Another UM legend gets well-deserved promotion. Now, please put him in Ring of Honor
He came to the Miami Hurricanes in 1997, a recently transplanted South Florida kid intent on helping to resurrect a program that had been pummeled by NCAA penalties and a loss of 31 scholarships over three years.
Linebacker great Dan Morgan did that and so much more.
On Friday, Morgan, 39, was named director of player personnel for the Buffalo Bills. A nicer, harder working, more loyal and down-to-earth person would be hard to find.
Morgan was a joy to cover — and watch. In 2000, Morgan became the first player in college history to win the Butkus Award (top linebacker), Nagurski Award (defensive player of the year) and Bednarik Award (top defensive player) in the same season. Morgan never got the chance to win a UM ring, but he made it possible for those behind him to do it.
As I wrote last year, "Morgan was one of the most dominant defensive players I’ve ever covered, playing with astounding energy through never-ending injuries, and absolutely pulverizing the competition. Out of Coral Spring Taravella High, the 6-3, 230-pound Morgan had 139 tackles his junior season, despite a broken thumb for much of it, and set a Miami record for tackles in a career with 532. He was the 11th overall pick by the Carolina Panthers in the 2001 Draft and played for seven seasons."
I was at Dan's house in Coral Springs with his family during that draft. Another great memory out of so many. He moved to Coral Springs from Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania, in high school.
"I was in Carolina when we drafted Dan as a player and he would be a 'Bills blue' as our kind of guy,'' Bills general manager Brandon Beane said Friday in a written release. "As a player he was always prepared, worked hard, did everything. He worked his way up from the bottom [with the Seattle Seahawks, where he was a scouting intern in 2010 and then became director of pro scouting].
"That's not an easy transition to go from the field to a grunt in our business. It's humbling and he did it...''
Morgan spent the last seven seasons working with the Seahawks. During his pro career, he recorded a franchise-record 18 tackles in Super Bowl XXXVIII and was named an All-Pro in 2004.
Morgan, someone I recall as having impeccable character, is a member of the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame. He unquestionably deserves to be strongly considered for the Hurricanes' Ring of Honor when the Canes make their next selections.
This story was originally published May 4, 2018 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Another UM legend gets well-deserved promotion. Now, please put him in Ring of Honor."