After spending multiple years in Chapel Hill, Trey Morrison will spend the rest of his college career donning Crimson and Cream.
The Sooners have gone 3-for-3 when it comes to landing transfer portal defensive backs who visited the Sooners this winter.
Since Sunday, the Sooners have shored up their defensive backfield depth with veterans who have a great deal of collegiate playing experience. C.J. Coldon of Wyoming started the sequence with a commitment Sunday evening. Freshman Kani Walker of Louisville kept it rolling Monday afternoon. Trey Morrison of UNC completed the transfer trifecta with his commitment Monday evening.
Morrison was on our list of three transfer defensive backs we thought the Sooners should pursue in the portal:
“Trey Morrison is probably the opposite of (Eric) Reed in the sense that Morrison has played a lot of snaps at the college level. Morrison appeared in 11 games as a true freshman for the North Carolina Tar Heels, starting 10, at nickel back in 2019. That season, he totaled 46 tackles, two sacks, 5.5 TFL and four pass breakups.
In 2020, he started all 12 games at defensive back and was All-ACC honorable mention. He produced 39 total tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, three pass breakups and one interception. While physically he’s not the biggest player, he’s productive and he’s very experienced.
Over four seasons, Morrison has played in 44 games in college. He gives the Sooners a veteran presence and more position versatility as they look to retool and rest their secondary going into the 2022 season.”
His valuable game experience mixed with his productivity was likely the easiest sell for Jay Valai and the rest of this defensive staff. The Sooners needed experience but why get experience if it doesn’t come with proven results? Morrison has both. Though not the biggest guy, he’s scrappy and willing to mix it up.
Morrison also has been coached by former NFL cornerback turned UNC cornerbacks coach in Dre Bly, so he’s had some very solid coaching over his time. He brings a wealth of knowledge he could pass on to his new OU teammates as well.
If one had to take a guess, Morrison is immediately thrust into a battle with Justin Broiles and Billy Bowman (should he remain at nickel) for the nickel position in Brent Venables and Ted Roof’s defense. He could very well be a starter come fall due to his versatility.
With Morrison on campus, the Sooners look noticeably less thin in their defensive backfield while adding seasoned collegiate players Morrison and Coldon to replace Delarrin Turner-Yell and Pat Fields. Walker, in essence, replaces Latrell McCutchin, considering both were freshmen last year.
Barring something crazy, it is unlikely more defensive backs will be added via the portal unless it happens after spring ball. Instead, the Sooners will look to add one final piece to their 2022 defensive back unit as they look to full-court press the number one player in the state of Oklahoma in cornerback commit Gentry Williams and ultimately land his signature sometime in February.
Jay Valai and Brandon Hall deserve their flowers for landing all three commits this weekend. Oklahoma needed all three and the new staff members in charge of the Sooners’ secondary got every single one. The grind never stops as they now turn full attention to Gentry Williams with a full defensive staff visit soon and then winter/spring ball and recruiting for 2023 and 2024 to worry about next. The fun’s only just beginning.
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