Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 8, 1995                   TAG: 9509080111
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

MORRIS CAN'T SHED PROBLEMS AS EASILY AS TACKLERS

Twice Saturday during Liberty University's season-opening football game, J.T. Morris found himself in the end zone with the ball under his right arm. Just like every other time since high school, he knelt there in prayer.

Odds are he wasn't just thinking about the last play. He probably was thinking about the past four years, and how this year could be his last chance to make something special of his playing career. It has been a career marked as much by transitions and turmoil as by touchdowns.

``Certainly, I don't think it has turned out like he envisioned,'' said John Walker, Morris' coach at Heritage High School in Lynchburg and now the principal at Jefferson Forest High School.

Morris can't do anything about that now. The future - Saturday's game at VMI, the rest of the football season, graduation - is much more important to the senior.

``It hasn't been the path I wanted to take,'' Morris said. ``But I'm just trying to go out with a bang. I went through some struggles in high school and came out OK. It taught me you're not always in control of your life.''

Morris was referring to a junior year at Heritage when he totaled a car, came down with spinal meningitis and sprained an ankle during a game at Northside - all in two weeks. Later in the football season, he pulled a hamstring and sprained a knee.

``I don't think it could have been any worse,'' Walker said.

It couldn't have been much better the next year. A high school All-America season brought some of the nation's top college football programs to his door. He committed to Penn State, but not until after an expenses-paid visit to Southern Cal. Still, even when he thinks back to that time, Morris remembers ``chaos.''

In State College, Pa., Morris had a chance to step out of the limelight and blend in with a roster full of All-Americans. He was one of two freshmen to letter and developed into a running and pass-catching threat as a sophomore. But when he was asked to move to fullback, Morris balked. He decided to transfer.

Another kind of recruiting process began. Virginia Tech's staff called Penn State coaches and asked for permission to speak to Morris. Morris was allowed to talk to Virginia and Wake Forest, but the Nittany Lions refused to release him to the Hokies, fearing Morris already was shopping his services in Blacksburg. That couldn't have been further from the truth, Morris said.

Ultimately, with the upcoming birth of his daughter, Jo'Nique, Morris opted for hometown Liberty. ``I decided I'd rather be with my family than leave again, which I could have done,'' Morris said.

He sat out 1993 and, eventually, most of 1994. A hip injury in the season's second game knocked him out for the season. He didn't get the approval to play this season until Aug.29. When he walked onto the artificial turf Saturday at Williams Stadium for the Flames' game against West Virginia Tech, he had a flashback to the injury.

``I cringe every time I go out there,'' he said.

Being J.T. Morris has not been easy, and he was reminded of that in May during a birthday party at his house in Lynchburg's Whiterock neighborhood. After a scuffle with a police officer, Morris was charged with resisting arrest and breaching the peace. He has to complete 40 hours of community service to clear his record.

Surely, people would be talking about him again.

``It's like they're either waiting for me to mess up or they're waiting for me to do something spectacular,'' he said. ``The spotlight is definitely on me. You can't even spit on the sidewalk sometimes with some of these people.''

Then he thought about his decision to come back home. ``I guess I kind of asked for it,'' he said.

All Morris wants to do these days is stay healthy, get his degree and spend time with Jo'Nique, now 2 years old.

``Next to God, that's about the only thing that keeps me straight,'' he said. ``When everything else goes bad, I've still got her.''

And the Flames still have Morris. They wouldn't give him up for anything.

``I don't think he has ever worn [All-America] on his lapel,'' said his coach, Sam Rutigliano. ``He has never flaunted. He's been a class guy. I think he's happy where he is.''