Morrow OK With the Unexpected

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Unexpected.

This is the offense Jay Norvell wanted to run, but not the way he anticipated calling plays. This is the offense Avery Morrow wanted to play in, he just never expected to become a workhorse. That's not what the Air Raid is all about.

It's about throwing the ball and challenging defenses to cover the entirety of the field. By doing so, running lanes can open up with fewer people in the box and as a way to help slow down a pass rush. It's not like a running back can't get 100 yards rushing in the offense, and it's not impossible for one to get 20 carries in a game.

It happens. Just not like this. Not three weeks in a row. Never has Norvell called the offense where a running back in his system has had three consecutive games of 20-plus carries or produced 100 yards three successive weeks. The fact made him chuckle.

Morrow, too.

"Avery's had to carry the load for us. Again, he's a little bit beat up and sore Monday through Wednesday, but about Thursday, Friday, he's starting to feel a little bit better, and we've needed to lean on him offensively," Norvell said. "We have to keep doing that. No, we haven't had a back like Avery carry that big of a load, but I think the combination of Avery running so hard and getting a healthy Clay Millen will help."

This is where the Rams are. It's what they can do, and Morrow is the guy who has shouldered the load.

Unexpectedly.

"This is all new. I definitely expected to be a role player, but not as much as I'm playing and how big a part of the offense I am," he said. "It's everything I dreamed of, but I didn't think it would happen so fast.

"I feel like I've found a different part of me, a different Avery. I don't know. It took me back to my high school days of being a leader, of not making excuses and doing the right thing, staying true to what the coaches were telling me and play hard."

Offensively, the Rams have had growing pains installing the new offensive system. There have been protection issues and a constant shuffle on the offensive line. The quarterback room was the youngest in the nation – all freshmen – and three of them have started. And four centers have snapped to them. And five different tackles have tried to protect them.

The season started with experience at wideout, but now the Rams are consistently starting two freshmen there, as well as a freshman tight end.

Running the ball became the way to move the chains, as the offensive line in whatever combination was being played was creating lanes. Morrow is one of three running backs to start for the Rams, and when he began his current string, he was making just his second start.

To that point of the season, he had rushed 22 times for 69 yards. By the end of that Friday night at Nevada, he had rushed 24 times for 168 yards, breaking off a long of 23. The offense didn't score that game, with the passing attack producing less than 100 yards, but Morrow's work allowed the Rams to move the chains and flip the field among a flurry of penalties.

The next week, his workload increased to 27 carries, going for 116 yards. His 26-yard bruising run to the end zone was the team's first rushing score of the year, and he ran through and around a host of Aggies on his way to the goal line.

This past week, it was 26 carries for 147 yards and two touchdowns. He broke off a 67-yard run early, being brought down at the 1 – something Tory Horton reminded Morrow of during Tuesday's practice – but he produced another bruising run, a 10-yard carry, for the game's winning touchdown.

It's not just the yards Morrow is accumulating, it's how he's doing it.

"It's just how hard he's running. One of the things we always tell the player is it doesn't have to be perfect," Norvell said. "It's not a game of perfect as much as we try to make it perfect; there's a lot of imperfect games in football. You just have to do your best with what you have and he's not going down easy. He's learning what it's like to be a real back where you carry the ball a bunch of times and you get beat up and sore. This is what he's always wanted. I'm just really proud of him, how he's maturing and taking on more responsibility, and he's getting an opportunity to show what he can really do. The run game has really given us some stability offensively."

This isn't entirely new to Morrow. He was a workhorse in high school at Garfield in Seattle, so he's not a stranger to 100-yard efforts with 20-plus carries a game. It's just been awhile. He spent two years getting minimal carries at Nevada behind backs Toa Taua and Davonte Lee, and when he first arrived in Fort Collins, he was down the pecking order again.

It's taken awhile to get back to a point where he could be relied upon once again. And he's loving it. Not just the what, but the how.

"Not much has changed from high school. People still don't want to tackle me," Morrow said. "People still try to arm tackle me and it just doesn't work. I feel like my aggression as a player has improved, so it makes it even harder to tackle me. I feel like I'm getting better with hugging blocks on the gap, making it harder for safeties to just crash down and take my legs down; you're going to fully have to wrap me up."

In conference games only, Morrow leads the Mountain West in rushing with 431, averaging 143.7 per game and 5.6 yards a carry. Much of that total has come after he's initially been hit, and it has an impact on those around him.

There have been times of frustration in his career, he admits. But there's always been a perseverance to him, instilled by his parents. Given this chance, he wasn't going to miss it and those who face him defensively every day have been among his biggest supporters.

All along, they've been telling him he's a leader, and someone who has to in his own way.

"It's more by my actions, and I feel when they see me run through a tackle or break a couple of tackles and get a first down, they're like, he's busting his butt for us, and we need to go do the same thing," Morrow said. "There's not too much that needs to be said between me and the defense. I'm close to a lot of them and joke around with them. Me and (Dequan Jackson) DJack, after the Nevada game, he was like, hey, that was a great game, we need that again. I told him it's only up from here.

"He and I have been locked in ever sense. Me and Chigozie Anusiem have been locked in since spring, and he was telling me since spring I'd be the best back in the conference, so when you get your shot, take it. I'm just glad I'm making it a reality."

In of all places, an Air Raid offense. But as Millen continues to develop now that's back healthy, and as the young wideouts continue to learn their way more and more – credit to Norvell – he's going to keep going to the plays on the sheet which work.

Millen, brought to throw the ball all of the field, is a big advocate of the work Morrow has been doing.

"We've always known Avery is a great player and he's had a little bit extra lately," he said. "He's always been a great back, but he's really running really hard, and I think we're all really excited about him. Whenever he gets hit on the first contact, it's not going to be the guy tackling him, it's going to be the second or third guy, so that's just great to have as a running back."

Which is why this past Sunday morning, Morrow wasn't just popping out of bed. His coach is right. Most weeks, he starts to feel ready to go when it's time to get going. This week, it was a bit different. There was pain, but it was more of a badge of honor. Monday, he really felt ready to go at it once again.

"Maybe I'm getting used to it at this point," he said with a grin. "Winning, I think that's another thing. When we win, me coming in here, it makes me feel better. It makes me feel better coming to work. I feel so good. That feeling out there, that's an amazing feeling. To feel like you won the game, you put the team on your back and you got the whole stadium screaming … I can't explain how blessed I am. This is what I wanted, and I'm just ready to take it week by week, day by day."

Unexpected, sure, but just add it to the list. There's been a lot to this season which has been for the Rams. In Morrow's performance, it's been in a good way.

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Chigozie Anusiem

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