The pocket was breaking down, and Antonio Morrison saw EJ Manuel had nowhere to go.
Florida State led Florida 20-16 with 11:16 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the Seminoles were driving. The Gators needed a big play to not only avoid their third straight loss in the rivalry but to keep their national championship hopes alive.
Enter Morrison.
As Manuel bounced around the backfield looking for a hole, Lerentee McCray got his hands on the signal-caller, wrapping up the speedster’s knees. Half a second later, Morrison arrived on the scene and leveled Manuel.
The ball came out and squirted across the turf. Manuel lied motionless — unconscious — in a crumpled heap on Florida State’s 38-yard line. Defensive end Dominique Easley finally corralled the loose ball, sparking a 21-6 Florida run to end the game.
Morrison was the catalyst.
“I always do stuff like that,” he said.
Manuel was perhaps the hardest hit of Morrison’s 34 tackle victims in 2012. Morrison developed a reputation for big hits during his first season in Gainesville.
“He’s really a big hitter — that’s the thing about him. ‘Tone just likes hitting,” running back Matt Jones said. “He’s a physical linebacker, and he’s just a physical person. You’re going to feel ‘Tone when he hits you.”
When asked to describe Morrison, cornerback Jeremy Brown provided a list: “Mad man, hard hitter, crazy, mean, scary.”
Buck linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. added: “All he wants to do is clean somebody’s clock.”
Morrison earned his reputation through unbridled enthusiasm in practice, something coach Will Muschamp loves to see. But Morrison becomes overzealous at times.
He drew a scolding from Muschamp after delivering a jarring hit on tight end Kent Taylor in a practice drill on March 15. The Gators were not wearing pads that day.
“You want to be aggressive,” Muschamp said. “You want to play with great toughness, and it’s my job to make sure we judge the right way on what is too much and what is not enough. He’s certainly one that pushes the envelope.”
Morrison added: “Sometimes, [rage] can control your whole game and you’ll mess up and do the wrong thing, so you’ve got to make sure you balance it out.”
Morrison’s physicality is easier to deal with in Gainesville. Southeastern Conference athletes can take his hits better than his former teammates at Bolingbrook, Ill. High. Like Muschamp, Bolingbrook High coach John Ivlow used to step in and ask Morrison to ease up at practice.
“He plays the game the way it was meant to be played and supposed to be played,” Ivlow said. “Unfortunately, some guys haven’t got it like he does, and they’re neither as physical nor as tough as he is.”
Muschamp added: “It’s fun to coach a guy that has a lot of passion and energy. I like self-starters. I like guys that go out there and self-start, that self-motivate themselves, that you don’t have to create an edge for them every day. And he’s a young man that you don’t have to create an edge for.”
ν ν ν
When Anthony Morrison played football at Bolingbrook High, Antonio would always tag along. But Antonio, who was 7 years younger than his brother, wasn’t there to watch.
“He always wanted to come out and do the drills with us,” Anthony said. “He didn’t just come out and try to participate in the drills. He was actually trying to beat the guys I was working out with.”
Once Anthony’s playing days ended, he took up coaching. As the defensive coordinator of Bolingbrook High’s sophomore team, he had the opportunity to coach his brother — as a freshman. One year later, Antonio was suiting up with the varsity team.
Throughout his football career, Antonio has always been one step ahead.
“He actually played D-end for us on varsity as a sophomore,” Ivlow said. “I always knew he was a football player. There was never any doubt in anybody’s mind.”
Anthony always knew his brother was tough, but he gained new respect for Antonio through their player-coach relationship. During one game his freshman season, Antonio chased down a ball carrier 15 yards from behind and stripped the ball. Later in the same contest, Antonio made a diving interception to seal a Bolingbrook victory.
“Ever since he was young, he always just had that competitive edge,” Anthony said. “Me and my dad, we saw that he had that in him and just continued to try to push him along. We tried to make things as tough as possible. So that way, if he ever got put in a situation where things may become tough, he had already experienced some things like that.”
ν ν ν
When Morrison committed to Florida, he was proactive — he had to be.
Although Morrison, a four-star prospect, was a key member of the nation’s third-ranked recruiting class, five-star recruits Jonathan Bullard and Fowler overshadowed him. Eight members of UF’s 2012 class were ranked higher nationally than Morrison.
Eager to contribute from the get-go, Morrison graduated early from Bolingbrook High. He wanted to participate in the Gators’ spring practice.
“The fact that he graduated high school early and got down there that spring, that helped him tremendously,” Ivlow said.
Also, Morrison was undersized.
He has gained 9 pounds since committing to UF but Morrison still weighs the least among the Gators’ four starting linebackers at 229 pounds. But size has not limited Morrison.
“Antonio is a beast. He goes hard every down,” Fowler said. “A lot of people think he is undersized, but for his size, he plays like one of the biggest linebackers in our league.”
Coaches immediately took notice of the “Chicago ’backer.” Morrison recorded nine tackles, including one for a loss, in the 2012 spring game.
“The first day we put pads on, the first day he was allowed to hit someone, he made it very clear that he likes hitting people,” defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin said. “We like people who like hitting people on defense. He made that statement very clear early on.”
Morrison then built on a strong spring with a breakout performance in fall camp. Former UF defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was especially impressed.
“He really answers the bell when we challenge him,” Quinn said on Aug. 16.
The bell rang early in Florida’s 20-17 win against Texas A&M on Sept. 8 in College Station, Texas. During the Gators’ first defensive series, Will linebacker Jelani Jenkins suffered a fractured right thumb. One game and one series into his college career, Morrison was thrown into the fire.
He responded with six tackles as part of a defensive effort that limited the Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel and the Aggies offense to only 99 yards during the second half.
Quinn chalked up Morrison’s maturity in a crucial situation to the linebacker’s desire to prove himself.
“He really wanted to play in the SEC — what a challenge,” Quinn said on Sept. 12. “This guy’s a real competitor saying, ‘OK, I’m from Illinois. I want to go to the SEC. I’m going early. I’m going to Florida,’ and he really came in with this competitive linebacker mindset that you love. That’s one of the things I respect most about him. Early on in his career, it was not too big. It was not that, ‘I just want to fit in early.’ It was, ‘I want to come in, and I want to play, and I want to show that I belong.’ He’s certainly done that.”
ν ν ν
Another bell is ringing in 2013.
Morrison is a holdover on a Florida defense hit harder by graduation and early entries to the NFL draft than any player on the receiving end of one of his tackles.
Even Quinn is gone, replaced by the newly promoted Durkin.
The Gators needed a leader, and Muschamp deemed Morrison ready for the challenge.
Only a sophomore, Morrison is stepping in for departed team captain Jon Bostic at middle linebacker. Lining up in the heart of Florida’s defense, Morrison will be the hub for the Gators’ communication.
Muschamp said Morrison needs to work on making checks at the line of scrimmage and staying level-headed in his increased role. Both skills will develop with experience.
“He’s a very emotional young man, and that’s something that we’re trying to let him table a little bit,” Muschamp said. “Regardless of the results of the previous play or the circumstances or situations of the game, you’ve got to move and play the next play.”
Morrison will debut as the leader of Florida’s new-look defense in the Gators’ spring game on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
With a new coordinator, seven new starters and a new role, changes abound for Morrison and the UF defense. But one part of Morrison will never change.
“Every time I get in the game,” Morrison said, “I go hard.”
Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.
Linebacker Antonio Morrison (12) squats at the line of scrimmage during Florida’s 17-9 loss to Georgia on Oct. 27 at Everbank Field in Jacksonville.
