Don Shula and I continued to develop that same style over the years. "Our style has its genesis going all the way to back to Paul Brown of the original Cleveland Browns. "He was in a system that prepared him so very well for where he is now in the NFL," he says. Schnellenberger is quick to point out that losing didn't preclude Morris from learning. In his last three seasons with the Owls, the team was 5-7, 4-8 and 1-11. The only thing he didn't do, unfortunately, was win. He graduated as the all-time leader in rushing yards (3,529), rushing touchdowns (27), total touchdowns (31) and all-purpose yards (3,843). Morris broke every meaningful rushing record that FAU had. You can unsubscribe anytime.Įffective is one word.
It's a fundamental style, but it's effective." "He's a true competitor and a true athlete. "Alfred had three 1,000-yard rushing seasons in a row with us," Schnellenberger says. Maybe not this quickly, and maybe not to this extent, but when you talk to Schnellenberger and Morris' FAU running back coach, Dave Serna, you come away knowing that they believe in Alfred Morris. All of which is to mention that when NFL pundits and journalists casually say of Morris' success that nobody saw it coming, well, they're doing a disservice to a few guys who did. He was head coach at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Miami. Schnellenberger played under Bear Bryant at Kentucky and coached with him at Alabama. Though the program is young, it already has one legendary ex-head coach, Howard Schnellenberger, who is immortalized in statue form at the stadium's entrance and who led the recruitment of Morris. A brand new 30,000-seat football stadium anchors the campus, sitting neatly between the College of Medicine and an apartment complex. It's ten minutes from the ocean, an hour from Miami and you'd be forgiven for driving up or down I-95 and going by the Glades Boulevard exit without knowing there's a major university nestled just off the highway. Enter: Florida Atlantic University.įAU is in Boca Raton, Florida. But one school's two-star talent is another school's pot of gold. He was a tad slow, a touch small, three stars short of 's top five-star rating. No, Alfred Morris didn't go to the University of Miami or the University of Florida or Florida State or even South Florida. At the bare minimum, you'd at least have heard the name Alfred Morris before last week before he came out of nowhere to break the all-time Redskins' single-season rushing record with a 200-yard performance in a must-win game before he grabbed the headlines from his electrifying teammate, Robert Griffin III and before he finished having the best year by an NFL rookie running back in three decades. He and Tim Tebow would be buddies and he might have a national championship on his resume. Had he played 300 miles north, in Gainesville, punishing SEC defenses in The Swamp and Death Valley and Tuscaloosa, he'd be mentioned as the heir apparent to Emmitt Smith or Fred Taylor. Ray Lewis would be sending him inspirational texts as he heads to his first playoff game this Sunday. Mel Kiper would be calling him the next great Miami running back to go along with Ottis Anderson, Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis and Willis McGahee. at The U? By the time he turned the shower on after his last game in a Canes uniform he'd have an Under Armour contract. A workhorse running back capable of breaking the NFL's rookie rushing record.
Had he played college ball about 45 miles south of where I'm standing in Palm Beach County, you better believe you'd have heard of him before the 2012 NFL draft.
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