FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis typically prefaces meetings with reporters by stating he doesn’t intend to talk about individual players on his defense.
Chavis, who has spent the last 29 years in the Southeastern Conference at Tennessee, LSU, Texas A&M and with the Razorbacks, will, however, be more than willing to speak generally on the various position groups that make up his side of the ball.
Following Arkansas’ first preseason scrimmage on Aug. 10, Chavis was asked for his thoughts regarding the team’s depth at linebacker, an often repeated yet fair question raised prior to most seasons in recent memory.
“Where we are at in camp right now I feel real good,” said Chavis, who also directs the Razorbacks’ linebackers. “We've got five or six guys I feel good about. I'm not going to single them out.”
He then added that the defensive staff, by design, opted to pull De’Jon Harris, the SEC’s reigning regular-season tackles leader, after an unspecified number of plays in the scrimmage. He wouldn’t divulge Harris’ snap count.
Moments later came a snippet of unexpected praise.
“We pulled him and didn't have any dropoff. Grant Morgan can play, there's no question about that,” Chavis said. “He proved that all spring long, so there was no dropoff there.”
Earning respect has long been a central theme for Arkansas entering the 2019 season, coach Chad Morris’ second with the Razorbacks. And the same can be said for Morgan, who initially walked on at Arkansas following a decorated career at Greenwood High School, a perennial football power in the state led by long-time coach Rick Jones.
Much like his older brother, Drew, Arkansas’ leading receiver in 2016, Morgan is driven by his doubters and those who say he can’t. His work ethic, he says, is that of an underdog, and he carries himself with a supreme confidence - also not unlike Drew.
“That’s the chip on my shoulder,” Morgan said at the Razorbacks’ annual media day. “There’s been many people many times tell me I won’t be a linebacker in the SEC, and look where I am now. There’s people saying I won’t do anything in the SEC, and it just goes on.
“I’m not a fan of that because you’ll never hear me tell a kid he’ll never be something in his life.”
After redshirting his first season on campus, Morgan finished top 10 on the team in total tackles (38) in 2017, ahead of key contributors such as TJ Smith and Bijhon Jackson, who started all 12 games, and McTelvin Agim. He also broke up a pair of passes and forced a fumble.
Then, the weekend before the Razorbacks opened the 2018 season against Eastern Illinois, Morgan was rewarded by Arkansas’ staff with a full scholarship based on his performance in preseason practices. Since that point, Morgan has been looked at to provide not only depth, but production and leadership at the second level of the defense as well as on special teams.
“For me to be productive I just feel like I’ve got to be able to help out in every single aspect of the game - special teams, defense, be able to lead on everything and be that guy they can rely on,” he said. “If we do that, if I do that, and bring people along with me - no matter who it is or what side of the ball it is - I think we can be successful and we can win some football games.
“A lot of players have stepped up, myself included. I want to run with that and lead in the right way.”
Morgan’s leadership traits can be traced back to his high school days.
At Greenwood, he totaled 317 tackles in his final three seasons, including 149 as a senior in 2015. The Bulldogs reeled off 12 consecutive wins that season before falling to rival Pine Bluff in the 6A state championship game. Well before that point, though, Morgan established himself as one of the most productive, hard-nosed defensive players not only in the River Valley, but in Arkansas regardless of classification.
He credits Jones, who has led the program to eight state titles since 2005, his now fiancé and his parents for much of his growth on and away from the field. Morgan still keeps in touch with Greenwood coaches and will shoot them a text every now and then.
“That’s the guy I looked up to a lot just because of the way he formed us into men,” he said of Jones. “He made us do a lot of stuff normal high school coaches don’t. He put us in rough situations that we weren’t really forced to be in, and I think that helped me out to get here and it will help me out for the rest of my life.
“I think it’s big for us knowing we have a guy like that who cared about us so much, especially when we’re younger.”
Morgan graduated in May in pre-med and is now in grad school. His fiancé, Sydnie Henson, a former softball player at Arkansas Tech, is working toward a master's degree in speech pathology at Arkansas, too, Morgan said. Their relationship began during his sophomore year at Greenwood and they became engaged last November.
The wedding is set for Jan. 4, 2020.
His parents, Matt Morgan and Annie Shaw, are his backbone. Matt currently serves as CEO of Addiction Campuses, a company that aims to empower those affected by addiction to create purpose, balance and opportunity for themselves, their family and their communities.
"They’ve been there no matter what, no matter what I did - good or bad," he said. "They’ve been that way with all of our kids. To have that and be able to rely on that through everything I do, it really helps you out going through life."
Morgan leaned on those closest to him throughout the program's disappointing 2018 season. He admitted remaining optimistic amid the noise was the most challenging part of his sophomore year.
"I think that’s going to be one of the things for me this year is staying positive," he added. "We’re going to face adversity at some point this year, so staying positive through the adversity, I think, is going to be big for us."