put a vision in our heads that we are going to be running a lot during the season, too.”
Morgan expects the running will run the team through the fourth quarter like on a full tank.
Too often in their 4-8 2017, the Hogs seemed to run on empty in the fourth quarter following meltdowns losing 24-7 and 24-0 halftime leads in the 28-24 and 35-24 losses to Missouri and Virginia Tech closing 2016.
“We are definitely a better conditioned football team,” Morgan said. “We are going to be ready to go in the fourth quarter this year. I know that.”
Chavis, called “Chief” since early in his 39-year coaching career, not only applauds Morgan’s conditioning, but his versatility.
He expects that should injuries mount that Morgan could step over to back up senior weakside Will linebacker Dre Greenlaw as easily as he fills in for Harris in the middle.
“I definitely think I’ll be the guy who is able to go in there and play either one of them,” Morgan said, while noting he’s practiced strictly at Mike so far because Dee Walker has done so well behind Greenlaw at Will.
“That’s one of Chief’s big things is growing depth. He wants to play of lot of linebackers. The main thing we’re learning right now is from watching Scoota and Dre. They’re two very good guys to be able to watch and learn from.”
Whatever the linebacking position, Morgan said under Chavis he will get to play it more aggressively in this year’s 4-3 defense.
“We are going to be able to attack them with Chief,” Morgan said. “He wakes up in the morning ready to attack somebody and that fits our part. A lot of these guys got recruited to play the 4-3, they didn’t get recruited to play the 3-4. It’s fitting them a lot better and you see why they got recruited. It’s really fitting our defensive personnel.”
Football isn’t all that Morgan attacks.
An energetic overachiever like his older brother Drew, the former Razorbacks’ undersized receiver starting his second NFL season with the Miami Dolphins after catching 63 and 65 passes for his final two Arkansas seasons in 2015 and 2016, Grant Morgan has attacked the books as fiercely as he attacks on the gridiron.
He graduates in May in pre-med kinesiology still with two Arkansas football seasons thereafter.
“Then it’s get a masters and then medical school,” Morgan said.