Courtney Morgan Was at His UW Recruiting Best in Pursuing Latest Signees

Kalen DeBoer credits his director of player personnel and staff for their work in landing the recent 26-player class.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Courtney Morgan used to open holes as an offensive guard for the Michigan Wolverines and he twice faced Rick Neuheisel-coached University of Washington football teams, beating them 31-29 in 2002 in Ann Arbor and losing 23-18 the year before at Husky Stadium.

These days, Morgan plugs holes in the UW roster for Kalen DeBoer in order to keep this team as successful as possible, using all sorts of creative approaches, whether they be technical or cultural in nature to secure the most promising talent.

Morgan answers to the title of director of player personnel, which, in fact, means he's a good old-fashioned recruiting coordinator.

Call him whatever you like, but Morgan and his staff get a lion's share of the credit for seeking out talent, building relationships and signing the Huskies' latest 26-player recruiting class.

"Just relentless, just nonstop," DeBoer said of Morgan's work environment. "There's a phone, usually a speaker phone, on one side; usually some iPad, that he's probably typing on, on another; and a computer screen has a HUDL film going. It's just who he is. He loves building relationships, loves researching, loves finding that diamond in the rough."

DeBoer previously worked with Morgan at Fresno State and was so impressed he made him one of his first UW hires, coaxing Morgan away from Michigan, where he headed up recruiting in 2021. At one point last December, it was just the head coach and his talent scout launching the Husky program before the rest of the staff was hired.

Hustling to catch up on Husky recruiting efforts after an unavoidable late start, Morgan signed a pair of twins from Detroit, in his old haunts, in defensive tackles Jayvon and Armon Parker, both carrying frames in the 6-foot-3, 312-pound range. 

Some fans were left scratching their heads over this pick-up because these brothers weren't heavily recruiting by Big Ten teams that surely knew about them but were unwilling to offer a pair of scholarships. Or maybe they didn't.

Either way, Jayvon Parker played almost immediately for the Huskies, usually with the game on the line rather than in mop-up duty. He appeared in seven games overall as a freshman, effectively burning his redshirt season, while his brother was injured and didn't practice or play.

"He just gets fired up when he finds these little nuggets that are different than just any other director of player personnel or head of recruiting would go about doing," DeBoer said of Morgan. "He just fits in our staff so well, with his personality."

Morgan grew up as a serious football competitor while playing for Westchester High School in Los Angeles, often going head to head in practice with teammate Larry Tripplett, a defensive tackle who later played at the UW and in the NFL. Their battles were noteworthy to all who witnessed them. 

"I'm a senior and he's a sophomore, and he's telling me, 'You ain't going to college, you're weak,' " Tripplett told the Seattle Times in 2002 about Morgan. "I wouldn't even go after the ball. We'd just go at it — fighting."

Now in his 40s, Morgan still has the ability to stay current to the latest trends and relate to the players he's pursuing.

"I think he's attune to today's athlete," DeBoer said. "We're all getting older, but I think he really stays attuned to what the culture is to what those guys pay attention to. He has so many recruiting ties, but he's truly about relationships."

For sure, Tripplett's never forgot him.

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