NC State’s MJ Morris rebounds from early turnovers, strings together career-best performance

NC State sophomore quarterback MJ Morris’ first start of the season couldn’t have started any worse than it did against Marshall on Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium. His first pass was intercepted and his seventh attempt was picked off and returned for a touchdown. 

But while Morris’ did not have the beginning of the game that he envisioned before taking the field, he bounced back. And he did it in a flawless fashion to lead the Wolfpack to a 48-41 win over the Thundering Herd. 

The Carrollton, Ga., native completed his next seven passes for 86 yards and a touchdown — a 39-yard strike to graduate tight end Trent Pennix. Morris’ body language didn’t sulk when he committed the costly mistakes, and he celebrated the positive plays. 

For the young signal-caller, he knew the two turnovers within the first 12 minutes of the game could not affect the rest of his afternoon. He said he leaned on what NC State coach Dave Doeren says to his quarterbacks, “put it in the past.”

“Those plays aren’t going to fix the rest of the game,” Morris said. “It was still early in the game. I knew I had to put those in the past and look forward. I couldn’t get down on myself because I knew the rest of the team would get down. They all look at me as a leader, they feed off my emotion. Just keeping my head up, moving onto the next play at a time. It’s a long football game.”

As Morris worked to put the mistakes behind him, his teammates were right there for him too, freshman wide receiver Kevin Concepcion said. 

“We were just saying in the huddle that we had to have his back,” Concepcion said. “And I felt like after that interception, things started going well for us.”

Morris’ bounce back continued through the rest of the game. He found Pennix for a 62-yard score in the third quarter, and used a push pass to Concepcion for an 8-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. 

The quarterback had a career-best 265 yards and four touchdowns on 17-of-32 passing with the three interceptions. 

Doeren praised Morris’ ability to put his negative plays behind him, which allowed the offense to play winning football against the Thundering Herd. 

“He’s a mentally tough young man,” Doeren said. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from him, and he’s going to respond — that’s who he is. When he gets in tough situations, he’s going to fight. He’s got a great personality that way, you saw that.”

Morris’ rust could have come from his inexperience this season. When he trotted onto the field in the first quarter, it was his first appearance in a true game in 329 days. His last time out onto the Carter-Finley playing surface ended in a 21-20 loss to Boston College on Nov. 12, 2022 — a game in which he was injured and missed the rest of the season. 

The right-handed gunslinger was eager to play, and he said it was an emotional contest. 

“The emotions were definitely high,” Morris said. “I haven’t played since Boston College last year, so it’s been a little minute. … It felt good being out there with my boys. I don’t think I was too nervous out there. I was really just trying to have some fun.”

Morris was plugged into the NC State lineup to provide a “spark” to the offense, which he did. The Wolfpack scored its most points against a FBS opponent since it beat East Carolina 58-3 on Dec. 1, 2018. 

Morris replaced graduate quarterback Brennan Armstrong as NC State’s starting signal-caller, and he thought the team responded well, which he was appreciative of. 

 “We all support each other,” Morris said.  “No matter who’s on the field, we all have each other’s back. That’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re on a team. It doesn’t matter who’s in there. You’re supposed to support your brothers like you want him to support you when you’re on the field. We’re all just rallying around each other, and I’m glad that they’re supporting me and have my back. It definitely gives me a lot of confidence going into these games.”

Morris’ career-best performance put a bow on the Wolfpack’s non-conference slate, and the next three games will be a gauntlet with a trip No. 19 Duke next week before Clemson and No. 17 Miami visit Raleigh.

The quarterback was excited with the win over Marshall, but he quickly turned his attention to the practice field this week. 

“We’re just going to keep getting better and better each week,” Morris said. “That 1% better each day. As long as we’re locked in, we’re focused, we’re coming out here with a mindset to try to be the best version of ourselves, we’re going to do all that we can as a team — the sky’s the limit for us.”