Oct. 2, 2008

Story courtesy of Shorter Sports Information Office

Rome, Ga. - Zach Morrison has always had football blood in his veins.

For the past four years, however, his heart has become one of the main organs that has helped give Shorter College's football program life.

Despite being denied the chance to fulfill a dream to play in the major college ranks after closing out his prep career at Forsyth Central High, the Cumming native has emerged as one of the best NAIA centers in the nation and is eager to end his four-year career with the Hawks by helping the team prove its worth well beyond the regular season.

And the 6-foot, 270-pound senior will do it using all the traits that have made him keystone for Shorter's offense - strength, experience and, more than anything, humility.

"Zach personifies all the factors you want from a player," Shorter head coach Phil Jones said of Morrison, a two-time Mid-South All-Conference and All-Academic selection who was named an NAIA Preseason All-American this season. "He motivates others by his work habits and performance."

Hard work has always been the mantra for Morrison. After all, he is the son of one of the main reasons why the University of Georgia won the 1980 national championship - Tim Morrison, who paved the way for Georgia running back legend Herschel Walker and earned All-Southeastern Conference honors.

"Dad taught me to be tough and work hard," Zach said, "and I set my sights high about playing at a big school like my dad did."

Morrison had high hopes of playing on the major college level after graduating from high school in 2004. Instead, he remained in recruiting purgatory as none of the big-name programs made him offers and he was left with only a few smaller schools expressing some interest.

"After going through all that," Morrison said about the disappointment, "I said I was through with football."

Instead, Morrison enrolled at a junior college in Gainesville, and shifted his football attention to the sidelines when he became a volunteer coach for Forsyth Central's ninth-grade team.

But early in 2005 the door to college re-opened when his dad saw a newspaper story about Shorter starting up a football program and mentioned it to Morrison.

"I kind of balked when he told me about it," said Morrison, "but I starting thinking and praying about it a lot, decided to call coach Jones and one thing led to another."

"We had a couple of recommendations about Zach," Jones said about the process, "and watched some tape of him. You could see on film that he was committed to work and had the mental toughness.

"He went beyond the call of duty, but we later learned that's the way he does everything."

A member of the Hawks' inaugural team in 2005, Morrison initially got the call to play at guard his freshman year, but when the '06 season arrived the Hawks' coaching staff made the decision to move him under the quarterback at center.

Not surprisingly, the move was the right call, as Morrison immediately became the center to watch in the Mid-South.

"I'd say he's the best center in the NAIA," said Shorter offensive line coach Tim Mathis, who noted that Morrison has always graded out as one of the Hawks' top lineman each game. "When you see him play on tape every week, all you can say is `Wow!'"

"Zach's a natural at it," the coach added. "He can play with a flat back better than anyone I've seen. When he comes off the ball, he's like a dinner table all the way down the field and with him being one of the strongest kids on the team, he always has the edge."

Morrison and the Hawks' line have helped Shorter emerge as a team that lives by the run.

In 2006, the first season Morrison starting snapping the ball, Shorter was ranked No. 4 in rushing offense ending the season averaging 239.1 yards a game. Last year, the Hawks improved to No. 3 with a 284.4 mark at the end of the season.

Now, as Shorter (3-1) takes a three-game win streak into Saturday's Mid-South road game in Kentucky against Campbellsville, the Hawks are the NAIA's top-ranked rushing team rolling up 317.8 yards each time they step on the field.

"That," Morrison said about the team's national status, "makes all of us on the line appreciate the practices and the work we've done."

"Our offense needs to be strong right down the middle," Jones said, "and Zach has been a leader helping us do that. He leads by doing."