The Daily Toreador - Student Newspaper of Texas Tech

Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Sam Grenadier

Among abilities like finding the open spot in a zone defense, shedding tacklers twice his size and scoring the occasional touchdown, senior receiver Eric Morris knows how to wield a dagger and perform magic.

Known by his alias "Elf" on the Texas Tech football team, the 5-foot-9, 177-pound Morris said coach Mike Leach christened him with the alter ego a while back.

"He calls me the evil elf because he has all these different things; elves are small; they're generally pretty mean and they corner well," Morris said. "They're good with a dagger; he goes on and on about how elves have different traits, and he thinks that I fit the traits of an elf. He thinks that I do well with the football in my hands and calls the football my dagger."

In the preseason, Leach installed a tailor-made offensive package named "Elf," complete with a picture of a little elf in the playbook. It is a zone-read play out of the shotgun formation with Morris and a running back lining up on either side of quarterback Graham Harrell. The direct snap goes to Morris, a quarterback at Shallowater High School, who has the option to run the ball, hand it off to the running back or pass to an open receiver. Wideout Michael Crabtree, also a quarterback in high school, also gets reps in the formation.

"I played quarterback in high school so I'm familiar with it," said Morris, who had 24 touchdowns by way of 926 yards rushing during his senior year in high school. "We ran the zone read a lot. It's something I haven't done in a couple years, but I'm kind of getting back in the swing of things now, and it's always exciting to have the ball in your hands and be able to make decisions out there."

During a 58-28 win against Kansas State Saturday, Tech had minimal production out of the "Elf," but with Crabtree in the backfield, not Morris.

"Coach said I'm the second man to that," said Crabtree, who has 564 yards receiving and eight touchdowns. "It's fun; it's just like being a running back or something; it's just football."

Harrell said the fiery Morris, who caused a penalty for the Red Raiders for not wanting to come out of the game this season, is itching to get his hands on the football in his own formation.

"He's probably mad he didn't get to run it last week," Harrell said. "He didn't get a lot of practice in the week off, so Crab got all the reps in that little package, so Crab got the reps this week in the game. Eric wants it. Eric wants to be back there."

Morris has made plenty of plays as an inside receiver and punt returner this year. He has 327 yards receiving and two touchdowns, including a 164-yard outing against Eastern Washington, and he returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown against Nevada.

Morris said his read in the play is to see if the defense crashes down or stays in a zone. If they crash, then Morris said he will pull out of the hand off and run where he sees open field.

"It's just something we're playing with, we've always tried to get the ball in all the skill guys hands," receivers coach Lincoln Riley said. "If we can find new ways to do it, we'll do that. If we see a team that we like it against, we may throw it out there or we may not. We're just gonna keep toying with it."

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