Morven Joseph can provide offensive and defensive production for Josh Heupel.
Morven Joseph enters his second season at Tennessee.
The 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker appeared in all of Tennessee’s 10 games in 2020, totaling two tackles.
Joseph came to Tennessee from Lake Gibson High School in Lakeland, Florida.
Following the Vols’ sixth practice during fall training camp, its first in full pads, linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary met with media and discussed Joseph within Tennessee’s defense.
“Morven has been with us at the inside linebacker spot, and we have some specific packages where we’re going to try to use him as a pass rusher because we feel like he does that really well,” Jean-Mary said of Joseph during fall training camp. “His big thing is that he’s another guy that was an edge guy in high school. He’s learned to play stack linebacker because it’s a difference and you’re more read and react. When you’re an edge guy, you’re more react and read. Right now, he’s still trying to learn what to do as far as the stack linebacker. He’s been really good through our first six practices. ‘MoJo’ is an interesting player to evaluate because he’s such a good athlete that sometimes he might look like it’s taking a little while to process, but when you look at it, he’s getting there faster than other people because he’s such a good athlete.
“With guys like that, you want to make sure you put them in positions to have success. You don’t want to keep pounding away and take away from his skill set. I think he’s progressing at the rate that we want him to, obviously, we want him to be a little faster and be able to play stack, as well as become an edge rusher. Through the first six practices, he’s been good.”
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
During his time at Lake Gibson, Joseph had an offensive background.
Lake Gibson defensive line coach Levi Hargrove discussed Joseph moving to defense after starting out as a wide receiver.
“As a freshman when he came in, he was playing wide receiver,” Hargrove told Vols Wire of Joseph. “He spurted three inches from his eighth grade to ninth grade year. He was still growing into his body and he came over to defense. I talked him into playing defensive end — a hybrid, edge rusher.
“I told him to just go hit the quarterback. He naturally chop-ripped the tackle’s hands, got rid of him, and got to the quarterback. He came back and loved it.”
Joseph was placed in offensive packages during his senior season.
“His senior year, we put him into our goal line package as a power back,” Hargrove said. “It was a power-I formation, offset fullback and he ended up getting a couple of carries and scored a touchdown.
“We did give him a couple of passes. He would bubble out and had one or two passes thrown to him.”
Heupel is known to place defensive players on offense and utilize their abilities.
Below are stats when Heupel placed defensive players on offense since his time as offensive coordinator at Utah State in 2015.
2019 UCF
Nate Evans (linebacker) 2 attempts, 10 yards
2018 UCF
Trysten Hill (defensive line) 2 attempts, 1 yard, 1 touchdown
2017 Missouri
Markell Utsey (defensive line) 1 attempt, 2 yards
2016 Missouri
Josh Augusta (defensive line) 10 attempts, 15 yards, 2 touchdowns
Tennessee will play Florida Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee continues its preparation for Saturday’s game against No. 6 Florida.
Ahead of the SEC East matchup, Jeremy Pruitt discussed the development of three Tennessee linebackers in Roman Harrison, Tyler Baron and Morven Joesph.
KNOXVILLE, TN – SEPTEMBER 03, 2020 – Linebacker Roman Harrison #30 of the Tennessee Volunteers during 2020 Fall Camp practice on Haslam Field in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
Harrison, a sophomore, has played in seven games, recording four tackles and three for a loss this season.
“Roman played really well early,” Pruitt said. “Last year he was a really, really good special teams player for us. Played some minutes there, especially on third down.
“He got a little bit banged up early in the season and his role probably decreased a little bit, but he’s getting healthier and it’s good to get him back.”
KNOXVILLE, TN – AUGUST 26, 2020 – Linebacker Tyler Baron #9 of the Tennessee Volunteers during 2020 Fall Camp practice on Haslam Field in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Caleb Jones/Tennessee Athletics
Baron, a freshman, has appeared in seven games for the Vols in 2020, totaling 16 tackles and two for a loss.
“It seems like he plays more and more snaps every game,” the third-year Tennessee head coach said. “Not unusual for a young guy. He just continues to earn the opportunity.”
KNOXVILLE, TN – SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 – Linebacker Morven Joseph #19 of the Tennessee Volunteers during 2020 Fall Camp practice on Haslam Field in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Kate Luffman/Tennessee Athletics
Joseph, another freshman, has appeared in all seven contests for Tennessee this season. He has recorded two tackles and 0.5 for a loss.
“Morven’s a guy that really can play a lot of different positions because of his versatility,” Pruitt said. “We’ve moved him around a little bit, but really in the last several weeks, you start seeing the game kind of slowing down for him, which is good to see because he’s a guy that plays really, really fast.”
KNOXVILLE – As Tennessee football brings in new talent during the Early Signing Period, Vols Wire is releasing player profiles on each individual that signs with UT.
Find out recruiting ratings, key skills, stats and which other programs had offers on the table for each Tennessee signee.
Tennessee closed the first day of the Early Signing Period in a big way on Wednesday afternoon by securing a signature from four-star defensive end Morven Joseph.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Lakeland, Fla. native is rated as the No. 18 weak-side defensive end on the 247 Sports Composite. Tennessee beat a strong push from in-state programs, Florida and Florida State, to sign Joseph. “He has unique ability to rush off the edge, could actually play inside, and will be a great special teams player. He has length, range and is probably going to grow a lot if you look at his build. Has wide shoulders, length, big arms and big hands, so a guy that probably going to add some weight.
“A guy that can play all four spots, is a playmaker, so when it gets to third down and you’re trying to decide how you are going to play this guy, are you going to rush him off the edge or is he going to be a guy that plays inside and playing on the better running backs in our league?”
2020 defensive end Morven Joseph has decommitted from Florida State following the departure of head coach Willie Taggart. Joseph is from Lake Gibson High School in Lakeland, Fla.
