Corner, Nickel, Wherever, Morrison Just Wants To Play

CHAPEL HILL - After a breakout freshman campaign for North Carolina, expectations for Trey Morrison are understandably high entering the 2019 season.

The only difference for the Norcross, GA, native is he won’t exclusively be playing the same nickelback position where he excelled last year. Instead, he’s seeing more time at cornerback, one of the Tar Heels’ thinnest position groups.

Since fall camp began on Aug. 2, most of Morrison’s reps have come at cornerback, a position he played in high school. This move may come as a surprise to some when you consider how effective he was last season but, when you look at the lack of depth UNC has at corner, the move makes sense.

Patrice Rene, Greg Ross, Tre Shaw, Corey Bell Jr., K.J. Sails and C.J. Cotman all saw action at cornerback in 2018 but only three of those six players are still available with Bell's move to wide receiver, Sails’ transfer to South Florida and Cotman’s retirement due to medical issues. The Tar Heels have yet to hear back from the NCAA on the eligibility of Cam’Ron Kelly, who enrolled at Auburn in January before deciding to transfer in April.

And, while freshmen Storm Duck and Obi Egbuna could see action this fall, the cornerback group is lacking in real game experience. Morrison’s move should help with that and the sophomore isn’t sweating it. He’s happy to help the defense in any way he can.

“I have no preference really,” Morrison said. “I just love to play ball.”

Last year, Morrison amassed 46 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and four pass breakups. He was a standout performer on a unit that finished 12th in the ACC in total defense, giving up an average of 447.6 yards per game and 6.0 yards per play.

Despite his impressive freshman campaign, Morrison hasn’t played cornerback since high school and adjusting back to the position will come with its own set of challenges. Still, he isn’t the only player in the secondary that’s getting reps elsewhere. In fact, he’s one of many.

“Coach (Jay) Bateman, he’s moving me around everywhere,” Morrison said. “He just wants everyone to learn every little piece of the defense, it’s not just me specifically.”

Bateman is considered a defensive guru by many because his philosophy worked so well at Army, and it’s far more complicated than what John Papuchis ran at UNC last season. In his five years at West Point, Bateman helped turn around a Cadets’ defense that gave up an average of 400 yards per game over the two seasons before he arrived.

Whether or not instant success happens for Bateman in Chapel Hill remains to be seen but there’s no doubt he’ll rely on young, talented playmakers like Morrison to grasp his tricky defense and execute it on the field.

“Bateman’s defense is way more complex, so there’s a lot more checks and things going into each play and each formation the defense shows,” Morrison said. “It’s really different from last year because it was just one play, go out there and play.”

While Morrison’s move is a positive for the cornerback group, it does leave a hole that needs to be filled at the nickelback position. Redshirt freshman DeAndre Hollins appears to be the player getting the most reps with the ones so far but his lack of game time is a cause for concern.

Hollins played primarily on special teams last season, appearing in five games and tallying three tackles, all of which came in the 31-21 loss at Virginia. Filling Morrison's shoes is no easy task but Hollins' play through the first few days of fall camp is already generating praise from his teammate.

“He’s come along way, he’s doing really good out there," Morrison said. "He understands the position and everything. He’s making plays out there.”

There are many question marks surrounding this team as it prepares to enter a new era under Mack Brown, but Morrison's position change certainly helps fix the lack of real game experience at cornerback. It's impossible to know how much better the defense will be under Bateman but one thing is for sure: players are enjoying this new approach.

"It's a lot of fun playing in Bateman's defense," redshirt sophomore safety Myles Wolfolk said. "I'd say the most (fun) is the way we rotate and can disguise as a secondary so the safeties, we're doing a lot of disguising, a lot roaming around and we're just so multiple in this defense so it's very fun."

Morrison echoes Wolfolk’s sentiments and is relishing the versatility he has in the new system.

"I'm really little everywhere so I can be in the box, corner, nickel. So, I can be anywhere. It's just fun," he said.

If Morrison can produce at a new position like he did last year, the amount of fun he's already having playing under Bateman will only increase and the high expectations people have for him in 2019 will be warranted.