The last time Jacobian Morgan started a college football game was as a true freshman for Syracuse against Louisville.
It was the ill-fated COVID season when he, football, and society were trying to find its way.
That November day in 2020 wasn’t a pretty one for Morgan, a raw dual-threat quarterback then, against the Cardinals. He went 5-for-12 for 40 passing yards. He also was sacked three times and threw an interception. Morgan’s rushing line looked like this: Five attempts for a net of minus-13 yards as the Orange were blanked 30-0.
Some three years later and in a vastly different football circumstance, Morgan got the nod for Jackson State on Saturday against Mississippi Valley State.
And it was a far better journey than what he experienced in Kentucky.
Starting in place of Jason Brown, Morgan held his own for the Tigers, accounting for three touchdowns and 248 yards in a 21-6 win over the Delta Devils.
Morgan, who transferred to Jackson State from Syracuse before the 2023 season, was named Southwestern Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Week on Monday for his performance.
The outing, while featuring its adventures with ball security and passing accuracy at times, received high marks from head coach T.C. Taylor, who did not announce leading up the game that Morgan would start.
“What he brings to the game with his legs in the QB run game really helps us out,” said Taylor. “We just have to get him some time to clean up as far as throwing the football with receivers.”
During a Monday virtual press conference, Taylor said Morgan had been rapidly developing in practice for weeks following recovery from hand surgery that had limited him during a position battle with Brown, who was revealed as the start moments before the season opener against South Carolina State.
“The surgery kind of set him back, but once he got back from it. We started seeing how he was developing week in and week out,” said Taylor.
Listed at 6-foot-4, 227 pounds, Morgan gives the Tigers a different dimension that it did not have with the more traditional pocket passer that Brown was. In just three appearances this season, Morgan has four rushing TDs on 5.8 yards per carry, even though he had been primarily deployed in sub-packages before starting on Saturday.
To put his production into perspective, JSU running back Irv Mulligan, who ranks second in the SWAC in rushing yards, has five touchdowns this season.
“The size of that kid … he played ACC football at Syracuse and had a couple of starts up there,” said Taylor about the redshirt junior with still three years of collegiate eligibility remaining. “You could see the talent level, and he’s a very highly confident kid who is only going to get better.”
But the conference award might not have been the biggest gift Morgan received over the last 48 hours. A camera crew with KC-1400 Media captured the moment when the quarterback got a surprise visit from his father during pregame warmups, who had recently returned home from military duty, according to a YouTube video caption that documented the sequence.
The two, father and son, reunited by football, engaged in a long embrace.
For Morgan, he won in the box score and off the field to bookend a long journey.
