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The tied and Black
Wednesday. November 11, 19*1
Page 8
Former Dog Morrison longs for another shot at NFL
By Bil l KRUEGER
Ki>l .w»! him k sun Writer
When he went to bed, he
knew The Turk was coming
for him One of the coaches
had jerked him out of the
rookie scrimmage earlier
that day after he made a
couple of bad snaps
He told his wife at dinner
earlier that evening that
they would be heading home
the following day — he was
about to be cut.
The next morning his
worst fears came true Tim
Morrison, one of the leaders
on Georgia's national
championship team last
year, was cut by the Dallas
Cowboys.
“I laid in bed all night I
knew it was going to come
But there was nothing I
could do about it. It's a tough
feeling." Morrison said
After an outstanding four-
year career as an offensive
lineman at Georgia.
Morrison wants nothing
more than to play
professional football The
rejection by Dallas is but a
temporary setback
Football has been his life
for so long, as evidenced by
the pictures, plaques and
awards which adorn the
walls in his duplex off
Barnett Shoals Road
He is back in Athens,
biding his time until he can
get another tryout with c
National Football League
team As he talks about it
one Sunday, it is obvious
playing pro football is im
portant to him. While he
talks, he watches his former
teammate, Scott Woerner,
help the Atlanta Falcons
defeat the New Orleans
Saints.
"Sunday's my toughest
day, because I sit here and
watch these guys play. And
hell, I know I can play Yet
I'm sitting here at home
while they're out there
playing That's what's really
tough on me.” he says
Morrison was drafted in
the ltth round by the
Cowboys, the 13th player
they took in the draft This
was after he was told he
could go as high as the fourth
round.
"I was just losing my
mind. I had a couple of
friends over. It was tough
waiting," Morrison says.
"He was sitting there with
the phone in his lap. just
waiting for it to ring." says
his wife. Leigh
Morrison quickly found out
the difference between the
fourth round and the ltth.
"It was the high-round draft
choices they were showing
favoritism to. They had to,
they had paid them all the
money.
"The way it is in the later-
round draft picks, you're
much better off to go as a
free agent You have a
chance to go somewhere that
you really want to go The
latter round draft picks,
they're just trying to snatch
you up so nobody else will
get you," Morrison says.
When Morrison arrived in
Dallas, he also had to con
tend with a knee injury that
refused to heal. "1 had to go
to mini-camp with my knee
not properly rehabilitated. It
started swelling up on me
and it was hard for me to
perform. You've got to be 100
percent to go to a pro camp if
you’re wanting to make it."
Dallas asked him to learn
every position on the of
fensive line, no small task
when Dallas' complex of
fense is considered He was
even asked to learn to play
center, a position he had
never played.
"It was a lot of learning.
You have to learn the plays.
I had to learn how to play
offensive center and I had
never played center before I
had to learn to snap the ball.
It was tough. Dallas has got
a tough offense,” Morrison
says.
Morrison might have
given up, had it not been for
hjs wife. "He wasn't too
happy being out there. He
would call me all the time,
and I had to be the person
who said, ‘You can do it.' He
wanted me to say, 'Come
home,'" Leigh says.
He said he was coming
home one night, so my dad
bought me a ticket and I
went out there to see him,”
she says. “They really didn’t
give him a chance.”
Morrison is convinced he
will get a second chance. He
is working out with the
Georgia football team so
WOERNER
that he will be in shape
should any pro team come
calling. He keeps in contact
with a number of NFL teams
and reads the injury reports
in the newspaper every day
“I want to play. I'm just
not fulfilled. I've got
something to accomplish
and that's to play pro ball
It's kind of a pride thing for
me I've just got to play. I
know I can play," he says.
If at all possible, Leigh
wants it for him worse than
he does. "I want him to
make it. I miss seeing him
out there so much," she
says.
If perseverance is worth
anything, Morrison will be
playing pro football before
too long.
From Page 1
“No. I wasn't hitting like Glanville
wants us to hit. But I think now I’ve hit
some guys pretty hard. It's gotten a
lot better
"When you’re on a team where
everybody's just knocking the hell out
of somebody, you can't just lay back
and not do it too You want everybody
to say that Woerner just knocked the
snot out of that guy," he says.
Since Woerner was not a first round
draft choice, he had no assurance that
he would make the team. He had to go
to training camp and prove himself all
over again. All his accomplishments
at Georgia made no difference.
“We don't care where they come
from. It has no effect on this organiza
tion. I’ve become a big Georgia
Bulldog fan. but that doesn't affect us
here," Glanville says.
Thus, Woerner had to watch for
’The Turk' which is pro football slang
for getting cut from a team.
Everybody has fears about not
making the team, Woerner says. “It
was more a mental strain than
anything. After two weeks, your
body's just totally shot The guys that
keep a good mental attitude, that kept
going out there and said 'I'm going to
practice hard,' are the ones that end
ed up still around at the end of the
seven weeks," Woerner says.
The worry however, does not end
just because training camp is over
and your name is still on the roster.
The pressure to perform is always
present in professional ranks. "You
can go at anytime. Nothing dictates
that once you make the team, you're
going to stay on the team. If you don't
produce, you don't stay around.”
Woerner’s key to staying on the
team presently is his performance on
the special teams. Since the beginning
of the season, he has replaced Atlanta
favorite Reggie "Super Gnat” Smith
as the return man for both kickoffs
and punts
“He's done very well as a return
man. He has a real knack for making
the first person miss, which helps him
on returns," Bennett says.
"If we can get between eight and 12
yards average on punts, which is
usually good enough to lead the
league, we will be pleased," Bennett
adds.
“I guess I've played adequately I
think I could have made some plays
that I didn't. I guess that comes with a
little more experience. Special teams
is something that, if you've got the
craziness for it. it works pretty easi
ly," Woerner says.
He claims returning punts and kicks
is old hat to him, since he did it so
often as a Georgia Bulldog. "It really
doesn’t bother me that much. It
doesn’t matter who it's against, the
Super Bowl champions or what. If you
look at it like that it could bother you.
But I don’t, so it doesn't."
Woerner said that while much of pro
football is similar to the college game,
differences do exist.
"Having 10 more games a year is
the biggest thing You only play 11
games in college and now you turn
around and play 20 games. That's
pretty strenuous on a person.
"Right now. I’m ready to relax and
take it easy, but I've still got nine
more games to go. That's where the
mental picture comes in and you’ve
got to work a lot harder to get yourself
ready to play the game every
weekend," he says
Woerner also talks about the dif
ference it makes getting paid to play
football "The biggest thing is the
pressure's on your shoulders You’ve
got to be a lot more responsible about
getting yourself to meetings, getting
yourself to practice, getting yourself
to the game," he says. “It's not like in
college, where everything is set up for
you.
"Once they pay you, they expect a
lot out of you If it's in college, it’s half
and half If you didn't come on in a
year, you have another chance to
come back,” he says. “If you don’t
come on up here, you don’t get
another year to work on it. They ex
pect results now ”
Woerner still maintains contact
with his friends and former team
mates from Georgia, and he still
follows the Dogs. “I see 'em whenever
lean."
But college is behind Woerner now.
and he hopes a future in pro football
awaits him Does he relish the thought
of making his living as a football
player?
"It's a tough life. You work hard
and get paid well for it It’s fun."
"Yeah, I could continue to do it for a
few more years,” he says with a
laugh.
'You've got to work a lot
harder to get yourself ready
to play the game
every weekend. ’
— Woerner
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