Most Important Hogs in 2021: No. 3 - LB Grant Morgan
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HawgBeat is counting down the 10 most important Arkansas players for the upcoming 2021 season. Links to previous players in the list will be included below.
3. Grant Morgan - LB
Outside of himself, his family and maybe his teammates, no one expected Grant Morgan to have a season quite like the one he had in 2020. Even his coaches were skeptical, as evidenced by them bringing in Levi Draper as a graduate transfer.
A former two-star recruit who came to Arkansas as a walk-on, the Greenwood native redshirted his first year on campus and then carved out a role for himself as a special teams contributor and backup linebacker over the next three years.
Although he typically graded out well in both aspects, Morgan didn’t play a ton on defense. In fact, from 2017-19, he played a total of just 490 defensive snaps - or about 163.3 per season. His average Pro Football Focus grade was a solid 69.1, but there were questions about whether or not he could sustain that as a full-time starter.
With De’Jon Harris graduating and moving on to the NFL, Morgan finally got a chance to answer those questions. Not only did he sustain that high level of play, but he actually exceeded it.
Morgan finished last season with 111 tackles which ranked second in the SEC and third nationally, and he would have led the entire country in that category - by a wide margin - had he not missed the Alabama game with an injury and the bowl game against TCU not been canceled.
Included in that total were 7.5 tackles for loss and two sacks, plus he notched five pass breakups, two quarterback hurries and a game-clinching pick-six against Ole Miss. PFF gave him a 73.4 grade for the season, which led all SEC linebackers and ranked ninth out of 58 FBS linebackers who played at least 600 snaps.
A good chunk of his production - including that interception - came when he was essentially playing with one arm. Perhaps Morgan’s impact was felt most when he wasn’t on the field, as the Razorbacks’ defense collapsed down the stretch against Missouri after he had to leave the game because of a knee injury.
His performance not only earned him first-team All-SEC accolades, but also landed him on a couple of All-America teams and made him a semifinalist for the Butkus Award.
Last year should have been his final season at Arkansas, but the eligibility relief granted by the NCAA in response to the pandemic gave him an opportunity to return to school for a sixth year.
If he can replicate that performance in 2021, Morgan will once again be the centerpiece of the Razorbacks’ defense and - along with Jalen Catalon - could be one of two All-America candidates on that side of the ball.
Another injury, though, has the potential to completely derail Arkansas. Depth at linebacker has long been an issue for the Razorbacks and there is a significant drop off behind Morgan.
| Year | Stats |
|---|---|
|
2017 |
12 G/0 GS, 38 tackles (22 solo), 3.5 TFL, 1 sack, 2 PBU, 2 QBH, 1 FF |
|
2018 |
12 G/0 GS, 24 tackles (8 solo), 2.5 TFL, 1 PBU, 2 QBH |
|
2019 |
12 G/0 GS, 39 tackles (9 solo), 3 TFL, 1 sack |
|
2020 |
9 G/9 GS, 111 tackles (40 solo), 7.5 TFL, 2 sacks, 5 PBU, 1 INT, 1 QBH |
|
TOTALS |
45 G/9 GS, 212 tackles (79 solo), 16.5 TFL, 4 sacks, 8 PBU, 1 INT, 5 QBH, 1 FF |
10 Most Important Hogs in 2021
10. Montaric Brown - CB
9. Ricky Stromberg - C
8. Trelon Smith - RB
7. Bumper Pool - LB
6. Dorian Gerald - DE
5. Myron Cunningham - LT
4. Jalen Catalon - S
3. Grant Morgan - LB
2. TBA
1. TBA