By TRICIA GARNER
tricia@du2.byu.edu
Rob Morris is just your average guy.
Sure, he plays tag with alligators in the Everglades, and mingles with big-horned sheep on Wyoming mountainsides, but really, who doesn't?
And all football players routinely turn down opportunities at the NFL Draft in order to hone their college game, right? The speculation surrounding Morris headed into the fall season as a potential Butkus Award candidate -- that's normal too, isn't it?
OK, maybe not, but ask Morris, and he swears he's just your average Joe.
'Rob Morris is a completely down-to-earth person,' he says. 'Sometimes people have the image of me that because I'm a good athlete and have been successful that I'm a stuck-up or arrogant person. I'm just a normal guy.'
All right, so Morris is your everyday BYU student. You can even buy the fact that he can't get a girlfriend to save his life because of the mysterious 'intimidation factor,' but on the field, Morris is anything but ordinary.
Morris' career began in the second grade, when he illegally performed a one-game stint on his older brother's football team.
'My dad was always our coach, and he snuck me onto my brother's fifth grade team,' Morris said. 'I played for one game and they found out I was only in the second grade and kicked me off, then I had to wait until fifth grade to play.'
Once Morris was on a team for good, however, he excelled, becoming a key offensive player who was heavily recruited after graduation from Nampa High School in Nampa, Idaho. Morris verbally committed to Stanford before changing his mind in favor of BYU on a last-minute recruiting trip.
'My mom made me come here,' Morris joked. 'Nah, just kidding. I came here on my trip and I liked it. It was really late, like my last trip. I went on my trip to Stanford and started cancelling all my other trips, but I called here to cancel and they talked me into coming. So I came, liked it and felt I should be here. Stanford was pretty upset, but it happens.'
Midway through his freshman season, Morris was switched from running back to his present position of middle linebacker.
'It was really weird, because I had to learn a new position,' he said. 'I feel like I would have been successful either way, but I think it worked out well.'
Morris left the team after his freshman season to serve an LDS mission in Toronto, Canada. Upon his return, Morris dove into the defense and quickly became a team leader. At the end of last season, Morris was faced with the decision of whether of not to forego his senior year and enter the upcoming 1999 NFL Draft. His roommate, offensive tackle John Tait, left. Morris decided to stay.
'I don't know why I stayed,' Morris said. 'Again, I just had a gut feeling. I didn't feel like I was ready to go yet. I thought I had more to accomplish here.'
Like what? Leading a team known for its offensive prowess to a top-ten national defensive ranking and being named the 1998 WAC Pacific Division Defensive Player of the Year in an undefeated home season wasn't enough?
'I'd like to win the conference championship. Really, that's my main goal,' Morris said. 'I mean, I have goals, but I'm not really focused on winning the Butkus Award or being player of the year. I'm just focused mostly on helping our defense be top ten in the nation.'
The idea of college athletes who leave school early to enter professional sports is a controversial one in the sports world. LDS athletes who serve missions are generally two or more years older than the average rookie, which factors an additional concern into the equation.
'It's hard to say. It's a risk either way. It would have been a risk to go and it's a risk to stay,' Morris said. 'Some of the people in the NFL say (age) is a big deal, some people say it's not a big deal.'
'No, it wasn't a big factor, really,' Morris added after a pause. 'I hope not. We'll find out next year.'
One thing is certain -- team defensive coordinator Ken Schmidt is happy Morris is sticking around an additional season.
'You can always get better. He's got some things he can work on in his game and improve on,' he said. 'But he's going to be a first round draft choice I would think next year. He probably could have been close to a first rounder this year, so I'm glad he stayed.'
Before heading to the world of million-dollar contracts and Super Bowl rings, however, Morris has a few things to take care of, beginning with maintaining the standard set by last year's Cougar defense.
'I think we could be better (than last year's defense),' Morris said. 'It's hard to say necessarily, but we've got the talent, and we have a lot of good attitude, so we should be better this year.'
Schmidt agreed this year's defense will be strong, and credits Morris as an integral part of its potential success.
'He's our guy,' he said. 'He's just the glue that holds everything together. With him in there, we're very good. If he was gone, we'd be just average.'
In the process, Morris will look to savor every remaining moment of his collegiate career.
'Every game is a highlight,' he said. 'There's not a lot I'd change. I've had a lot of fun.'