Athlete of the Week: Carl Morris '03

Late in the first half of Saturday’s football game versus Dartmouth, things looked bleak for Harvard. The Big Green had just converted another Crimson turnover into a touchdown for a 21-0 lead.

On the last play of the half, Harvard quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick heaved up a Hail Mary from midfield. Even more impressive than the fact that the ball travelled 50 yards through the air was that junior wideout Carl Morris almost came down with a spectacular touchdown catch as time expired.

It would be a foreshadowing of things to come. Morris led the way as Harvard scored 31 unanswered points in the second half to complete the largest comeback in Crimson history.

The football squad, already reeling from the loss of senior quarterback Neil Rose and senior tailback Josh Staph, turned to Morris (as usual) to create most of its yards. Harvard started its third-quarter comeback when Morris, on a pitch from Fitzgerald, threw a 35-yard pass to a wide-open Sam Taylor, who scored the touchdown. Last week against Princeton, Morris also threw a deep pass to Taylor to spark a Crimson comeback.

On the next Harvard possession, Morris just kept catching passes. He snagged Fitzpatrick’s 32-yard fade to get Harvard’s second touchdown and bring the Crimson to within seven.

Morris also engineered Harvard’s tying touchdown. On the first play from scrimmage, he made perhaps the most spectacular catch of the year, leaping and contorting his body to haul in Fitzpatrick’s throw at the Dartmouth 5-yard line. The Crimson scored a few plays later to tie it and went on to win.

As the top member of a deep Harvard receiving corps, Morris is the focus of the Crimson offense no matter who the quarterback, formation or defense is. Regarded as one of the Ivy League’s top receivers, Morris finished Saturday’s contest with 11 catches for 153 yards.

More importantly, Morris is on pace to smash most of Harvard’s receiving records. With 48 catches in six games so far, he is on pace to break the single-season record of 60, which he set last season. And with 132 career receptions, Morris ought to break the record of 146 held by Terrence Patterson ’00 in the next week or two. By the end of his career, if not this season, he will also hold the records for total receiving yards and

touchdown catches.

In the more immediate future, Morris is busy saving the season.