Published Oct 1, 2018
Arizona OL commit Jordan Morgan open-minded with USC offer
Ryan Young  •  TrojanSports
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MARANA, Ariz. -- Offensive tackle Jordan Morgan is a late bloomer in the 2019 recruiting class, but his offer list is growing this fall -- now including USC -- giving the Arizona commit plenty to think about in deciding his future.

Morgan, who stands 6-foot-4.5, 265 pounds, put himself on the radar during a camp at Northern Arizona over the summer, receiving offers from the host school and Arizona.

USC jumped into the mix a couple weeks ago and Arizona State followed most recently. He has five offers in total, including South Dakota State, but Marana High School Louie Ramirez expects that list to keep expanding.

"Absolutely, there's no doubt in my mind," he said.

USC running backs coach Tim Drevno visited Marana last Friday afternoon and head coach Clay Helton came by later that evening to watch Morgan in action with the Trojans playing the next night nearby in Tucson.

"I got to sit down with Coach Drevno for about a good hour, and we talked ball, we talked Jordan and a lot of other things," Ramirez told TrojanSports.com "And for Coach Helton to come out speaks volumes because they had a game the next night and he came by to watch us play. It's a good opportunity for this program and all of our players -- not just Jordan -- because not a lot of head coaches do that. He's a coach who cares about recruiting."

USC is set to lose three starting offensive linemen after this season in left guard Chris Brown, center Toa Lobendahn and right tackle Chuma Edoga. The Trojans have one offensive lineman committed in this 2019 class -- 4-star tackle Jason Rodriguez (Oak Hills).

While Morgan committed to Arizona during the summer, he said he's remaining open-minded to all his options.

"Yeah, I'm feeling all them out right now," he said Monday. "I think USC's a pretty good school, they're all really good schools. I'm just also looking for academic support also."

Morgan said he had no hint that the Trojans were interested in him before that scholarship offer came about two and a half weeks ago.

"Just amazing. I didn't believe it. It's crazy -- USC," he said. "First of all, USC is a really good school. Just for them to notice me is pretty cool."

When asked if he would schedule a visit to USC, Morgan said "maybe" and that he hadn't figured out any official visits yet. Meanwhile, he keeps in touch with the Arizona coaching staff "all the time."

Morgan was aware that Helton was watching his game Friday night and admitted it was on his mind.

"It got me pretty nervous because I had to ball out for the whole game. Something I always like to do, though," he said.

Ramirez, Marana's head coach, took over this year after previously working as a graduate assistant at Northern Arizona.

He and Morgan offer the same explanation for why the intriguing offensive tackle got such a late start in the recruiting process.

"Mainly because I think the head coach last year didn't have that many connections, and social media -- Twitter's a big recruiting website -- [and] I've never had one so they never knew who I was," Morgan said.

Said Ramirez: "Nobody knew about him. When I took the job in April, absolutely nobody knew about him. We had Pac-12 coaches coming in here just to kind of see one guy, and then we'd show them Jordan and they were like, 'Who is this kid?' They never really knew about him. Part of it is because his previous coach never really said anything. ...

"[And Jordan] is not on any social media. No social media. Just kind of flies under the radar and just does his own thing. He's a workhorse. That's all he does is come here, go to school, eat, workout, play some football, that's it."

Morgan has a 2-star rating presently, but Ramirez said he believes the prospect is "easily the most athletic tackle in this state."

"You look at his knee bend, you look at his footwork, he's strong as an ox, he's got great leverage on defenders," Ramirez said. "He's what you want out of an offensive/defensive tackle."

More and more college programs are expressing the same opinion of late.

Morgan said he's still "just speechless" every time another offer comes in.

As for balancing his commitment to Arizona and his growing recruiting stock, Ramirez has offered his advice to Morgan.

"What I tell him is just be appreciative of the opportunity that people are giving you because if you look around not everybody gets an opportunity to play college football and at that high of a level," he said. "So I never say, 'Hey, don't talk to any of these coaches.' Humbly talk to them and say how much you appreciate the chance to play for them, and we'll see what's to come, but at the end of the day he's going to make that decision.

"I think he's comfortable here in Tucson. He's a family guy. But when you've got Washington rolling in, SC, programs of tradition -- a lot of it -- it's hard to look by."