A breakout sophomore season solidified linebacker Ty Morris as the 2024 Rice Football Rising Star.
There might not be an official statistic for it, but Ty Morris led the Rice football in “Woah” plays on defense. The kind of plays that force onlookers to straighten up in their seats and take a closer look at the game. The kind of plays that spark questions like, “Who did it?” and “Was that Number Three?”
Yes, it probably was Number Three, Ty Morris. The Owls sophomore linebacker plays the game with what, at times, feels like a supernatural awareness of where the football is and the best path to move himself through bodies to meet it. If there was a big play to be made, it’s a good bet that Morris was the one to make it.
“You could see it coming last year. You knew that there was going to be some good things down the road for him,” Rice football interim head coach Pete Alamar said of Morris toward the tail end of this season. “I think active would be a great word to describe Ty, as far as seeing how he plays. He’s all over the place. He runs hard. He plays hard all the time. Those are good hallmarks for young linebackers.”
The sophomore linebacker developed a knack for making plays in the opposing backfield, leading the team in sacks and finishing second to defensive end Charlie Looes in tackles for loss. And when he wasn’t taking the ballcarrier down himself, he always found a way to get into the mix, leading the team in assisted tackles.
More: 2024 Rice Football Season Superlatives
Morris credits his leap in production with a good spring, having extra time to familiarize himself with the scheme and the playbook, enabling him to think less and do more.
“It gets me to play confident,” Morris said of that added level of understanding. “It gets me to play fast and physical. I feel like that’s the way I feel this year.”
That internal confidence is translating to external production. That’s part of what has made Morris’ rise through the defensive ranks so exciting. As a freshman he had made a few plays here and there, but he wasn’t quite read to be the sort of player that stayed on the field for 50 or 60 snaps and took care of the dirty work from down to down. Now he is. And that growth hasn’t come by happenstance.
“He works hard. He practices hard,” defensive coordinator Brian Smith said of Morris. “He’s really taken off and made a jump this year.”
Morris had at least one tackle in every game and was involved in at least one play that went for a loss of yardage in nine of the Owls’ 12 games this year. That next step from flashy moments to sustained success arrived and with it came an up-and-coming player who was prepared to seize the moment.
Want More Rice sports news? Subscribe on Patreon
If Morris has anything to say about it, that trajectory won’t stop now. As veterans on the defense graduate and others opt to move on with the wave of changes surrounding the program as it swaps head coaches and offensive schemes, Morris has an opportunity to position himself at the forefront of what this team will look like in 2025 and beyond.
“He’s somebody who should lead this defense for years to come. That should be his next step, being that guy that’s able to take over and be a leader on the field,” Alamar projected. “As he grows and gets older, his voice will become louder.”
Perhaps this rising star has only just began his ascent.
** Photo Credit: Maria Lysaker **
