In the waning minutes of NC State\u2019s 13-10 loss to Louisville at Carter-Finley Stadium on Friday night, the Wolfpack\u2019s student section began chanting for backup quarterback MJ Morris. The sophomore had yet to appear in a game this fall after he led the Wolfpack to a pair of wins as the team\u2019s primary quarterback a year ago.<\/p>\n
Less than 24 hours after the Cardinals left with the victory, Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren rewatched the game \u201ca bunch of times\u201d in his office. Shortly after, he sat down with the team\u2019s offensive assistants and watched it again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By Sunday, Doeren and the Wolfpack staff had a decision to make: stick with graduate quarterback Brennan Armstrong or make the change to Morris. They chose the latter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Doeren spoke with with Armstrong and Morris individually to let them know the change at quarterback was going to happen. The eleventh-year coach said both players handled themselves well in their respective conversations.<\/p>\n
But with Marshall visiting Carter-Finley Stadium this weekend, it\u2019s Morris\u2019 team. The move wasn\u2019t because it\u2019s a Group of Five team coming to Raleigh before the thick of ACC play begins. It\u2019s what the team needed, Doeren said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the right time to do this for the football team,\u201d Doeren said after making the announcement<\/a> Monday afternoon. \u201cIt had nothing to do with who we\u2019re playing. It\u2019s how we\u2019re playing, not who we\u2019re playing. This is the right time to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n Morris replaced Armstrong after the Virginia transfer was 94-of-160 passing for 971 yards with five touchdowns and six interceptions through the Wolfpack\u2019s first five games this fall. He posted a QBR of 41.0 and a 66.8 offensive grade, according to Pro Football Focus.<\/p>\n Doeren said the team\u2019s effort to find a spark on offense led to the change. He also noted that play under center is not the only thing that needs to improve with seven games left on the schedule.<\/p>\n \u201cBut let me make this clear, changing the quarterback, everyone has to be better,\u201d Doeren said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t throwing Brennan under the bus and pinning it on him, it\u2019s the opposite. It starts with me, and I own that. Everyone has to be what changes. The chemistry is about everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n NC State\u2019s offense failed to record more than one drive longer than 10 plays against Louisville; its lone 13-play journey ended in a touchdown. The Wolfpack went searching for answers, and Morris seems to be the first step in the solution.\u00a0<\/p>\n Morris, a Carrollton, Ga., native, was slated to redshirt this season after he appeared in five games during his true freshman campaign a year ago. Doeren was up front about not wanting to play Morris unless he had to, but his time as the team\u2019s reserve quarterback seemed to help him develop. <\/p>\n \u201cWe went with experience and wanted to give him a chance where he had an extended period of time to be healthy and develop as a player,\u201d Doeren said. \u201cI think it served him well, he looks really good right now. We\u2019re bailing on [the redshirt] a little earlier than expected, but he\u2019s got an entire offseason, all of training camp, and the whole month of September here under his belt. He feels good, and it\u2019s what the team needs.\u201d<\/p>\n The 6-foot-2, 205-pound signal-caller is not a stranger to starting for the Pack. He was NC State\u2019s No. 1 quarterback for three games last fall after Devin Leary went down with an injury against Virginia Tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Morris\u2019 three appearances of consistent snaps, he was 50-of-78 passing for 610 yards with 7 touchdowns and 1 interception. He led the Wolfpack to wins over Virginia Tech and No. 21 Wake Forest before NC State lost to Boston College.\u00a0Morris missed the rest of the year with an injury.<\/p>\n The signal-caller could have transferred after he wasn\u2019t named the starting quarterback in fall camp, but he focused on the bigger picture. He wanted to see his name in the Wolfpack\u2019s Ring of Honor. <\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, when I committed here, I said I want my name to be up on that stadium one day,\u201d Morris said during fall camp. \u201cSo that thought was never even in my mind in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n With Morris\u2019 first appearance of the season set for Saturday against the Thundering Herd, Doeren is confident his quarterback would be ready for the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got a very calming effect on game day,\u201d Doeren said of Morris. \u201cHe\u2019s not a guy where the lights are too big. He just jumped in as a freshman [and] went and played. Some guys, you\u2019d see them shrink in those scenarios, he doesn\u2019t. He\u2019s the same guy in games as he is in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n Morris brings a different set of skills to the Wolfpack\u2019s offense compared to Armstrong. He\u2019s a dynamic passer who can run, but he does not run as downhill as Armstrong can in the open field. Doeren said NC State offensive coordinator Robert Anae tailors the offense to whatever the strengths of the personnel are, and with Morris under center, the Pack will utilize the same approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the offense is sure to look different with Morris at quarterback, Doeren hoped that the rest of the unit handles the transition as well as the two signal-callers did.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s their responsibility as teammates: to support the guy that\u2019s in the position that he\u2019s in and go play as hard as you can,\u201d Doeren said. \u201cAs a former offensive player, I always took it personal when players tackled my running back or tackled my quarterback. \u2026 I would expect it to be no different in our locker room. The expectation and the standard is to go play as hard as you can for your teammates. And I know MJ will bring great energy to those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n That includes Armstrong, who will serve as NC State\u2019s primary backup while Morris is the starter. But Doeren did not have any hesitation as he said Armstrong will be a resource for the offense in its first year under Anae.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe knows the offense well,\u201d Doeren said of Armstrong. \u201cHe\u2019s been through a lot as a player. He\u2019ll be a great sounding board. He\u2019ll have energy for guys, he\u2019ll cheer guys on. He\u2019s going to be a great teammate down there. I guarantee that.\u201d<\/p>\n The change from Armstrong to Morris wasn\u2019t the expectation at the beginning of the season, but the Wolfpack offense needed something to change.\u00a0<\/p>\n Doeren hoped that, while NC State\u2019s offense goes through the adjustment, the Wolfpack fans will continue to support the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not what our plan was. Sometimes plans don\u2019t go the way you hoped, so you have to adjust,\u201d Doeren said. \u201cAs fans out there, I hope that they adjust as well. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing you can say. It\u2019s a long season, a lot of things can happen in the next seven weeks, and will happen in college football. So hang in there, be faithful, cheer hard, and get excited.\u201d<\/p>\n Morris\u2019 elevation to the starting quarterback spot comes with the Wolfpack on what could be a teetering point of the season at 3-2 with the bulk of ACC play on the horizon. And while he played well last season in his five appearances, Doeren said Morris\u2019 approach could be what NC State was looking for in the move.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMore than anything right now he\u2019s in a really good headspace,\u201d Doeren said. \u201cHe\u2019s excited. That\u2019s the spark that we need.\u201d<\/p>\n The post NC State\u2019s Dave Doeren explains why he elevated MJ Morris to starting quarterback<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the waning minutes of NC State\u2019s 13-10 loss to Louisville at Carter-Finley Stadium on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}