Jan. 1, 2001
By MARK LONG
AP Sports Writer
NEW ORLEANS – Being the new kid on the block, it didn’t take 6-year-old Dan Morgan very long to meet the neighborhood bullies.
Or to make an impression.
With his dad watching from a window of their Pennsylvania home, two8-year-old boys started picking on Morgan. When he returned home crying,Morgan’s dad said, “If you let them do that again, it’s either going to bethem knocking you around or me knocking you around.”
Morgan ran back outside and punched both boys in the face.
“Now I realize why he told me to go back out there,” says Morgan, whojust turned 22. “It makes you a better person. After that, those kids neverpicked on me again. I got their respect.”
Using the same philosophy on the football field, the Miami linebackerhas earned everyone’s respect.
He makes plays, seems oblivious to pain and lifts his teammates to ahigher level. That’s why the 6-foot-3, 245-pound senior might be the best defensiveplayer in the nation. He will get a final chance to showcase his skillsTuesday night against Florida in the Sugar Bowl.
“I don’t think one individual could do much more for a program thatDanny has done,” Hurricanes coach Butch Davis said. “He is a phenomenal kid. He isgreat player on game day and he has set a terrific role-model image for ouryounger players.
“He’s as tough and physically gifted as anyone, he has great instinctsand he is as tough a competitor as I’ve ever seen.”
Morgan’s competitiveness has been most obvious when he has been inpain.
As a sophomore in 1998, Morgan broke his left thumb against BostonCollege but didn’t miss a down. He underwent surgery the next day and returned topractice a day later.
In Miami’s season opener this year, Morgan received a concussion frombeing kicked in the head. He refused to leave the game, and as he lined up for thenext play, he began vomiting. But even that didn’t affect him, he neveraltered his defensive stance.
“If it’s something I can play with, there’s no reason for me not to beout there,” Morgan said. “If I’m standing on the sidelines, I don’t feel likeI’m part of the game, so I’ll play no matter what’s happening. That’s just theway I am.”
Said Davis: “If there isn’t blood flowing some place on his face orarm, the game really hasn’t started yet.”
Morgan played the final five games this season with turf toe, an injurythat prevents lots of athletes from playing. He hasn’t even missed a practice.
“He’s gutted it out and kept fighting through it,” Davis said. “Hewould be in tears but kept playing.”
Morgan’s payoff is clear. Not only are the Hurricanes playing for apossible share of the national title, but Morgan earned nearly every defensive awardhanded out this season.
Not bad for a high school fullback who gained more than 2,000 yards inhis final two seasons, including 907 yards during an injury-shortened senioryear in which played only five games.
In college, he parlayed his speed and offensive knowledge intodefensive dominance.
After breaking the school and Big East records for career tackles,Morgan was given the Butkus Award, awarded annually the nation’s best linebacker,as well as the Nagurski and Bednarik awards that are given to the country’sbest defensive player. He finished with 532 career tackles.
“He deserves everything he’s gotten, maybe more,” teammate DamioneLewis said. “He’s been a great leader, he’s carried us through good times and badtimes and he’s always there when we need him. He makes all of us better.”
For now, the three awards are proudly displayed in his parents’ livingroom.But they almost certainly will follow Morgan to the NFL, where he hopes tobe a first-round pick in April’s draft.
Then, once again being the new kid on the block, Morgan might findhimself in another situation where he needs to make an impression.
“When you lay a few licks, people start respecting you,” he said.”That’s just how it is.”