MOBILE, Alabama – Linebacker Antonio Morrison leaned back and took a deep breath. Tears started to well in his eyes.
Morrison’s journey from Chicago to the south suburbs to the University of Florida to the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, where the NFL has descended this week, already is one of triumph.
“My mom is from the Cabrini Green projects and my dad is from Englewood, you know what I’m saying?” Morrison said Tuesday. “I’ve got two great parents. It just makes me feel good that I’m making them proud every day that I’m here.
“I’m doing things thanks to them being able to put me in this situation. I’m fortunate to have two parents that’s together. It makes me feel good that I’m able to make them proud.”
Morrison is one of the top players at this year’s Senior Bowl and one of four players from the Chicago area. He was a standout at Bolingbrook before starring at Florida, where he became one of three Southeastern Conference players to reach 100 tackles in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
The Bears, of course, are looking at linebackers. Morrison and Alabama star Reggie Ragland are two linebackers who have already met with the Bears in some capacity at the annual scouting event.
“I’d love to play for Chicago, man,” said Morrison, who lived in Bellwood and Romeoville before settling in Bolingbrook for high school.
“The Trump Tower, downtown, all the stuff like that — I’d love to live that, going through downtown Chicago, seeing all those nice things and know I’m playing for the Bears. I’d love it.”
One of the most impressive things on Morrison’s resume is how he came back from a gruesome injury and excelled in his senior season. Morrison tore multiple ligaments in his left knee, including his anterior cruciate ligament, in the Birmingham Bowl against the East Carolina on Jan. 3, 2015.
What happened after that made him a Gators legend. The early prognosis was that he could return in the eighth or ninth week of the 2015 season, Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins said.
“But he was there on the first day of the preseason running around,” Collins said. “It was amazing what that kid did, to get back playing and to be one of the best players in the SEC and maybe the country.”
It didn’t always look as though that would be the case. Morrison was arrested twice in a five-week stretch before his sophomore season in 2013. He was fined and ordered to perform community service after a scuffle outside a bar on June 16. Later on July 20, Morrison was arrested for barking at a police dog and resisting arrest, but the charges were dismissed a few days later.
The next season, Morrison was back on the NFL’s radar, and his narrative had changed. As a junior, he was voted to the All-SEC second team by the conference’s coaches and voted a team captain.
Morrison said he considered entering the draft after his knee injury, but returned and later became an emotional leader who helped the transition under new coach Jim McElwain, who replaced Will Muschamp.
“He led the way into buying in,” Collins said.
The Gators went 10-4 in 2015, including a surprising 7-1 in SEC play. Collins said the Gators wouldn’t have excelled without Morrison, who handled the adjustments for the defense.
“He was on a mission,” Collins said. “It ended up paying off for him, us and everybody.
“He’s such a driven, focused player and person. He handles his business every day like it’s fourth-and-1. That’s the way he lives. He’s the poster child for how to handle your business.”
That business will be the NFL soon enough. The drive is there.
“That’s how I was raised; that’s how I am,” Morrison said. “You just play as hard as you can. You can’t save something for another time.”
Follow me on Twitter @adamjahns
Email: ajahns@suntimes.com
