Morris, Husky QB Fans Love to Hate, Presses On

Just the mere mention of Dylan Morris brings out the insults and the worst in a large segment of University of Washington football fans. 

In their eyes, they'll never forgive this quarterback for the 2021 Husky meltdown. It was all his fault. Every last interception, fumble and loss, even though he stepped aside for Sam Huard in the Apple Cup. They blame him for that one, too.

Reference him in passing and the progress he's made under the watchful eye of UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and those people just don't want to hear it. They're like a pack of dogs that begins barking every time.

No way. Go away. Stay away.

No one among the 116 players on the Husky football roster draws this sort of negative reaction, this type of vitriol, the teeth bared, such as Morris. 

It doesn't matter one whit that Grubb, the $2 million offensive genius that everyone in college football wants to hire from Montlake and seems to have all the high-octane answers, sees possibilities and considerable improvement in Morris.

The anti-Dylan crowd doesn't believe it, isn't willing to accept Grubb's opinion on this, is determined to shame the kid from Puyallup no matter what happens.

It's become sport to ridicule a player recruited by Chris Petersen's staff and supposedly ruined by Jimmy Lake's crew.

With spring football a month and a half away, Morris remains one of the most fiercely loyal players to the program, someone who has hung in there even after fellow UW quarterbacks Jake Haener (Fresno State), Colson Yankoff (UCLA), Ethan Garbers (UCLA), Jacob Sirmon (Central Michigan, Northern Colorado) and Huard (Cal Poly) have all fled the scene because of an overriding desire for more playing time.

"Honestly, the last thing I want to do is leave this place," Morris said before the Alamo Bowl. "I love this place. I've wanted to play here my whole life."

The curious thing about this ongoing situation is the 6-foot, 197-pound Morris — the Huskies' shortest starting quarterback over the past four decades — remains one opposing cheap shot or debilitating late hit on current starter Michael Penix Jr. from having to run the team again in prime time.

There's no one else. There probably won't be anyone else better suited to run the offense once Penix plays out this coming season and departs for the NFL.

This questions persists: If Morris had to take over the huddle with a game on the line at Husky Stadium, would his devoted detractors welcome him with a chorus of invective?

Don't smirk at that. The fathers and grandfathers of these boo birds were so hard on Warren Moon nearly five decades ago this eventual Rose Bowl MVP and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback nearly packed his bags and went home to Los Angeles rather than deal with the ridiculous blowback any longer. 

A UW quarterback has never been treated more harshly by the hometown fans than Moon when he purposely threw a fourth-down pass out of bounds on the California goal line in 1976, thinking it was third down in a 7-0 setback during a losing season. The fan reaction was like thunder, loud and shuddering.

These Montlake QB critics got tired of Chris Chandler when he didn't win enough, weary of Cary Conklin when he won less than Chandler. They called for a replacement for a struggling Steve Pelluer, even after the future NFL quarterback had directed the Huskies to a Rose Bowl and been named Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year.

Morris doesn't have any of their lofty credentials, rather a 15-game sample size that's a mixed bag, one that includes a 3-1 record in 2020 and a 4-7 showing before getting pulled from the lineup in 2021.

He directed ultra-late victories over Utah with 36 seconds left to play, overcoming a 21-0 deficit in that one, and over Stanford with just 21 seconds remaining on the road, plus he spearheaded an overtime victory over California. 

Yet his league-leading 12 interceptions, his pick-six against Arizona State and his goal-line bobble at Colorado that became an 88-yard touchdown runback, all in 2021, have left him forever scarred in the eyes of his critics.

Morris is such a team player in Montlake he gave up his jersey No. 9 to Penix once his replacement arrived from Indiana and negotiated for it. Grubb says no one works harder than his backup quarterback, that the guy has a good grasp of the offense.

It doesn't matter to the unforgiving, to those with their minds made up, to those with a Husky quarterback axe to grind. 

They wish Dylan Morris would become a running back like Mercury Morris. Maybe play baseball like Jack Morris. Or simply transfer to FCS Robert Morris.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.