Valued player
Sooner standout receiver Lee Morris is no longer a walkon player.
NORMAN — There was no chance of disturbing others when Oklahoma walkon receiver Lee Morris FaceTimed his mom, Liz Morris, on Monday afternoon.
Liz and her husband, Lee Morris Jr., were in the car by themselves around Ardmore, not quite halfway between Norman and Allen, Texas, when Liz’s phone lit up.
Lee Jr. was behind the wheel, his wife in the passenger seat when their son’s face popped up on the screen.
“I could tell by the way he was looking that he had news,” Liz said.
“Do we need to pull over?” she asked her son.
They can be forgiven if the car swerved a tiny bit on I-35 when their son delivered the news they’d been waiting to hear —that Lee was on scholarship.
“We were so excited and pleased,” Lee Jr. said. “We’re still trying to grasp everything that is going on and going down.”
The pair screamed and hollered as they made their way back from watching their son become such a star of Saturday’s 63-14 win over Florida Atlantic that coach Lincoln Riley after the game had pretty well guaranteed that Morris would be on scholarship sooner rather than later.
Since he arrived on campus, Morris and his mother had talked about the plan should he be put on scholarship.
Liz told Lee to make sure she was somewhere where she could talk — or, more appropriately, scream, if he had to opportunity to call and tell her such news.
But even with the buildup in Riley’s postgame news conference and even his address to the media Monday, the Morrises weren’t counting on the call from their son Monday.
They were still floating from Saturday, when he blocked a punt that turned into a touchdown and then caught a 65-yard touchdown pass.
The pair have been
longtime season-ticket holders in Section 17 in the north end of the stadium.
Last season, during their son’s only home reception — a touchdown against Tulane — the Sooners’ offense was heading toward the south end.
Saturday, both of Morris’ big plays happened in the north end, and Lee Jr. and Liz got a great look.
“I was so excited that I almost fell over the railing,” Lee Jr. said. “It was something awesome to behold.”
Lee Jr. knows what it’s like to walk on at OU and eventually earn a scholarship.
He starred at Del City before walking on with the Sooners.
Before the 1985 season,
Barry Switzer called him over.
“Have your parents paid for your tuition,” Switzer asked.
After Morris Jr. answered no, Switzer told him to tell his parents not to worry about it.
Monday, Lee Jr. got to be on the other end of that call.
“Lee has grown up knowing nothing but OU football and that was always his first choice and passion,” Liz said. “When he had an opportunity to do, albeit as a walkon, we were committed to it. That’s all he’s ever heard his dad talk about is how he walked on and earned a scholarship.
“The path was made for him.”