There was a moment of concern when tight end Greyson Morgan learned the Hawaii football team was switching fully to the run-and-shoot offense this season.
In the traditional four-wide set — a running back, two slotbacks and two wideouts — Morgan was playing a position that did not exist in past run-and-shoot playbooks.
But head coach Timmy Chang, who will take over the play-calling, made assurances that the tight end will be part of this version of the run-and-shoot. In many sets, tight ends Devon Tauaefa or Morgan will be used in place of a slotback.
“We won’t have a traditional tight end who just puts his hand down and blocks,” Chang said. “It’s a longer-type body that can run. If they can run and catch the ball, it adds more value.”
Chang, who played in the run-and-shoot as a record-setting quarterback at Saint Louis School and UH, said he embraced the value of a tight end who can block and catch when he coached Cole Turner at Nevada three years ago. Turner is now a tight end for the Washington Commanders.
“He was 6-6 and 210 when he came to play for us, and he wasn’t going to play receiver with all the guys we had,” Chang said of Turner. “We moved him to tight end. He was a receiver playing inside.”
Chang said the 6-foot-4 Tauaefa and 6-2 Morgan can stretch defenses with vertical routes. Both also excel at chip blocking to seal the perimeter for running back Tylan Hines. “We’ve got to get Tylan Hines the ball, man,” Morgan said.
Co-offensive coordinator Ian Shoemaker concurs.
“For sure, we want to keep Tylan rolling,” Shoemaker said. “We want to make sure we have enough bodies to deal with all the different fronts and different things the defense can do now.”
Chang said receivers and the tight end will stay true to the principles of running routes based on the defensive coverages. “With the tight end, he’s a bigger body (than the slotback),” Chang said. “So all the blocking stuff he wants to do helps. They have a wider range to catch the ball, too, if they can bring almost the same speed. What you lose is the agility and quick shiftiness, but you gain size.”
During Friday’s third practice of training camp, Tauaefa was skying over defenders. “You see Tauaefa catching the balls out here and running away from guys,” Chang said. “He’s a big, long guy. It helps having a guy like that.”
Chang also is optimistic that Morgan will contribute heavily. Morgan suffered a torn left clavicle last year, and underwent surgery during the offseason. He is viewed as fully healthy, and is allowed to participate in drills. But Morgan, who underwent surgery in Texas, is awaiting the paper work to gain clearance to compete in contact drills.
“We have to jump through those hoops,” Shoemaker said of the red tape.
In player-run practices and tight end drills, Morgan has impressed with his speed and toughness.
Chang is “trying to do his best to keep us in the offense,” Morgan said. “We’ve got to do our part and show him the offense is more productive when we’re in there. Me and Devon have to take on that role and produce and keep us in the offense.”
Morgan took the extended route to Manoa. He played youth football in a town outside of Houston, but then took a break to focus on golf soon after entering Kingwood (Texas) High. Of the period ahead of his senior year, Morgan recalled, “Man, I missed football. I got back into football my senior year of high school.”
Morgan then went through a rigorous screening, including taking a walk-on class, to join Blinn College as a tight end. With Blinn using mostly a four-receiver offense, Morgan transferred to Trinity Valley College. He accepted a scholarship from UH last year.
“I really started from the bottom and kept going,” Morgan said.
Morgan has proven to still possess the drive. He is a 2-handicap golfer. “He’s a lot better than me,” Shoemaker said. “No doubt about it.”
