NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren, Defensive Coordinator Tony Gibson, and Offensive Coordinator Tim Beck all had positive things to say about True Freshman Wolfpack Quarterback MJ Morris this week.
Doeren
I think him doing a good job with the O-line and communicating he was ready to start his cadence. You could see him back there trying to undress the defense with his claps and fake claps and different things like that, his cadence and I thought that was another step offensively.
Throwing the ball on the run in this game. That’s the 1st time we’ve really done that with him. You saw him throw 2 deep out routes to Thayer [Thomas] on the run. Those are pretty big throws. So that showed you know a little bit more maturation right there by him. He’s doing a little bit more than we’d asked him to do before.
I thought finding the running back on a check down instead of just running and getting hit was something that he hasn’t shown he can do. He went to the last element of progression right there. And so those would be three things right there for you.
Yeah, I think you still got to be careful. I mean, it’s still a small sample. It’s a game-and-a-half and so we’re excited about what he’s doing, but at the same time, I think setting him up is important. I mean, what does he do best? Where’s he most confident and to be honest, it’s no different than when you have a 3-year starter, you still want to do what the guy feels most confident with.
His volume of offense has grown in the last week and a half. And I’m sure we’ll continue to with little nuances, because it’s still a game of reps. I mean, if we put in a new play, it might look like a good play on tape, but if he hasn’t repped it 20 times it’s not going to be comfortable. I think that’s just because there’s so many different looks you can get a quarterback every time you line up. So, you want to make sure every time you drop something in the bucket, it may seem like a single drop, but it fills up over time, you know?
Well, we talked about it in training camp. I mean, you knew that the things that MJ does well, he’s a good passer. He and Jack [Chambers] can run, you know? Jack has a lot of game experience, as you guys know. And so really, the conversation was is if Devin’s out for a quarter or 2 quarters, then Jack knows what to do. He can go and get us out of a game like you saw in the Florida State game.
But if we knew it was gonna be a long period of time that MJ may take the job, just because he’s a better passer. We thought that could be how it played out. And that’s what you saw happen in over time. Now it wasn’t anything that Jack couldn’t do you know or wasn’t doing, it’s just what MJ was doing a little better with throwing the ball and more accurate with it.
I think it’s more just how he carries himself, his poise, his humility, how he treats his teammates, how he talks to the media, like all the things that you can’t really practice that with guys, you know? Like, how are you going to respond after a comeback win? [Laughs] Like that’s not something that I can practice. You’ve got to see him do it. I’m actually very proud of him for that.
Thankful to his parents, because obviously, he’s the way he is because of their leadership and the home. I think that’s the biggest thing for anyone out there that’s having success is just to stay grounded and remember where you got to where you’re at and why and not get caught up in the hoopla, but it’s hard to do. And so I’ve been proud of him for that.
So I think there’s a little bit more than people understand, but the design piece [runs] is completely different than we had with Devin. There was a few goal-line runs we had a Devin and you guys saw those early in the year and they were successful for him as well. But the read part of what we do, RPOs, when you’re either handing it or throwing it, we still have that stuff.
But now we can also do, ‘Are you throwing a screen? Are you throwing a quick route? Are you reading an end or backer and keeping it?’ So just additional things that helped move the offense. And not too many of them, because obviously you want to take care of him, too. So I think that’s where we’ve got to be smart, is figuring out when we need them and when we don’t and how to protect him and for him how to protect himself, but also do what we need to do to win. I think there’s a balance there and we got to be smart with it and MJ’s got to be smart with it.
Anyone that has the mobile quarterback, NFL down I mean it’s different on defense defending that. You can’t drop 8 in coverage and be like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna cover them all, and he’s just gonna stand there.’ Like, no, he’s gonna run for 10 yards if you do that. We’re going to read your end and based on what he does, we’re going to have 1 less defender. So it’s 11-on-11 football in more ways than one. And just like we have to deal with that on defense here, you know, now they have to deal with that with our offense.
I do think that’s an advantage at times to have that mobility. And just as an offense in general, it’s not really installing a lot of new things. If we’re running counter to the tailback and then we run counter to the quarterback, it’s nothing different for anyone but 1 person. So the O-line doesn’t know he’s got the ball, right? So you can motion your tailback out, you can use them as a blocker or whatever and plus 1 in the running game or get them to minus one in the box. All those things. So, the volume of your offense, play calling sheet might increase, but from a knowledge standpoint for you guys, it doesn’t change and that’s the thing that’s nice as you look at how they’re defending you
Gibson
Yeah, I love the way MJ carries himself. He doesn’t seem to ever get rattled. Obviously we were going against him in Fall camp a bunch and get to go against him every day, at times. So I knew that kid obviously he’s got that ‘it’ factor about him. Again, he’s poised, doesn’t get rattled. The game’s not too big, it’s not too fast for him. I’m glad he’s on our team right now. He’s playing really well. I wish I got to watch him a little more. But you know, I don’t get to.
Beck
You know, I don’t know if it’s a sense of pride or what it is with MJ, but he knew his place. He knew Devin Leary’s our quarterback and that he came here to learn from him. And Jack [Chambers] came in and brought a lot of senior leadership and just stuff that he had been through maybe that even Devin hadn’t, because he’s been a senior.
MJ was just a sponge, soaking it up and sitting in the back. And now it’s his time. When I talked to him, I said ‘This has to be your team now. Like, you have to take over and you have to become more vocal. You have to be that guy.’ And so he has, and every single week you see that comfort level growing in him.
You see the players responding to him. He’s not just a guy that came into the game for a couple of plays, or a sub. He’s the quarterback now and I think everybody on our football team with Devin’s situation, they kind of feel that now.
Yeah, no doubt, like it’s one of the rare qualities of a quarterback, right? And it’s probably what’s allowed him to have the success that he has. As a coach, we constantly teach mental reps, game reps, right? There’s a difference between him. At practice, a guy takes a physical rep, it’s a game rep. The guy that does it has to take a mental rep.
And MJ’s on top of his game of that. I try to do a really good job of making sure that the backup quarterbacks are always engaged. They’re seeing the signals, they’re relaying the plays, they’re physically moving and watching where they throw the ball. So when their time comes, they’re ready for it. And MJ believed in that and really was very disciplined and stuck to that process.
When his time came, he had kind of been through that a bunch. We’re certainly proud of them, certainly is a rare quality to have. To be able to be that engaged, knowing you’re not playing because it can happen anytime like that. And you always tell him that, you’re just a couple plays away and you can be planned so make sure you’re ready.
He is a Freshman, let’s not forget that. Right? I mean, it’s still a growth process. And in my experience of dealing with Freshmen at some point in their Freshman season, whether it’s in Fall camp or early in the season or even late in the season, their brain turns to mush like oatmeal and they hit a wall. You just got to be careful not to overdo it, thinking, ‘We can do this. Look, he threw that pass, he certainly can throw this one.’ Then you start putting in more and more things.
Part of the success is the simplicity. He knows what to do, when to do it and how to do it. So now it’s a lot easier to do it. And so the greater you get in terms of trying to do all these things, and it was part of Jack it was part of MJ throwing them in there. They repped mental reps, right? But physically really getting all those reps they hadn’t and so we struggled a little bit. As they got more reps and got more comfortable with it, they started to say, ‘I know what to do how to do it, and I can do it better.’ And that’s how I see our growth and our offense going right now.
