This caught me (and, many others) off guard over the weekend:
Thank You ❤️ pic.twitter.com/9feccnuosJ
— John D Morgan III ™ (@JohnMorgan6__) December 11, 2022
Thought of by many as a potential superstar piece for the 2023 Pitt defense, defensive end John Morgan III instead will search for a new home to play his final season of eligibility. The redshirt senior has played in parts of four seasons at Pitt after arriving as a three-star recruit out of Maryland in the class of 2018, and will transfer away from the Panthers' program for his final season of eligibility.
A surprising move which came across the wire on Sunday, and one which will have degrees of trickle-down effects on the room for 2023 and beyond.
Morgan is gone, Deslin Alexandre will be graduated, Haba Baldonado appears headed to the 2023 NFL Draft (as evidenced by him accepting an invite to the East-West Shrine Bowl), and All-American Calijah Kancey could follow suit, which leaves four of Pitt's top five defensive linemen needing replaced into the next season.
But, maybe Morgan already has a plan?
Morgan detailed his exit strategy in an interview with Pittsburgh Sports Now, and his reasoning is not stemming from a lack of playing time for himself; it comes from an unusual place in today's age of look-at-me college football:
"I’ve been in the position of the guys behind me’s shoes, where guys ahead of me decided to come back for fifth and sixth years," Morgan said in part. "Understanding that you want to play and feel like it’s your time to play. Being a team guy, I understand that feeling. I just feel like I will have the chance to take my talent elsewhere, which will give some of our younger guys, some of the guys that are from the area that have been waiting for the opportunity, to get on the field sooner. I feel like it would be wrong of me to stay another year and hold back those guys from that opportunity.”
You just don't hear about that happening often. And, good on Morgan for it.
The outlook for the 2023 Pitt defensive ends includes the likes of Chris Maloney, Dayon Hayes, Nate Temple, Bam Brima, Nahki Johnson, Samuel Okunlola, and Jimmy Scott. Maloney is the lone senior from the 2022 squad that would need to make a decision to return for his bonus year of eligibility, but everyone else is welcomed back aside from their own decisions to enter the transfer portal. There is also the pending addition of 2023 three-star recruit Antonio Camon, who committed to Pitt in June.
With the core four expected to be gone, and with three of those coming from the defensive ends, line coach Charlie Partridge appears to have his work cut out for him over the offseason. Maloney and Hayes are the most tenured of the ends, as Temple would be coming off of a leg injury he sustained in Week 3 at Western Michigan.
This is a defensive line which bears a standard unlike any other in college football. The Panthers led the nation with 45.0 sacks for an NCAA-high 314 yards this season. Last season, they were third in the NCAA with 54.0 sacks. Two seasons ago, they tied for the nation's lead with 46.0 sacks. In fact, the last time a Pitt team finished outside of the nation's top five in sack totals was 2018, or Partridge's second season with the program.
“Coming into Pitt, I think our record the year before was like 5-7," Morgan told Pittsburgh Sports Now. "From there we won a championship, played in bowl games, and finished my last year here 8-4. That’s something that I definitely will never forget. I’ve been a part of a program where we were ranked, plus our defense has led the country in sacks that past couple of years. It’s a blessing to having been a part of that. I’ll never forget my times working with coach Partridge and (defensive coordinator Randy) Bates and making this defense great.”
Of those 45.0 sacks in 2022, 17.5 came from Morgan, Alexandre, Baldonado, or Kancey, which means the Panthers' returning sacks leader among defensive linemen in 2023 would be Hayes, who accumulated all three of his season's sacks in the final game of the regular season at Miami.
History put aside, the opportunity going forward for players like Johnson, Okunlola, and Scott just does not open up.
Unless a guy like Morgan opens the door for them.
It's their turn in 2023.