‘He’s just got a presence’: Why Dylan Morris won Washington’s starting quarterback job
Eric Kurle had seen this before.
As he watched Dylan Morris take the field as Washington’s new quarterback on Saturday, the Graham-Kapowsin High School coach found himself thinking about the last time Morris competed for a starting job.
Morris was a freshman in high school then, battling against two upperclassmen. It wasn’t much different than the competition at UW where Morris, a redshirt freshman, beat out redshirt sophomore Jacob Sirmon and graduate transfer Kevin Thomson. Like UW head coach Jimmy Lake, Kurle could see Morris’ potential. The players on his roster could see it, too.
“He just wins guys over,” said Kurle, who’s known Morris since he played youth football in third grade. “Older guys who were best friends with those other guys who were quarterbacks knew he was the starter. He’s the guy that should be leading us. He’s a guy that you trust on the field. He’s going to make the right decision. He’s not about himself. He’s about the team.”
Kurle made the right call. Morris started all four seasons at Graham-Kapowsin, throwing for 9,815 yards — seventh in state history — and 99 touchdowns. He went 40-7 in his high school career, led the Eagles to the state playoffs four times and was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2018.
And once he arrived at UW, it didn’t take long for Morris to start earning praise. Last year, as former head coach Chris Petersen announced Jacob Eason as the starting quarterback, he took the time to compliment Morris — “To be a freshman and go out there and operate, most freshman can’t do the reps that he got. So it was awesome.”
After serving as the scout team quarterback last season, Morris entered camp in a four-player battle with Sirmon, Thomson and true freshman Ethan Garbers. Lake said he was confident in all his options — and it took until the final scrimmage of fall camp to make a call — but what set Morris apart was simple.
He just doesn’t make mistakes.
“You saw that tonight,” Lake said after Morris’ first start, a 27-21 win over Oregon State. “Didn’t make a lot of mistakes. Didn’t turn the ball over. Got us in and out of plays. The ball handling was good in the run game. Completed some passes when we needed to. We moved the chains. It was awesome to watch.”
‘He’s going to lead’
Morris’ debut for Graham-Kapowsin didn’t go quite as smoothly.
He was 14-years-old, playing against 18-year-old seniors, and his first pass attempt was intercepted. On the sideline, Kurle was nervous. He didn’t know how his young quarterback would respond. But Morris didn’t flinch. He didn’t get upset. He hardly reacted at all.
“That’s what people are going to find out,” Kurle said. “It’s not going to affect him. He’s confident in himself, but he’s not a guy who is going to tell people how great he is. He’s confident in his ability. He’s going to lead. He’s going to do what’s needed for the team. There’s guys that have the ‘it.’ He has that ‘it.’”
Senior running back Sean McGrew could tell Morris was nervous at the beginning of the opener against Oregon State. But as the game went on, Morris found his rhythm. When UW was clinging to a three-point lead on a rain-soaked field on Saturday night, he was unflappable.
As the Huskies drove late in the fourth quarter, looking to add to their lead, Morris completed successful quarterback sneaks on third and fourth down. Then, on third-and-18 from the Beavers’ 24-yard line, Morris took the snap and stepped back. A hole opened up in the defense and he burst through it, picking up 14 yards. After a targeting penalty, UW had a first down at Oregon State’s 5-yard line and eventually kicked a field goal.
“He honestly took a pretty hard hit and he popped up right away,” McGrew said. “That was awesome. He’s a tough kid. That was great to see him get up after that and be fine and healthy. He for sure earned some points with the team after that.”
Kurle isn’t used to seeing Morris run. He hardly ever got the chance in high school, mostly because Graham-Kapowsin couldn’t afford for him to get hurt. But Kurle said Morris has worked to get faster and stronger in his lower body, and it paid off against the Beavers.
“He has great feet in the pocket,” Kurle said. “I think that’s one of his strengths — he’s always had good feet in the pocket. But taking off and making a play, that was exciting to see that. Hopefully he just keeps responding in a positive manner to all these situations.”
Sophomore cornerback Trent McDuffie is used to facing off against Morris in practice, so he knows what to expect. But even he was impressed by Morris’ poise in the final minutes.
“I think his composure out there on the field was definitely the key thing that I saw,” McDuffie said. “It was his first game out there. He probably had some game-day jitters. I know I did when I played (as a freshman). Seeing his composure and just his ability to operate the offense was really surprising to me. I thought he did really well.”
‘Dylan did all those things’
Morris’ numbers against Oregon State weren’t nearly as eye-popping as his high school statistics. The Huskies leaned heavily on their running game, and the play-calling for Morris was conservative at best. He completed 14-of-24 passes for 141 yards. He also ran for a touchdown.
Perhaps the biggest stats had zeroes in front of them: No interceptions, no fumbles, no sacks. No missteps. No mistakes. Some of that, said tight end Jack Westover, stems from his preparation. It’s rare for Westover to come to the stadium and not find Morris already there, already working.
“Dylan is high energy, high motor,” said senior running back Kamari Pleasant. “Very smart and savvy.”
With UW’s strong running game, Morris doesn’t have to put up big passing stats for the Huskies to be successful. But that doesn’t mean he won’t. While Lake said the coaches saw an opportunity for the ground game to excel against Oregon State, that could change against another opponent. Lake expressed full confidence in the passing game, and Kurle said he has no doubt those performances will come. Graham-Kapowsin ran a similar offense to the Huskies, so he knows Morris feels comfortable.
Kurle texts with Morris often, and he reached out ahead of the opener to tell him good luck and remind him not to overthink. He shouldn’t have been worried. Morris, he said, wants to compete. He wants people to trust him — and he hardly ever disappoints.
“He’s just got a presence,” Kurle said. “He’s even-keel. He’s not a screamer, but he’ll go talk to the guys and make sure they understand. He’ll pull him off to the side, talk to them, make sure they understand if they’re doing something wrong. He’s just one of those guys that has a personality that can relate to all different types of people from every player on the team to the manager to just a kid in the hallway. He just has that.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
