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Now he’s set to begin his sophomore year with the second-team defense.
It was to be expected that fifth-year senior Joe Schmidt, who started seven games last fall before he suffered an ankle injury against Navy, would reclaim his spot at middle linebacker. The 6-foot-1, 240-pound Morgan had other ideas, though. He made 39 tackles in four and a half games as Schmidt’s replacement, and Morgan—whose play was still littered with freshman mistakes—flashed his potential.
But the reps won’t be quite as plentiful in his sophomore year.
“He looks at the depth chart and he's running out there with the second group and splitting reps, whereas last year he was a starter,” said Irish head coachBrian Kelly. “He wants more reps, just like I'd want more reps. But as we tell him, his reps have to be quality because he's got to be ready when he gets called upon just like he was last year. He got called upon and you've got to be ready.”
Starting games on the bench doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll play sparingly. The Irish have three experienced middle linebackers on the roster—a luxury they didn’t have a year ago—and all three will be needed. When Schmidt went down, Kelly wasn’t able to call on fifth-year senior Jarrett Grace, who missed the season as the result of an injury he suffered a year earlier. The next man in was Morgan, a true freshman who defensive coordinator Brian VanGorderconcedes shouldn’t have been put in the role he was.
“He got put in there and was starting for us as a true freshman, and he wasn’t ready all the things he had to take on that were on his plate as our middle linebacker,” VanGorder said. “He never became discouraged and he just stayed at it. He might ask 100 questions a day, but it was important to him to get it right, and that’s who Nyles is and that’s what I enjoy most about him. His knowledge is way different at this point in time.”
The experience Morgan gained as a true freshman was difficult at times, especially given that the middle linebacker is the player in the Irish defense who communicates play-calls from the coaching staff to the other defenders. But the move will pay dividends in the long run, and now that Kelly has three middle linebackers with game experience he plans on flexing his muscles at a position where the Irish were thin in 2014.
“Joe Schmidt will be the starter there,” Kelly said. “Jarrett Grace will play, and Nyles will obviously get a chance to get in there as well. Look, they're all guys that have played for us. All have contributed. All have played meaningful minutes for us. We're going to need them all.
“We think we're really deep there. We think it's an advantage, and because of that they'll all get a chance to play and play meaningful minutes for us.”
Now he’s set to begin his sophomore year with the second-team defense.
It was to be expected that fifth-year senior Joe Schmidt, who started seven games last fall before he suffered an ankle injury against Navy, would reclaim his spot at middle linebacker. The 6-foot-1, 240-pound Morgan had other ideas, though. He made 39 tackles in four and a half games as Schmidt’s replacement, and Morgan—whose play was still littered with freshman mistakes—flashed his potential.
But the reps won’t be quite as plentiful in his sophomore year.
“He looks at the depth chart and he's running out there with the second group and splitting reps, whereas last year he was a starter,” said Irish head coachBrian Kelly. “He wants more reps, just like I'd want more reps. But as we tell him, his reps have to be quality because he's got to be ready when he gets called upon just like he was last year. He got called upon and you've got to be ready.”
Starting games on the bench doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll play sparingly. The Irish have three experienced middle linebackers on the roster—a luxury they didn’t have a year ago—and all three will be needed. When Schmidt went down, Kelly wasn’t able to call on fifth-year senior Jarrett Grace, who missed the season as the result of an injury he suffered a year earlier. The next man in was Morgan, a true freshman who defensive coordinator Brian VanGorderconcedes shouldn’t have been put in the role he was.
“He got put in there and was starting for us as a true freshman, and he wasn’t ready all the things he had to take on that were on his plate as our middle linebacker,” VanGorder said. “He never became discouraged and he just stayed at it. He might ask 100 questions a day, but it was important to him to get it right, and that’s who Nyles is and that’s what I enjoy most about him. His knowledge is way different at this point in time.”
The experience Morgan gained as a true freshman was difficult at times, especially given that the middle linebacker is the player in the Irish defense who communicates play-calls from the coaching staff to the other defenders. But the move will pay dividends in the long run, and now that Kelly has three middle linebackers with game experience he plans on flexing his muscles at a position where the Irish were thin in 2014.
“Joe Schmidt will be the starter there,” Kelly said. “Jarrett Grace will play, and Nyles will obviously get a chance to get in there as well. Look, they're all guys that have played for us. All have contributed. All have played meaningful minutes for us. We're going to need them all.
“We think we're really deep there. We think it's an advantage, and because of that they'll all get a chance to play and play meaningful minutes for us.”
