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Dan Morgan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Australian bushranger, see Dan Morgan (bushranger)
| Dan Morgan | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | December 19, 1978 |
| Place of birth | Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania |
| Position(s) | Linebacker |
| College | University of Miami |
| NFL Draft | 2001 / Round 1/ Pick 11 |
| Pro Bowls | 2004, 2005 |
| Statistics | |
| Team(s) | |
| 2001-current | Carolina Panthers |
Daniel Thomas Morgan, Jr. (born December 19, 1978 in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania) is an American football linebacker who plays for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League.
Contents |
Morgan attended Taravella High School in Coral Springs, Florida.
As a senior, he was an "All-County" pick at tailback, linebacker, and strong safety. As a junior tailback, he rushed for 1,322 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Morgan started out as a fullback at the University of Miami, but was switched to weakside linebacker one week before the season started. He became the first freshman linebacker to start for the Hurricanes since Ray Lewis in 1993.
As a freshman, he was named second-team freshman "All-American" by the Sporting News after posting 105 tackles, three sacks, and one forced fumble.
As a sophomore, he became the first sophomore team captain in team history, and made the "All-Big East Team", after leading the team with 150 tackles. He was a finalist for the "Butkus Award" and the "Nagurski Trophy" as a junior, and was rewarded with a second-team "All-Big East" for collecting 139 tackles and 5 sacks. He finally captured both awards, as well as the Bednarik Award, becoming the first player in NCAA history to win all three awards in a career (and the same year).
Morgan left Miami as an All-American and was the 2000 Big East Defensive Player of the Year. Upon graduating, Morgan held the Miami school and Big East conference records for most career tackles with 532.
| Preceded by LaVar Arrington |
Butkus Award Winner 2000 |
Succeeded by Rocky Calmus |
Morgan was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the first round, with the 11th overall selection, in the 2001 NFL Draft.
In the 2001 season, he started 11 games at weakside and strongside linebacker, posting 75 tackles, 1 sack, 1 interception and 1 fumble recovery.
His second season, Morgan helped turn the Panthers from the worst defense in the 2001 NFL season to the second-ranked defense, becoming the first team to make such an improvement in one season. Morgan was also an integral part of the Panthers defense that led the team to Super Bowl XXXVIII, where he posted a career- and team-high 25 tackles in the game. For the 2004 NFL season, he collected 109 tackles, two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and five sacks en route to being named the starting linebacker for the NFC in the 2005 Pro Bowl. In the 2005 NFL season, he was second on the team in tackles, behind Marlon McCree.
Morgan was signed to a contract extension in August 2005 that will keep him in a Panther uniform through 2010.
| Defense | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | Tack | Sack | FR | INT | TD | |
| 2001 | Carolina | NFL | 11 | 75 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2002 | Carolina | NFL | 8 | 66 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2003 | Carolina | NFL | 11 | 90 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2004 | Carolina | NFL | 12 | 109 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2005 | Carolina | NFL | 13 | 77 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Regular season totals | 55 | 366 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |||
| Defense | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | Tack | Sack | FR | INT | TD | |
| 2003-04 | Carolina | NFL | 4 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Playoff totals | 4 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||