BeaversEdge Top 25 for 2019: No. 11 David Morris
In the months of June and July, BeaversEdge.com will be counting down the top 25 Oregon State football players on the 2019 roster.
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No. 24 David Morris
Bio
6-foot-3, 210 pounds
Safety
Redshirt-Sophomore
Sherwood, Ore.
Sherwood HS
Career Quick Hits
- Enters 2019 with 13 games played, including seven starts
- Totals 76 tackles, including four for loss
- In addition, has two pass deflections and an interception
- Named to the 2017 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention squad
2018 stats
- Played in two games and utilized his redshirt
- Made one tackle versus Oregon and recovered an onside kick at Washington
2018 Recap
As far as the 2018 season goes, there wasn't a lot of action for Morris.
Thanks to suffering a stress-fracture in his left foot in fall camp prior to the start of the season, Morris found himself on the shelf before the season even started.
The blow proved crushing for a young Oregon State secondary that was already without the likes of Jay Irvine and Omar Hicks-Onu for the season. Anytime you lose three potential starters before the season starts, it's a crushing blow, but when you're a rebuilding team that's already short on talent and depth as is, it makes for a devastating scenario.
Despite missing 10 of the 12 games, it was very important and key for his future that he was able to make two appearances late in the season to showcase that it was only a matter of time before he was back on the field.
Morris made sure to bring the fireworks in his only two games of the season as he was an instant-impact playmaker on special teams, recovering an onside kick against Washington, and laying some hard hits against the Ducks.
He didn't participate in spring ball for precautionary reasons as the Beavers are wanting to be very careful, but all signs point to Morris returning to full-time duty come fall camp.
2019 Outlook
Following an injury-riddled 2018 calendar year, Morris is hoping that 2019 will be his year back on the field.
The 6-foot-3, 210 pounder is arguably one of the best defensive players on the team when he's on the field, and if Beavers are going to be better on defense this season, they'll need him on the field, and productive for all 12 contests.
Just look back at what he did as a true-freshman in 2017...
He put the world on notice in his third game of his college career when he tallied 17 tackles against Minnesota. Morris went on to play well beyond his years in what was a difficult transition year in 2017 to the tune of 75 tackles and being labeled as one of the foundational pieces for the future.
While he was only able to play in the final two games last year, he was able to work his way back onto the field all while securing a redshirt season and will enter this fall as a redshirt-sophomore.
Morris' potential is off the charts, and given that we haven't seen what he can do for a full season with a good defensive coordinator and good teammates around him, the 2019 season could be the best yet for the Sherwood product as one of the anchors of Tim Tibesar's defense.
Staying healthy will be the ultimate test, but if Morris is able to put his foot issues in the rearview, the Beavers will have another dynamic secondary player who can wreck havoc on opposing offenses.