NC State quarterback MJ Morris reportedly out vs. Louisville
NC State‘s offense just took another hit, as emerging star and true freshman quarterback MJ Morris will not play against Louisville today due to a lower body injury, per USA Today’s David Thompson. Morris played the entirety of the Wolfpack’s loss to Boston College but will not suit up for the showdown on the road with the Cardinals.
The freshman signal caller started the year as the third-string QB behind preseason ACC Player of the Year Devin Leary and Charleston Southern graduate transfer Jack Chambers. NC State will likely turn to Chambers once again today against Louisville. He started games against Syracuse and Virginia Tech.
In his 5 appearances so far this season, Morris completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 648 yards and 7 touchdowns. He helped engineer a massive comeback in the win over Virginia Tech and started the Wolfpack’s win over Wake Forest and loss to Boston College.
After emerging as one of the top young signal callers in the nation, the ACC acknowledged his accomplishments with consecutive conference rookie of the week awards. He burned his redshirt against the Eagles.
Chambers has played in 7 games this year, throwing for 239 yards and 1 touchdown. He has also rushed for 116 yards. The Charleston Southern transfer brings a wealth of experience to the NC State offense after playing in an air raid offense.
After leading the Wolfpack to a win over Florida State in October following Leary’s season-ending pectoral injury, Chambers talked about what it is like to seize the opportunity as a backup quarterback.
“My first reaction when Devin [Leary] went down was ‘dang’ just because that’s a guy that I’ve grown very close with since I’ve been here, like a brother to me now, and I just wanted to make sure he’s all right,” Chambers said after the game.
“Then I’ve got to step up and do my job, do what I came here to do. And I just knew that my team had my back. My O-line, my running backs, and the defense, I knew what they were going to do, so we just had to step up and do our jobs.”
NC State defensive back Devan Boykin told reporters after the win over FSU that the team has complete confidence in Chambers.
“I think we all believe highly in Jack,” Boykin said. “He’s actually my locker mate, so I talk to him every day. Just stepping up in big time games, that’s just something that we expect across the board no matter who goes down.”
NC State has made no official announcement about Morris or who will start under center this afternoon. The Wolfpack will kick off against Louisville at 3:30 p.m. EST.
