Morgan striving for record senior season
CHICAGO - Stanley Morgan Jr. sat at his Big Ten Media Days podium surrounded by cameras and voice recorders and fielded one question after another with a smile on his face.
Even though being in the center of the media spotlight is hardly in the senior wide receiver’s comfort zone, he certainly has a lot to smile about at the moment.
After a breakout junior season in 2017 where he caught 61 passes for a school-record 986 yards and 10 touchdowns, the New Orleans, La., native is now regarded not only one of the top returning wideouts in the conference, but also one of the best in the country.
A second-team All-Big Ten selection last year, Morgan has already been named to the 2018 preseason watch list for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the top receiver in college football. Most recently he was included as one of 10 players on the league’s preseason honors list on Monday.
While he might prefer to let his play do the talking for him, Morgan is well aware of the pressure that is to come with his rapid rise in profile.
“I’m grooming myself that way, but it all comes with the game,” Morgan said. “I like it. It’s motivation for me to work even harder.”
Scott Frost admitted he didn’t know much about Morgan until he took over at Nebraska, but that hasn’t slowed NU’s new head coach from immediately forming deep respect and appreciation for his newest receiver talent.
“I think Stanley’s best asset is his passion for the game,” Frost said. “I’ve coached a few guys like that, that when they take the field or even for practice, they’re smiling and happy. He’s in his happy place when he’s playing football. Football is hard, and when you don’t have that kind of passion, it’s hard to be great. Stanley’s got that passion.”
Given his national praise and the fact that he was selected as one of Nebraska’s three player representatives for Media Days, Morgan is quickly becoming one of, if not the player face of the program going into the 2018 season.
Frost said that role isn’t one the staff isn’t forcing upon 6-foot-1, 195-pounder, but rather one that Morgan has naturally gravitated towards with his actions on and off the field.
“We don’t try to highlight anybody as the face of the program,” Frost said. “That happens when they become great players and they’re good leaders and good teammates. Stanley’s been a great teammate and done everything we’ve asked him to do.
“He’s arguably our most talented player, so if we can get him the ball, he may become one of the faces of the program because of his play.”
Morgan currently ranks sixth in NU history with more than 1,700 career receiving yards, and with 946 more, he would pass Kenny Bell as the school’s all-time career leader.
Already considered by many as one of the top-10 receiver prospects in the 2019 NFL Draft pool, Morgan also has a chance to become Nebraska’s highest-picked receiver in more than three decades.
If he goes before the fifth round, which almost every mock draft prediction has him easily accomplishing, he would be the highest NU receiver taken since Irving Fryar went No. 1 overall in 1983.
Yet even with so many accolades on his resume and potentially awaiting him, Morgan said he’s a player fueled most by his failures.
As if last year’s 4-8 record wasn’t enough, Morgan is also driven by the 14 yards he didn’t record in 2017 - the 14 that kept him from becoming the Huskers’ first-ever 1,000-yard receiver.
“Those 14 yards mean I didn’t complete what I needed to complete,” Morgan said. “That’s why I’m back at school: I didn’t complete it. Fourteen yards, that’s crazy. It’s hard to think about. I need to complete that.”