CHICAGO — Lamar Bell doesn’t claim remarkable foresight for recruiting Nicholas Morrow.
Morrow played offensive lineman for his first three seasons at Huntsville (Ala.) High School before switching to outside linebacker as a senior, but Bell saw enough film to know Morrow would be one of the better athletes on the then-Greenville College Panthers defense.
An NFL opportunity — much less a career now entering its sixth season— wasn’t a topic of conversation.
Bell, then a defensive graduate assistant and now the associate head coach/defensive coordinator, talked with Morrow about becoming a biology major and potentially entering the medical field because Division III players almost always have to plan for life off the field after college.
Morrow didn’t have many other offers. Though he lived in Hunstville, his family was from St. Louis, about 45 miles southwest of the school now known as Greenville University. Morrow’s father is a pastor, and Greenville is a Christian school. Those three factors were enough for coaches to draw him in.
And that’s how the newest Chicago Bears linebacker ended up starting what he called a “humbling” football journey at a southern Illinois college of about 1,000 people.
“I was probably just as shocked as anyone else,” Bell said of Morrow’s rise to the NFL. “I knew he was talented, but I never played at that level and have no idea what they look for in regard to a talent standpoint at that level, so to see that unfold was pretty cool.
“But if there is anybody who could pull it off, he was gifted and smart enough to be able to handle anything they were going to throw at him. And then he’s definitely going to be disciplined enough to work in a way that he needs to work to succeed. That’s what he did.”
A talent gap
Greenville coach Robbie Schomaker speaks in superlatives about Morrow.
The smartest player he has coached. The hardest worker. An introvert who is also a dynamic public speaker and gave a team speech that was “probably better than any talk I gave to the team.”
The signs were there Morrow’s freshman year as he bounced between the linebackers and safeties rooms, Bell said.
Morrow outran most everyone in football drills. He was quick to pick up on coaching points.
By the end of the year, when Greenville was crushed 67-0 in a National Christian College Athletic Association bowl game against Division II Azusa Pacific, Morrow looked like one of the few Panthers players who belonged, Schomaker said.
The work ethic helped his rise. He wanted to get faster, so he solicited the help of the track team’s sprints coach. Schomaker would catch him in the weight room or on the field doing footwork drills and drops on nights and weekends. And there would be weeks when he watched more film than some of the coaches, feeding a thirst for football knowledge.
“He didn’t talk, like the first year and a half, so it took a bit of time to know that,” Schomaker said. “We knew he was smart from the get-go, but he just seems to thrive on Xs and Os and scheme and watching film.”
After Morrow’s sophomore season, the NFL entered the conversation as Schomaker began to connect with scouts. Morrow’s measurables at a junior pro day at Division II McKendree were strong, and attention ramped up so that scouts from 20 NFL teams visited Greenville, a novelty that was both cool and distracting for teammates who weren’t used to such people in attendance.
Morrow ended his career as the first American Football Coaches Association second-team All-American in school history. He didn’t attend the NFL scouting combine, but he ran 4.52 seconds in the 40-yard dash at Northwestern’s pro day as he readied for his next step.
“There were times he would get bored here,” Schomaker said. “Just the talent gap was so big in some games that when I saw him play with the edge is when we played the best teams on our schedule. … Later in his career, some of the young guys on the team would be intimidated by him, and he’d get really frustrated by that because he would want their best shot every time so he could get better.”
Soon, that wouldn’t be a problem.
‘A whole different language’
Bell and Morrow still exchange text messages as often as once a week depending on the time of year, bouncing ideas off each other. Morrow’s interest in football has both Schomaker and Bell convinced he should go into coaching when his playing career ends.
“When he comes back in town and we’re in the office, I could have things scheduled on my calendar, but I might as well get rid of them,” Bell said. “Because we’ll talk football for four or five hours.”
Morrow credits his study for helping him transition to the NFL after the Oakland Raiders signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2017 to play linebacker. (The Kansas City Chiefs — and now-Bears general manger Ryan Poles — also had interest in signing him to play safety, Morrow told the Bears’ Jeff Joniak last week.)
He didn’t understand a lot of the schemes — “a whole different language to me,” Morrow said. And he was moving from safety to linebacker. So he arrived at the Raiders facility early each day and picked a couple of plays to study until he had them down.
“Just that work ethic you have to have,” Morrow said. “It’s not necessarily about talent once you’re in the league, it’s about staying in the league. You do that by knowing a lot of football and being able to play hard and fast.”
Morrow played in 62 games and made 29 starts with the Raiders his first four seasons. In 2020, he put up career numbers in 11 starts: 78 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, three sacks, six quarterback hits, nine passes defended and an interception.
Entering 2021 training camp, when Morrow was set to play on a one-year, $4.5 million deal, then-Raiders coach Jon Gruden told Las Vegas reporters that Morrow was on the rise and had a chance to be a team captain.
“He’s got a chance to be a difference maker for us in the middle of our defense,” Gruden said. “Time will tell. We’ve got a long way to go, but I really like him.”
But instead Morrow spent the season rehabbing after suffering a high ankle sprain that required tightrope surgery in the preseason. Once he could walk again, he returned to the team facility from his home and sat in every meeting taking notes and watching film.
Morrow said he would have played in the Raiders’ second playoff game had they beaten the Cincinnati Bengals. Instead, he exited into free agency, where he signed a one-year deal for $2.5 million guaranteed with Poles and new coach Matt Eberflus.
“(Eberflus’) resume speaks for itself,” Morrow said. “It’s in the tape, right? You see what he did in Indy, with the turnovers they had, the defense that they had together and the staff they put together here. … In the offseason, I’ll go back and watch defenses and stuff like that, so I was familiar with some of his schemes.”
A trip
Schomaker estimated the Greenville football team can draw up to 2,000 fans at homecoming, but he acknowledged those numbers can dwindle to the hundreds in rain or snow.
Morrow undersold the typical turnout, which often includes fans pulling up lawn chairs near the sidelines instead of sitting in the small stands.
“Maybe 100, including the band,” Morrow said last week at Halas Hall during his introductory news conference.
So obviously the step up to playing at Soldier Field would be a trip.
Poles and Eberflus will speak more with reporters about their plans and what position they envision for Morrow at the annual NFL meetings this week.
After releasing Danny Trevathan, the Bears had only Roquan Smith returning as a starter at linebacker, and Morrow said he expects to at least compete for a starting spot. Poles said in a statement that Morrow “attacks the game with an edge and a mindset to be great.”
Morrow is ready to prove that is true.
“Every time I get on the field, I want to get better ,” Morrow said. “As long as I’m getting better, I’m excited about that. I’m not looking at stats or all that stuff. When I watch the tape, I want to make sure that I’m on my Qs and not making the same mistakes over and over again. That’s what drives me.”
Schomaker and Bell, who attended Morrow’s wedding a couple of weeks ago, expect they’ll get to see him play more now that he’s in Chicago.
Schomaker grew up in Cincinnati but played and coached at Trinity International University in Bannockburn, just miles from Halas Hall, and he had several former teammates reach out about the news of Morrow’s signing. Morrow said he also received texts from former Greenville teammates who were Bears fans, including one with a link to “Bear Down, Chicago Bears.”
“He was like, ‘You’ve got to learn this,’ ” Morrow said.
Morrow can add it to his study schedule.
