Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/83706
E | But his positive outlook has been ven before the NCAA gave players an incentive to leave Penn State, Stephon Morris wanted out. Over the course of three seasons, he had seen his playing time spike, then gradually dwindle. He had gone from being a starter in the defen- sive backfield to a platoon player to a little-used sub. A disgruntled little- used sub. By the time Penn State's 2011 season ended with a loss to Hous- ton in the TicketCity Bowl, Morris was pretty sure he didn't want to play for the Nittany Lions anymore. "I'm very passionate about football," he said. "I love this game. But last year, after the season, it just wasn't there." So why does Morris's name still ap- pear on Penn State's depth chart? And not just anywhere on the depth chart but at the top of it, as the Nittany Lions' starting field cornerback? Mostly because of Bill O'Brien. When O'Brien was hired in January, Morris's father, Roman, did a "back- ground check" on the former New Eng- land Patriots offensive coordinator. "My dad liked the way he handled Tom Brady," Stephon said. "He felt I needed discipline like that." When Penn State's new staff started TWELFTH MAN Morris has returned to the starting lineup after a disappointing junior season in which he saw his playing time diminish throughout the year. coming together, the Morris family grew even more enthused. Stephon liked that new defensive coordinator Ted Roof was planning to use more man- to-man coverage schemes, and he rel- ished the enthusiasm and honesty that new assistant coach John Butler brought to the defensive backfield. "It gave me a whole new start," said Morris, a senior. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Change is never easy. But I trust the man upstairs, and he told me to stick it out. Good things will happen." Deeply religious, Morris prefers to keep things positive in all aspects of his life. His Twitter account, which had more than 3,000 followers as of this writing, is a hodgepodge of biblical quotations, daily affirmations and shout-outs to his favorite NFL team – the Cowboys. His is a defensive back's mentality: when something bad hap- pens, shrug it off and focus on the next challenge. tested throughout his career, including the first few games of the Nittany Lions' 2012 season. Heading into the team's final nonconference game against Tem- ple, Penn State's secondary was having mixed success against opposing passers. In the opener against Ohio, Tyler Tettleton completed 31 of 41 pass attempts for 324 yards and was espe- cially effective in the second half, as the Bobcats relied on his quick delivery to convert 11 of 12 third downs. The defense had a better overall per- formance the following week at Virginia, but the third-down problems persisted, as the Cavaliers converted 9 of 15 in the game and 6 of 8 in the second half, including a third-and-20 and a third-and-16. Through the first three weeks of the season, Penn State was last in the Big Ten in third-down con- versions allowed. Opponents were con- verting those chances at an alarming rate of 51 percent. O'Brien said recently that he thought the problems had a lot to do with the opponents' execution. "I don't think it had anything to do with the scheme," he said. "I think it's just us going up and making the play. I think we will. I think we've got some guys back there who will understand what happens in those plays and improve the next time it happens and make the play." Morris wants to be one of those guys. With the Nittany Lions lacking experi- enced depth in the secondary, he will need to be one of them. That's a big change from a year ago, when his playing time and his enthu- siasm were both in a steep decline. Before the new coaching staff arrived, Morris felt as though his once-promis- ing career was slipping away. In 2009, he was on the field for more plays than any member of the freshman class, playing a key role in victories over Michigan State and LSU. The fol- lowing year, he started the team's first seven games. But he got burned for a pair of touchdowns by Minnesota's Da'Jon McKnight in a 33-21 Penn State victory, and things were never the same after that. The matchup against the 6-