Duke loses Nick Morris Jr. to season-ending injury
DURHAM – Duke linebacker Nick Morris Jr. suffered a season-ending leg injury for the second straight season.
Morris will miss the rest of the season, coach Manny Diaz said on Monday afternoon. The fifth-year linebacker was injured late in the first quarter of Saturday’s 45-33 win against N.C. State. He was carted off the field with a cast on his right leg.
“Gutted for Nick,” Diaz said. “One, just as a person because he came from missing all of last year. And then second as a player because he is absolutely one of the best players on our defense. He was playing at an extraordinarily high level.”
Morris had 18 tackles and 3½ TFLs this season. Three of those TFLs came in Duke’s loss to Illinois a couple of weeks ago. He also recovered a fumble against Tulane.
The Fairfield, Conn., native suffered a season-ending injury in last year’s opener against Elon.
Diaz said Morris has another season of eligibility past this one. If he’s granted a medical redshirt for this season, he could spend the next two seasons (2026 and ’27) playing college football.
“Nick’s going to be our next Eli Pancol story,” Diaz said. “Nick’s going to have a role on our football team. He’s too intelligent of a person not to still affect winning.
“Nick’s going to come back and Nick’s going to finish his Duke career with a great finish, I’m confident of that.”
Moving forward without Nick Morris Jr.
Without Morris for the last three quarters against N.C. State, the Blue Devils only played three linebackers — Tre Freeman, Kendall Johnson and Luke Mergott.
That won’t be the case moving forward.
“You’ll see (Bradley) Gompers, you’ll see Elliott Schaper,” Diaz said, naming a pair of freshman linebackers. “Both of those guys, we felt like were ready to step in this year but the rotation of linebacker was just going so well, they were struggling to find the snaps.”
According to Pro Football Focus, Gompers played a combined nine snaps against Elon and Illinois and didn’t play against Tulane or N.C. State. Schaper played three snaps against each of Elon and Illinois and has not played since.
Gompers (6-5, 225) was one of the gems of Duke’s recruiting class. A two-way star at tight end and linebacker, he was the No. 138 player in the Rivals industry ranking.
Schaper is the one of them who was on campus for spring practices, though. The 6-3, 210-pounder is from Austin, Texas, and has a closer profile of Morris (6-3, 235) as a middle linebacker.
Mergott played every snap in the middle after Morris’ injury.
“Luke stepped up,” defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke said. “Played well for the most part, was exhausted. I had to ride him, especially after some long drives, I couldn’t roll anybody in. Didn’t feel like we were ready for that.”
Duke is going to have to be ready for that now, though.
“Elliott took some meaningful snaps at practice the week before but not enough,” Patke said. “He will have enough this week.”
