TCU’s Week 1 starting QB isn’t leaving. How Chandler Morris handled “this” is impressive
Being the backup QB on a winning team is not always easy, especially when you began the season as the starter.
Now try being the guy who was the starting quarterback only to lose his job because of an injury, and your team goes to the college football playoff behind the backup who nearly wins the Heisman Trophy.
Forgive Chandler Morris if he asked a “What if ...” a few thousand times these past few months.
Would all of “this” still have happened for TCU had Chandler Morris not sprained his knee?
“I’ve played the ‘What if I didn’t pull that ball, and just handed it off like I was supposed to,’” Morris said, “But you can’t do that.”
Hard not to.
To start the season, Morris was TCU’s starting quarterback.
Near the end of the third quarter of TCU’s season-opening game in Colorado, Morris suffered a grade two sprain of his left MCL on a play where he could have kept the ball, or pitched it.
He kept it, for a three-yard loss. He stayed in for one more play, an 8-yard pass before the injury knocked him out.
Max Duggan came in.
History followed.
Chandler Morris is not transferring
On Thursday morning at a hotel ballroom in Scottsdale, the entire TCU team was available to the media in advance of the 2022 Fiesta Bowl.
Duggan had his own platform, with a giant picture of himself behind his podium. While Duggan talked to a throng of reporters, Morris sat at a table next to some of his offensive teammates.
As much credit as Duggan has justifiably earned for how he handled his time at TCU, and demotion, Morris deserves some, too.
The moment it became apparent he had lost the job to Duggan, Morris could have easily quit the team and made it known he was transferring. No one would have blamed him.
“I’m staying,” he said. “I’ve won the job once, and I want to compete for it again. That’s my mindset.”
He said he hasn’t looked into transferring, and doesn’t even know if he can. To become immediately eligible at another FBS school would require some more paperwork, but he can transfer.
Morris began his college career at the University of Oklahoma before he transferred to TCU after the 2020 season.
He is a junior academically, and said he plans to graduate next December. Athletically, he is a redshirt freshman, so he has three more years of eligibility.
TCU head coach Sonny Dykes has said he plans to find another QB in the transfer portal, which will impact both Morris and fellow backup quarterback Sam Jackson.
With Duggan planning on turning pro, Morris is in the lead to start in 2023 ... as of Dec. 29, 2022, 3:14 p.m. central time.
Max Duggan’s backup
Morris was originally known as the TCU quarterback who beat No. 12 Baylor in 2021. That was TCU’s first game after head coach Gary Patterson “resigned.”
Morris threw for 461 yards in the win, and that game was a big reason why Dykes opened up the quarterback position in the spring.
Morris is also known as the guy who lost his job because of an injury to a quarterback who would go on to win the Davey O’Brien award, and finished second in the Heisman balloting.
Morris grew up in a football house, and he knows things can happen. His father, Chad Morris, was the head coach at SMU and Arkansas.
Because of the injury, Morris was going to miss at least four games, and was not cleared to play until Oct. 15 when TCU hosted Oklahoma State.
By the time he was ready to play, TCU and Duggan were at a cruising altitude of 8 million feet.
“It’s part of the sport. You have to be ready if your name and number are called,” Morris said. “(My father said), ‘This is the time when there are going to be more on eyes on you than ever because they want to see how you are going to respond to this.’
“It’s opened my eyes. Just seeing guys get injured. I know how they’re feeling now, and I can help them out because I can relate to them.”
Morris did play one more game, in TCU’s regular-season finale, a 62-14 win against Iowa State. He completed 5 of 6 passes for 34 years and a touchdown.
Enjoying TCU’s magical season
It took a few weeks for Morris to get over the fact that the injury took away the starting spot he won, but he’s made peace with it.
“I am happy for Max. Look at all of the stuff he’s been through; he’s been through the ringer,” he said. “The stuff with his heart. He lost his starting job going into his senior year. That’s difficult.
“He’s a good dude so I am happy to see him succeed, and especially our team.”
He wants people to know he’s a competitor, and he will compete again.
What happened to him back in Week 1 was unlucky. It was also football.
“It’s been a lot of adversity, but it’s preparing me for who I want to become on and off the field,” he said. “I am learning things now that hopefully I don’t have to later again. Hopefully I can lean on this and it will all make it that much sweeter when it is my time.”
Would TCU be here in the Fiesta Bowl and the college football playoff had Morris remained the starting quarterback?
No simulator could accurately say, and Chandler Morris isn’t worrying about it.
He’s not going anywhere, and he plans to win the job again.
This story was originally published December 29, 2022 at 3:24 PM.
