LaSalle’s Morris Picks Brown
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
He is arguably the best high school football player in the state of Rhode Island and he has decided to play his college football in the Ocean State as well.
LaSalle Academy running back Josh Morris has been heavily recruited by college football programs at both the FBS and FCS levels and he has made his decision. Morris would like to be a Brown Bear.
Morris rushed for 1418 yards his senior season and scored 20 touchdowns. He led LaSalle to the division one state championship game in Rhode Island where his Rams were upset by defending state champion Bishop Hendricken.
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Some of the FBS schools like Boston Vollege, Maryland, Temple, BYU and Louisiana Tech that were looking at Morris projected him as a defensive back at that level. However, most of the FCS schools like Brown believe that the 5'-10", 185-pound senior can be a running back in the college game.
Other FCS schools that recruited Morris were Yale and Princeton out of the Ivy League. CAA schools UNH, Villanova and Fordham also expressed heavy interest.
Morris averaged 8.1 yards per carry as a senior. In two games against Portsmouth this season, one of which was in the playoffs, he ran for a total of 310 yards and 5 touchdowns. Morris also ran for 150 yards and 4 TD's against a very strong Cranston East team during the regular season.
"We've been lucky to have some great players and great running backs here at LaSalle," said Rams coach Geoff Marcone. "Josh is one of those elite guys I like to call a 'game changer'. Like Lorenzo Perry, Matt Hanson and guys like that, when Josh touched the ball, you felt like he could break it for a touchdown on any play."
Marcone also said that Morris is a terrific student which is why Ivy League programs like Brown were interested. "He's a great student," he said. "His SAT scores are outstanding which is why he has been getting recruited by Ivy schools like Brown. Ironically, Liam Coen (former LaSalle great) recruited him. Josh knew that he couldn't turn down a chance at an Ivy League education."
Morris will be playing for Brown coach Phil Estes whose team is a perrenial contender in the Ivy League. Estes has also had his share of star running backs come through the program over the years. Mike Malan, Nick Hartigan and, most recently, Spiro Theodhosi are just a few of the great runners that have donned the brown, sliver and red on College Hill.
The Bears are coming off a magnificent (7-3) season in 2012 which saw the team battle through a rash of injuries to key players. No position was more decimated by injury than the tailback position where, at one point, the Bears were down to their fifth string tailback.
With returning seniors Patrick Donnelly and Telef Lundevall, the Bears are expected to compete for and Ivy League title once again in 2013.
