A new starting quarterback has entered the fold at Maryland as MJ Morris is set to be the next signal caller for the Terrapins. The current sophomore appeared in 4 games for the North Carolina State Wolfpack where he threw for 719 yards and had 7 touchdowns as opposed to 5 interceptions. What was more impressive for the Carrollton, Georgia native was that the Wolfpack were 3-1 in his starts in 2023, including wins against Clemson and Miami (FL).
Morris announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal a few weeks ago and committed to Maryland last week. Morris offered to sit himself to preserve his eligibility for the Wolfpack this past season. NC State decided to go a different direction and informed him they would be looking in the portal for a quarterback. Morris then entered the portal himself and chose Maryland over LSU and others. Morris was a former top-25 quarterback recruit in the 2020 class that included Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik and Penn State quarterback Drew Allar among others, and fast forward to now, the transfer QB joins a Maryland quarterback room including Billy Edwards Jr. and Cam Edge. With as close to a true quarterback competition as we'll find in College Park through the first six years under head coach Mike Locksley, we dive into the film of Maryland's newest signal caller during his four appearances in 2023.
The first thing that jumped out about Morris was his pocket presence. He usually has a good sense of what is happening around him in terms of pressure and keeps his eyes downfield. Morris usually makes a good decision on whether to tuck it and run or to make a play downfield. In this first clip, Morris displays his good pocket mobility while keeping his eyes downfield. He makes a good choice and picks up the first down.
Again, in this next clip, he feels the pressure on his left side well and knows to duck out to the left. The footwork and mobility in the pocket are great in this play.
Morris is not afraid of pressure in his face when making throws. It is a great attribute to be able to stay in the pocket with your feet set and deliver the pass. Taulia Tagovailoa was infamously criticized for being afraid to get hit and it would often affect his throws. Morris, however, keeps his feet set and delivers great balls just moments before being hit.
Back to his mobility, Morris is not always going to run, but NC State dialed up some designed running plays for him despite veteran Brennan Armstrong initially being the primary running quarterback. This clip is a designed QB draw that had no business going for as many yards as it did.
Morris is showcasing his athletic ability which includes a few jukes and a stiff arm. This is a facet of quarterback play that Maryland has not really had recently. Edwards could run but in more of a power style and Tagovailoa could escape the pocket but did not have the capability of Morris. I am excited to see what Locksley can dial up for him in the run game.
Morris also has big-play ability with his arm. The thing I noticed was that Morris was excellent on the short to intermediate throws. He has this "zip" to the ball that is perfect for this style of throw. This first clip shows how he can find the open window in zone coverage.
This next play really shows off that “zip” I was talking about. Morris realizes he has a lot of time in the pocket, Morris goes through his progressions and sees a soft spot in the zone. He proceeds to throw a laser right into the soft spot for his receiver and the power displayed on throws like this is encouraging for a quarterback with three years remaining of eligibility.
Mike Locksley’s offense includes a lot of RPO slant plays that require good vision. NC State ran a similar style with RPO slant plays that were often open. Morris routinely showed that he could run the RPO. It was impressive to see the timing on these plays and it bodes well for him meshing into Maryland’s system.
In this clip, Morris is utilizing his mobility, vision, and throwing power. He buys time by rolling out of the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield. Instead of forcing something toward the sideline, he finds a receiver toward the middle with a great throw across his body.
While he shows plenty of promise in nine games over two seasons, the negative plays did surface. One trait that stuck out that hinders his game is that his zip on the ball can come back to hurt him sometimes. The power of his throws often causes him to throw balls too high or too far away for his receivers to get. This led to some turnovers as well, Morris is going to improve his accuracy in thigh spaces.
Every quarterback is going to throw interceptions and Morris is no different. This first interception it seems that Morris was just forcing a ball that didn’t need to be thrown. Morris had all day in the pocket in threw it into triple coverage. In the second clip, Morris does not read the defense and runs the screen pass as designed. If he had taken his time, he would have noticed there was no room to throw this pass. Fortunately, these interceptions came in his first two career starts, and these mistakes were limited as he got more snaps under his belt.
The final thing I want to mention is his lack of a deep ball. I praised his zip on intermediate throws, but I think the opposite is the case on deep throws. Morris tends to just loft it up there and I think there is too much hang time for it to be effective. In this clip, the ball is severely underthrown on a deep pass.
Morris tries to put too much air under his deep passes, and it can lead to high safeties having enough time to get over in zone coverage.
However, sometimes he completes deep passes to his receivers, but even on completions the mechanics are not the prettiest.
Overall, I think Morris is still a raw prospect but the upside was evident, showing flashes in limited playing time. He has incredible zip on his passes and his pocket presence may create more time for plays to develop. Add this to his mobility and he can turn out to be a great piece for Mike Locksley’s offense. His mechanics on deep throws will need to improve and hopefully, he can be coached out of poor decision-making. With three years of eligibility left, MJ Morris enters his tenure in College Park as a perfect fit in Mike Locksley's offense as Locksley and offensive coordinator Josh Gattis look to tap into his potential.Related Links
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