Morris could be the right player in the right place

Running back Alfred Morris, the Redskins’ sixth-round pick out of Florida Atlantic, could be the right guy in the right place.

Morris said he was shocked when the phone rang during the draft and the Redskins’ head coach was on the other end. 

“‘He said, ‘This is Mike Shanahan, welcome to the Redskins,’” said Morris, who grew up a Redskins fan. “I was like, wow! It kind of floored me but I was excited, I told him thank you, thank you and ended up talking to [running backs] coach [Bobby] Turner.”

It wasn’t the first time that Morris had talked to Shanahan. He was a member of the South team at the Senior Bowl, the squad coached by the Redskins’ staff. Morris was a bit puzzled by Shanahan’s demeanor on the practice field. “He was just kind of quiet the whole time, he just walked around.”

Morris found out during last weekend’s rookie minicamp that he was seeing Shanahan’s normal practice-field manner. He is normally seen around the middle of the field observing the offense and the defense.

Morris believes that he is well prepared to play in Shanahan’s offense. His coach at FAU was Howard Schnellenberger and he was not one to get caught up in the trend towards the spread offense. 

“He was a big I-formation guy,” Morris said of Schnellenberger, who has been around so long he was the head coach of the Colts the year after they traded away Johnny Unitas. “I’ve been in the I formation, it helped me with my blocking skills, just running between the tackles . . . I definitely helped me transition over.”

Morris said that he is well aware of Shanahan’s history of taking running backs late in the draft and turning them into highly productive players. But he’s not thinking about that right now. 

“It just goes to show, he saw something in me that others didn’t,” he said. “He was taking a chance on me and I definitely didn’t want to disappoint him.”

 

Comments

[StudleyDudley13]

“I was like, wow! It kind of floored be but I was excited"

Should be changed to floored me.

[Ashley]

You gotta like any player that grew up a Skins fan!