The heart and soul of the Florida Gators

The play looked just like any other; a tackle he had watched his son make hundreds of times since he started playing football at the age of five. It only took a few seconds for Antonio Morrison Sr. to realize that this was different.

“Football is a gladiator’s game, so injuries are part of the game,” Morrison Sr. told Gator Country. “One of our rules that we told our boys when they decided to play football was that if you can get up, walk to the sideline. Let them look at you on the sideline.”

But Antonio wasn’t getting up. Microphones down on the field picked up his screaming in pain as Florida’s training staff rushed out to where he was on the artificial turf.

Morrison Sr. met his son down in the locker room. All season long the junior linebacker and his family had put off thoughts about the NFL. Morrison returned home to Illinois before the Gators’ bowl game and agreed that after the season he and his family would sit down after the season and determine what his future would be. “He didn’t want to take away from the team,” Morrison’s father said.

With his season obviously done, Morrison Sr. brought up the topic to his son in the locker room.

“I asked him, ‘Is this your last game in Orange and Blue?’ He said ‘I don’t know.’ And I told him, there’s your answer right there. Go get a shower, get your clothes on and get out there and support your team,” Morrison recalled the conversation between he and his son during the Birmingham Bowl.

To better understand Antonio Morrison you need to know that he came from: a good home with two parents who worked hard to provide for their sons. He was loved, taken care of and had his work ethic instilled in him early on. Morrison was mature at an early age; his father recalled that Antonio didn’t miss a day of school until his sophomore year of high school. He was on the honor roll at Bolingbrook High and he’s been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll each season he’s been at Florida.

Many fans were introduced to him as a freshman when Morrison’s jarring hit on Florida State quarterback E.J. Manuel dislodged the football and changed the tide of the game. Then, in a more interesting offseason than he, his family or Florida would have liked, Morrison found his name in the headlines for off the field issues. For the people that knew him it was out of character.

“He was always mature but I think that made him realize as much work as you put into it, it can all be taken away in a flash, in an instant,” said Morrison Sr. “After the second incident I think he realized how big Florida football was and the type of player he was. As bad as he wanted to be normal he’s not, because things are going to be blown up 100 times worse than what it is and the spotlight is on you.

“I think that just stepped him up from being a young male to a man,” Morrison Sr. said. “He’s a man now”

Two mishaps aside, his parents laid down a good foundation and he picked up on that growing up. He’s a self-starter, always has been, and he’s a tough kid physically and mentally. Starting with that conversation he had in the locker room with his father during Florida’s bowl game, Morrison knew what he was facing. The rehab would be tough, but he wasn’t worried about it.

“The rehab started that day, right there,” Morrison Sr. said. “He was mentally ready to put the work in to get back. You’ve got to envision it right now, you already know what the next step is.”

Morrison gradually worked his way back. He attended every meeting in the offseason, was in the weight room with his teammates and continued to lead them even as he had his own program to follow.

“Let’s not downplay what this injury was, okay,” Jim McElwain said during Florida’s media day. “He’s had two surgeries on the same knee off the same injury.”

McElwain wouldn’t put a timetable on when he expects Morrison back, “I’m not going to put a time limit on that,” he said. “What you will find out, I will never put a player out there. Life’s way too short.”

But Morrison is determined. He’s always been a leader, even if he didn’t choose to be. He led by example, his work ethic pushing those around him to match his intensity on the field. At practice, Morrison’s voice can be heard right next to Randy Shannon’s as the linebackers go through drills. As a senior, Morrison has turned from a leader by example to a vocal one.

He’s humble. Ask Antonio Morrison a question about Antonio Morrison and you may get two words out of him. Ask him about a teammate and you’re going to want to find a chair to get comfortable as Morrison gushes about the guys he shares a locker room with. Tell him that his teammates look up to him and his response is, “I don’t know about that. I just work hard. You have to ask them.”

“It’s always motivating because you see him working so hard and trying to get back healthy to be with us,” sophomore cornerback Quincy Wilson said. “That really shows a lot about him and shows he cares and really wants to be out there, so we all feed off that.”

Morrison is going through fall camp with a bulky brace on his left knee but you wouldn’t know he’s coming back from an injury the way he’s flying around the field. That’s a testament to how hard he worked to get back to this point; the words his father told him fueling the way.

There have been injuries, two off the field mishaps and a coaching change but the University of Florida has become home to Morrison.

“The University of Florida, if he had to do it 100 times over, that is the right school for him, top to bottom,” said Morrison Sr. “Even with the transition with Coach Mac, we loved Coach Muschamp, but Coach Mac came in and he bridged the gap.”

You may not see No. 3 line up at middle linebacker when the Florida Gators host New Mexico State on September 5, but you haven’t seen the last of Antonio Morrison. Florida’s leader has worked too hard to be denied the opportunity to run out of that tunnel and lead the Gators’ defense.

“Florida is getting ready to have a great season,” Morrison Sr. said. “They’re under the radar right now, but I’m telling you, The Swamp is getting ready to rock.”

Morrison is the heart and soul of the Florida defense. He’s the face and voice of one of the most feared defenses in the country and when he gets the nod from the training staff and runs out to the middle of the field for the first time in 2015, The Swamp will rock.