Morgan brings instant talent to Cougars
This is the sixth part of an 11-part series highlighting the top football players in the Newton County Appeal coverage area for the upcoming season. Local coaches nominated the players, while the Elite 11 preseason football team is selected solely by Newton County Appeal sports editor Robbie Robertson. The players are being revealed one at a time, in no particular order.
Newton County’s Lamar Morgan is getting adjusted to Mississippi football.
It won’t be long before Mississippi coaches start adjusting to him.
Morgan moved to Newton County in December, bringing with him a 6-foot-5, 245-pound frame. Morgan is also the latest addition to The Newton County Appeal’s Elite 11 squad.
Morgan moved to Newton County from the suburbs of Detroit and where he played at St. Clair Shores.
“It’s really different here,” Morgan said. “Sportswise, it’s a lot more competition and I have to step up my game. The biggest thing here is the competition. Everybody on the team here loves the game and wants to be out there. In Michigan, some people are just out there. Here, everybody plays hard and it’s a better football environment.”
While Morgan may not have gotten much attention in Michigan, that’s not the case in the football-crazy South. He already has offers from Jackson State and East Central, despite being a relative unknown. He has also received interest from Gulf Coast and Copiah-Lincoln.
“I think he has a lot of potential,” first-year coach Bobby Bass said. “Right now, he is really raw and under developed but he has a huge upside. he has made every workout this summer and he wants to get better. We have talked about him maybe going to a Division I school. I told him you have to do something to separate yourself and that’s going to be work ethic. I really expect for him to have a good year.”
Morgan said he primarily played defensive end in Michigan but he is expected to play tight end as well for the Cougars.
“Offensively, we will scheme some things to benefit him,” Bass said. “He allows us to do some things. We will utilize the tight end and he can cause some people problems because of his size.”
But on the next level, Bass sees Morgan playing with hands down.
“He might be an offensive lineman at the next level,” Bass said. “He could be an inside defensive tackle. So he is probably going to be playing with his hand down. It all depends on who gets them and what they want. He has long arms and couple be a heck of an offensive tackle. He could be an H-back or a tight end. You can’t teach 6-5. He’s just long.”
With a summer of 7-on-7 under his belt, Morgan said he is started to like offense.
“I’m really starting to fall in love with the tight end position,” Morgan said. “It’s fun. you get to run routes and catch touchdowns. But I will do whatever to help my team succeed. If I have to move to tackle to block someone, that’s what I will do.”
Because he has played on defense, Bass said you could see the difference.
“He is a smart football player,” Bass said. “He understands leverage and gets off of blocks. he has a good football knowledge and good knowledge of the game. He caught onto the scheme and formations pretty quick. We are uptempo on offense and you hear him calling out the formations and I was impressed with that. He is a lot further along that a lot of our kids.”
Bass said he can see Morgan growing right in front of his eyes.
“He’s up to 250 right now,” Bass said. “We make them come up there and feed them breakfast and lunch and give them protein. We are trying to do everything we can to try and help them nutritionally. And we are starting to see the difference in him. And that’s the thing. You put him in a college program, he’s going to get in a structured eating program and will bulk up even more. There’s not telling how big he could end up being.”
