Video: Morris Talks After Wednesday's Practice
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — There’s three names on the latest version of Miami’s quarterback depth chart, and Stephen Morris isn’t among them.
Merely an oversight.
Barring drastic changes by Saturday, Morris will replace Jacory Harris as Miami’s starting quarterback when the Hurricanes (5-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) host Maryland (6-2, 3-1) and try to keep their hopes of a conference title alive. Morris took first-team snaps at Tuesday’s practice, while Harris — recovering from a concussion — wasn’t even on the field.
“Stephen just has to manage the offense,” Miami coach Randy Shannon said Tuesday. “Do the things that’s asked of him and make sure we execute those things. … Me, myself, I have all the confidence in Stephen Morris running the plays we have on offense and I think the players have a lot of confidence in him also.”
Doctors are still evaluating Harris, and there’s no timetable for his return. Shannon would only go as far as to say he would “probably not” be available this week.
Harris was injured in the second quarter of last Saturday’s 24-19 loss to Virginia, but has been around his teammates for meetings since and was in the film room Tuesday morning. Doctors are monitoring several aspects of Harris’ condition, including how sensitive his eyes are to light and how he responds to noise and subtle movements of his head.
Morris — generally considered the strongest-armed of Miami’s four quarterbacks — took over at halftime of the Virginia game, throwing for two touchdowns and running for another in the final 10½ minutes as the Hurricanes tried rallying from a 24-0 deficit. He was slotted to be a redshirt candidate, but Whipple struggled in his stint as Harris’ replacement against Virginia and Highsmith has an injured left wrist that makes handling snaps difficult, leaving Miami had no choice but turn to Morris.
“There’s going to be a lot of weight on his shoulders, but we’re going to have to rely on our defense, really,” Shannon said. “Our defense is going to have to play extremely well this week … for the young man to be successful.”
Cornerback Ryan Hill said the defense isn’t concerned about how Morris will handle the spotlight Saturday.
“I think we’re going to ride his shoulders,” Hill said.
Morris is a Miami native who threw for 3,536 yards and 41 touchdowns in his final two seasons at Monsignor Pace High, perennially one of the better programs in Miami-Dade County. He enrolled in January, and most around the program simply figured he wouldn’t be a viable candidate for playing time until perhaps 2012.
But when Highsmith got hurt about a month ago, Morris started getting a bit more work with Miami’s first- and second-team units, just in case.
“We’ve just got to go out there and make plays for him,” wide receiver LaRon Byrd said. “Get him comfortable, get him comfortable in the throwing game and running game. We have full confidence in him and I think he’s going to get the job done.”
Whipple will be Morris’ backup, and if the Hurricanes have to go farther down the depth chart, it may be running back Graig Cooper taking snaps in emergency situations. Shannon isn’t sure if Highsmith will be healthy enough to play.
Byrd said Morris showed plenty of poise in the huddle last week, telling teammates just to keep him protected and he’ll make plays. He nearly pulled off a huge rally, throwing a 29-yard touchdown pass to Leonard Hankerson, scoring on a 9-yard run and hitting Travis Benjamin for what became a 60-yard score — all in a span of 5 minutes, 55 seconds.
“It’ll be good that we have Stephen, who’s gotten some playing time, been in the game like that, coming back from behind and making some plays and calling the offense,” Shannon said.
One thing Morris won’t have to do this week: Win his teammates over. They’ve seen what he can do in scout-team play, and were duly impressed long before his effort last weekend.
“He always gives us a hard time,” Hill said. “If you’re on scout team and you’re usually giving the first-team or second-team defense a hard time, you’re probably doing something pretty good.”
