Morris Takes Responsibility for 2021 Shortcomings, Ready to Compete Again

He knows he's not popular with some of the fan base after last season.

Kalen DeBoer and his University of Washington football staff said they were going to be as fair as possible in choosing the next Husky starting quarterback from among the three leading candidates.

Returning starter Dylan Morris, Indiana transfer Michael Penix Jr. and highly regarded redshirt freshman Sam Huard all will be given the same consideration, an equal number of first- and second-team snaps and the same situational obstacles in practice.

Taking this competition equity thing yet another step, DeBoer on Friday sent all three of his quarterbacks to the media session to be quizzed following the second spring practice.

A large group immediately gathered to the left around Penix, the newcomer from the Big Ten and someone who hadn't been interviewed before by the locals.

Yet another sizable gathering formed in the middle and pressed up against Huard, who hadn't been questioned by the local reporters as a UW player, even after starting last year's Apple Cup.

Morris, who had been interviewed many times before, dealt with much smaller clusters of inquisitors.

A year ago, Morris also was the returning starter and someone coming off a 3-1 pandemic-shortened season that was considered a positive showing.

Husky fans have never been overly kind to their No. 1 quarterbacks at times, booing Warren Moon to the point he nearly went home before becoming a Rose Bowl MVP; sending catcalls to Steve Pelluer when he struggled before becoming Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year; and heavily criticizing Jacob Eason for failing to provide a championship team.

This past season, Morris became a social media punching bag after the team dipped to 4-8 and he led the Pac-12 in interceptions with a dozen. Still, he probably received far too much blame for the UW shortcomings. No one was castigated personally more than him, at least until defensive tackle Taki Taimani transferred to rival Oregon.

"Obviously I know things didn't go as well as they should have last year and a lot of things I take responsibility for and I'm going to work on," he said. "In terms of outside noise, that's something I can't control. People are going to have their opinions of me and I can control that only by what I do on the field."

Morris welcomes the three-man competition. He helped Huard prepare as the starter for the Apple Cup last November that came at his expense. He's helped Penix get adjusted to the program. Penix has shared his insights on DeBoer's offense that they ran at Indiana together in 2019. So it's been tradeoff.

The 6-foot, 200-pound Morris is ready to compete for the job again that he's held for 15 games in his career and always dreamed of having as a kid.

"I love playing quarterback here," Morris said. "It's what I've wanted to do my whole life. I would never take anything for granted."

He's gone through a lot, almost a career's worth of experiences, good and bad, and he still has three seasons of eligibility left. He initially signed to play for Chris Petersen and is on his third coach now. He likes what he sees so far from the new guys.

"I love the spot we're in now with Coach DeBoer and the staff, and our culture as a team," Morris said. "We're really attacking this new system and all this stuff. I wouldn't change it for the world."

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