LU Football’s Brian Morgan

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In this weeks “Take 5″ Interview we caught up with Lamar assistant football coach Brian Morgan.  Morgan coaches running backs and is the Cardinals special teams coordinator who’s entering his second season on staff.  

BRI: What was the biggest surprise to you this past recruiting cycle?
Coach Morgan: I thought the talent we were able to sign at DB, and the size at OL are both very impressive. The DBs will be huge in the special teams area this year, but really bode well for Coach Beasley the next few years. Chasten, Zae, Tariq, Jojo, Davon, Jerbrell, and Rodney all can really play. Quite a few of them will get a shot a returning kicks as well. The size at OL is a huge upgrade to what is currently on our roster, and hopefully their time in the weight room over the next couple years will eventually give us an overpowering presence in the run game.

BRI: What is your favorite part of recruiting?
Coach Morgan: Just visiting with and maintaining the relationships with the high school coaches. You really get to know these guys in your area when you see them 3-4 times a year, and recruit the same area year after year. The coaches in Texas really do a great job teaching and coaching their players, which makes it easy for us recruiting when there are hundreds of FCS players in this state alone.

BRI: What is your recruiting area of responsibility?
Coach Morgan: I recruit East and South Houston. If you dissect Houston with HWY 59 on the north side at New Caney and 288 (Manvel towards Brazosport) on the south side, I’ve got everything from that point coming back down I10 towards Beaumont, with only Nederland, PA Memorial, and Hamshire Fannett locally.

BRI: How much has social media affected recruiting recently?
Coach Morgan: In many ways social media has made it easier for us as recruiters. There are minimal restrictions on contact through social media, so it allows us to monitor, talk to, and build relationships throughout the recruiting cycle. Although we are limited on what we can say/post publicly regarding recruiting, with a little research it doesn’t take long to figure out who we are recruiting, have offered, or who have verbally committed.

BRI: How is the 2016 cycle going so far?
Coach Morgan: So far the 2016 recruiting has been great. We have a bunch of really good targets, but so much changes between now and February. Although 2016 recruiting has started, the 2015 cycle continues up until fall camp. There is constant recruiting going on that doesn’t always get publicized, but I think the fans will be excited about the additions when August gets here.

BRI: What are you expecting out of the RBs as a group this season?
Coach Morgan: We have a bunch of depth at RB this year so the daily competition is great. Individually, everyone of them have something to improve on, and with three new additions (Derrion/Keegan/Luis), no one can relax. I truly have 8 guys that can all contribute. They have different skill sets that will help us in different offensive packages. With the graduation of Caleb and Mark especially, the RBs have to be the foundation for this offense.

BRI: What about individually?
Coach Morgan: I expect Kade to be Kade as always. The big deal is keeping Kade fresh. Since he is a smaller back, he does take a few more shots than some of the others. I’m really excited to see Derrion play. He is probably the most gifted back of the group. I hope that he adjusts to the college game quickly. Also, Luis Lopez brings a different level of physicality to the group, that we didn’t have last year.

BRI: It seemed that Juan Carranco started punting much more effectively when he got rid of the green shoes.  Was that in fact the problem or was it something to do with his technique?
Coach Morgan: Funny you should point out his shoe change, I never noticed. I could care less what shoes he wears, as long as he feels good kicking in them. Juan continually put a bunch of work in during the season, especially on Sundays, that allowed him to get better. I got a late start with Juan, since I didn’t get to LU until right before camp. Punting and kicking are much like a golf swing. You can only make minor changes, and then it takes a while for muscle memory to really take over and trust it. The minor change of raising his drop a few inches took a while to get used to along with the ability to directional punt, which I ask him to do on every punt.

BRI: What kind of injury was Alex Ball dealing with last season and what do you expect from him this year?
Coach Morgan: Alex had a minor groin pull that was nothing serious, but nagged him constantly. Multiple times last year he tried to go out and kick during pre-game after a couple weeks of rehab, but he would just re-aggravate it. Alex is the opposite of Juan where his reps have to really be limited to keep him fresh for the whole season. Alex had a solid and healthy spring, so I expect the Alex Ball of 2013 that I keep hearing about to show up in August.

BRI: What should fans look for in the Special Teams units in 2015?
Coach Morgan: I think if you go back and look, we constantly improved as the season went on. We struggled early similar to how a new offense/defense does when installing it. Getting here so close to the season meant we were teaching techniques that had never been taught here before. It took some time for those coverage and blocking techniques to become second nature at Southland conference speed. Also, as the season went on I was really able to learn the skill set and mental mindset of our players each week. Finding the right players and teaching them the correct techniques is something normally reserved for spring ball, and we were forced to use the first half of the season to find those guys. We had a great spring special teams wise, and can now focus the fall on finding the incoming freshmen that can help us. This offseason we’ve been able to add some new faces in the kicking and return game that the fans will be excited about.

BRI: Coach, thanks for your time.
Coach Morgan: Anytime.

 

 

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