NEW ORLEANS — As University of Washington football players filed into the Superdome for Sugar Bowl media day on Saturday, they were fairly relaxed if not a little giddy at the prospect of spending the next hour telling their stories to people with news organizations from all over the country.
At the same time, there was a solemn side to these College Football Playoff proceedings — they more or less marked the end of the Dylan Morris era with the Huskies.
While the former starting quarterback now in the transfer portal has pledged to stay with the UW throughout its CFP run, Morris was asked if there was any chance he could play in Montlake in 2024 and he didn't try to sugarcoat his response.
"I don't want to say no, but with conversations I've had with the coaching staff and all that, it's pretty clear I'll be somewhere else next year," Morris said.
What's happened is the fifth-year junior — the Husky starter in 2020 and 2021 — received an honest assessment about his chances of becoming the No. 1 quarterback again and they were little to none.
The Huskies are newly committed to Mississippi State transfer Will Rogers as next season's starter, plus it's time to give overly promising redshirt freshman Austin Mack a bigger role, with incoming freshman Dermaricus Davis not far behind him.
In discussions with Husky offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, Morris was encouraged to find a place where he can become the starter for 2024. It wasn't going to be Washington.
"It was there might be a better thing for you to leave and go find something new and fresh, and start over a lot of things," Morris said.
Earlier this month, Grubb convinced Morris to visit Marshall, a Sun Belt team badly in need of a veteran quarterback, Once the CFP is over for the Huskies, the Puyallup, Washington, product likely will take other campus tours.
Morris started 15 consecutive games for the Huskies, which were highlighted by game-winning touchdown passes in the closing seconds against Utah in 2020 and against Stanford in 2021.
To his detriment, the 6-foot, 197-pounder was the UW's shortest starting QB in nearly four decades, since Tim Cowan, at the same height, threw a last-second touchdown pass to beat Maryland and NFL-bound QB Boomer Esiason 21-20 in the 1982 Hula Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Morris' lack of height no doubt contributed to him leading the Pac-12 in interceptions with 12 in 2021 and finishing 7-8 as the Husky starter.
Appearing in 26 games overall, Morris, unless he's summoned to play against Texas on Monday night or in the national title game should the UW get there, will finish with 305 completions in 503 attempts for 3,721 yards and 20 touchdowns, with 17 interceptions.
With his pending departure, Morris becomes the second highly rated quarterback to leave since Kalen DeBoer took over as coach 24 months ago, joining Sam Huard, who transferred to Cal Poly last winter.
"This is the hardest decision I've had to make in my life so far because I love this place so much," Morris said. "I wanted to play here my whole life. I've done that and I wanted to get back to that same stage of playing here my last year."
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