Former Graham-Kapowsin star gearing up for fourth season with UW Huskies
Dylan Morris has returned to his familiar jersey No. 5.
Four years ago, when Morris was a true freshman at Washington, fifth-year senior wide receiver Andre Baccellia completed his career wearing the number.
Each of the past two seasons, it belonged to tailback Sean McGrew on offense, who led the Huskies’ rushing attack his sixth and final year with the program last fall.
This spring, Morris — No. 16 as a true freshman, then No. 9 the past two seasons as UW’s starting quarterback — is back to No. 5.
“As soon as it opened up, I wanted to get five, because that’s what I’ve worn since I started playing sports,” Morris said Wednesday morning, after the Huskies wrapped up their 10th practice of the spring.
Morris remembers wearing No. 5 back when he played youth baseball. He was No. 5 during his storied football career at Graham-Kapowsin High School, too.
He started as a freshman for the Class 4A power, paced the program to a 40-7 record during his four seasons and took the Eagles to the state playoffs four times, including three trips to the quarterfinals.
Morris committed to the Huskies before his junior season at Graham-Kapowsin, and by the end of his senior season, was considered the top recruit in the state in the 2019 class, after throwing for 9,815 yards and 99 touchdowns in his career.
He left high school ranked seventh in state history in career passing yards — jumping his eventual Huskies teammate Jacob Eason, the former Lake Stevens star, on the final throw of his career.
(Morris now ranks eighth and Eason ninth after Huskies redshirt freshman Sam Huard broke the state’s career passing record his senior season at Kennedy Catholic in early 2021.)
Morris was a Northwest Nuggets and Western 100 selection by The News Tribune in 2019. He earned all-state honors during his career with the Eagles, and was a two-time TNT All-Area pick. He earned 4A SPSL co-offensive player of the year honors as a senior, was the league’s offensive player of the year as a junior and a first-team pick as a sophomore.
Morris wore jersey No. 5 throughout, and now will again with the Huskies, as the program begins a fresh season with a new coaching staff.
In his fourth season on campus, Morris is playing in his third offensive system with new coach Kalen DeBoer and his staff arriving this winter, after redshirting during Chris Petersen’s final season at UW in 2019, then playing the past two seasons as the Huskies’ starter when Jimmy Lake was the program’s coach.
Morris debuted during the shortened 2020 season against Oregon State, starting each of the Huskies’ four games at quarterback on his way to an All-Pac-12 honorable mention nod.
He started the first 11 games for UW in 2021 — Huard made his first college start in the Apple Cup in the Huskies’ season finale — and completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 2,458 yards and 14 touchdowns.
The Huskies entered the season ranked No. 20, and were expected to be a contender in the Pac-12 North, but eventually finished with a 4-8 record and reset with a new coaching staff this winter.
Through the season, Morris focused on continuing to progress.
“You’ve just got to have a positive mindset,” he said. “I came into each week just having a positive mindset, wanting to improve on something and try to do something different from the previous week.”
He noted the Huskies remained unified as a team during the tough stretches, too.
“We all had each other’s back the whole season,” he said. “And we’re all fighting for each other, and taking those lessons into the offseason, we all just kind of really doubled down on that unity piece of our team.”
Morris enters the spring competing with Indiana transfer Michael Penix Jr. and Huard for starting reps this fall, with the Huskies still to name their quarterback.
“They’re all in their own right coming around, getting the best versions of themselves out,” Huskies offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said Wednesday.
Morris noted his excitement working in the Huskies’ new offense. Once a teammate of Jake Haener, he has followed along with the former UW quarterback’s impressive seasons at Fresno State, and seen the numbers DeBoer’s offenses can produce.
“After the season finding that staff’s coming here it’s like, ‘Man, alright, it’s going to be pretty special,’ ” Morris said. “Then watching the tape and just seeing how guys are running open and how the scheme is, it was pretty fun to watch, and definitely been exciting to run it on the field and get to know it even better.”
The Huskies’ three potential starters have been splitting reps with the No. 1 offense so far in spring practices.
“We’ve all been doing pretty good protecting the football and getting a lot of completions, and we’re all moving the ball really well,” Morris said.
As the three continue to get more familiar with the offense, they’ve also helped each other continue to progress.
“I think that’s just been really great for all of us, just for one, getting those mental reps and learning, but then also having the comfortability to talk amongst one another,” Morris said. “ … It’s just a really great relationship in the room.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
