Morton Looking To Avoid Sophomore Jinks
Barry F. Hess
August 30, 2006
It is called the sophomore jinks.
Simply put, it’s the second year of an athlete’s career in which his progression or growth is stunted after enjoying a successful and often times unexpected first year.
The sophomore jinks has no boundaries and can blindside an athlete in most any sport before he has a chance to even know what hit him.
In baseball it usually follows pitchers around more than any, in basketball it’s that undersized shooting guard that somehow averaged a double-double in the previous year, in hockey it plagues goaltenders more often than the feared groin injuries they never seem to get rid of and in football, it almost exclusively plagues the most important player on the field, the quarterback.
Of course there are always exceptions to the rule.
Pedro Martinez successfully avoided the jinks while pitching in Montreal early in his career.
Shawn Bibby continued putting up double-doubles in the NBA and Patrick Roy never looked back after his first of many dominating seasons with the Noirdiques/ Avalanche.
In football quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Ben Rothlisberger hit the ground running and never looked back.
Second year Abington quarterback Kevin Morton will be looking to add his name to the latter list of players as he prepares to begin his second season under center in what is becoming an eagerly anticipated 2006 season for a Ghost team that missed the post-season by just one game a year ago.
Morton, who threw nearly 20 touchdowns in 05’ to just 11 interceptions in well over 300 passing attempts has been working all off-season to avoid any sort of sophomoric jinks.
He has really put the work in over the off-season and you can begin to see it already,” said Abington coach Tim Sorber. “He looks bigger and stronger than he did last year and that will help him on the field.”
When Morton broke onto the scene last year he redefined the position for a team whose last two quarterbacks, Jeff Chick and Jason Spiegel, were almost glorified running backs playing the QB position.
But Morton’s ability to throw the football was identified by Sorber as a freshman and going into the 05’ season the bulk of the offense was changed to suit Morton’s strengths.
And what a list of strengths they are.
An equally strong and accurate throwing arm, exceptional field vision, the ability to make the right decision on the fly and talk about not cracking under pressure.
During last year’s annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry game against Cheltenham not only did Morton drive his team nearly 80 yards down the field inside the last several minutes of the game to force overtime but he delivered on the first play of the extra session with a highlight-reel type run that appeared to win his team the game.
A fourth and goal TD and an improvable two-point conversion on the Panthers ensuing position prevented the win but Morton’s performance on that mild November afternoon will go down as one of the single greatest performances in the history of the rivalry.
Morton’s attributes, however, are hardly limited to the physical aspect of the game.
Unlike most quarterbacks at the high school level, Morton has such an intellectual understanding of the game Sorber entrusts in him the ability to make his own audibles or other changes at the line of scrimmage.
He’s not running the old Kenny Stabler offense from years back and calling all his own plays or anything like that just yet,” Sorber jested. “But I can say I have given him the ability to say, hey, if you see this or this then you can audible to this. And he has the ability to process that and really make it work.”
Whether or not he’s quite up to the level of “The Snake” Morton is expected to continue his progression as an athlete in a year the Ghosts are expecting big things from most every other position on the field.
As he continues to progress at the position I would also like to see him progresses as a leader as well,” Sorber said. “He has been named a captain and I’ve told him that he needs to be more of a vocal leader this year. Whether that means putting a foot up someone’s butt when they need it or just vocal support or whatever. And if he’s not living up to what I think he’s capable of then he will hear it from me.”
While everyone around the program is optimistic Morton will continue to progress 2006 will not be a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination.
The cat is without question out of the bag and when the opposition line up against the maroon and white they will hardly underestimate the junior QB and his ability.
In addition, the Ghosts schedule is somewhat tougher from one year ago, with non-league teams like Northeast High, Souderton and Central Bucks South scheduled, and the loss of the team’s two best receivers has some questioning just who exactly will Morton be throwing to.
Sorber, however, is hardly concerned.
We had some great receivers last year and it does hurt to lose them,” said Sorber. “But if you look at us a few year years ago our leading receiver had 12 catches and we were still able to put points on the board.”
As the Ghosts head into their first regular season game against Central Bucks East this Friday night all eyes will be on Morton as he leads the team onto the field for another promising year.
With a similar offense in place from last year and a threatening running game to balance the attack Morton has the tools around him to make his rookie season look like child’s play.
With everything in place for a successful year only time will tell if the talented young QB has the talent to outrun that sneaky sophomore jinks.
Simply put, it’s the second year of an athlete’s career in which his progression or growth is stunted after enjoying a successful and often times unexpected first year.
The sophomore jinks has no boundaries and can blindside an athlete in most any sport before he has a chance to even know what hit him.
In baseball it usually follows pitchers around more than any, in basketball it’s that undersized shooting guard that somehow averaged a double-double in the previous year, in hockey it plagues goaltenders more often than the feared groin injuries they never seem to get rid of and in football, it almost exclusively plagues the most important player on the field, the quarterback.
Of course there are always exceptions to the rule.
Pedro Martinez successfully avoided the jinks while pitching in Montreal early in his career.
Shawn Bibby continued putting up double-doubles in the NBA and Patrick Roy never looked back after his first of many dominating seasons with the Noirdiques/ Avalanche.
In football quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Ben Rothlisberger hit the ground running and never looked back.
Second year Abington quarterback Kevin Morton will be looking to add his name to the latter list of players as he prepares to begin his second season under center in what is becoming an eagerly anticipated 2006 season for a Ghost team that missed the post-season by just one game a year ago.
Morton, who threw nearly 20 touchdowns in 05’ to just 11 interceptions in well over 300 passing attempts has been working all off-season to avoid any sort of sophomoric jinks.
He has really put the work in over the off-season and you can begin to see it already,” said Abington coach Tim Sorber. “He looks bigger and stronger than he did last year and that will help him on the field.”
When Morton broke onto the scene last year he redefined the position for a team whose last two quarterbacks, Jeff Chick and Jason Spiegel, were almost glorified running backs playing the QB position.
But Morton’s ability to throw the football was identified by Sorber as a freshman and going into the 05’ season the bulk of the offense was changed to suit Morton’s strengths.
And what a list of strengths they are.
An equally strong and accurate throwing arm, exceptional field vision, the ability to make the right decision on the fly and talk about not cracking under pressure.
During last year’s annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry game against Cheltenham not only did Morton drive his team nearly 80 yards down the field inside the last several minutes of the game to force overtime but he delivered on the first play of the extra session with a highlight-reel type run that appeared to win his team the game.
A fourth and goal TD and an improvable two-point conversion on the Panthers ensuing position prevented the win but Morton’s performance on that mild November afternoon will go down as one of the single greatest performances in the history of the rivalry.
Morton’s attributes, however, are hardly limited to the physical aspect of the game.
Unlike most quarterbacks at the high school level, Morton has such an intellectual understanding of the game Sorber entrusts in him the ability to make his own audibles or other changes at the line of scrimmage.
He’s not running the old Kenny Stabler offense from years back and calling all his own plays or anything like that just yet,” Sorber jested. “But I can say I have given him the ability to say, hey, if you see this or this then you can audible to this. And he has the ability to process that and really make it work.”
Whether or not he’s quite up to the level of “The Snake” Morton is expected to continue his progression as an athlete in a year the Ghosts are expecting big things from most every other position on the field.
As he continues to progress at the position I would also like to see him progresses as a leader as well,” Sorber said. “He has been named a captain and I’ve told him that he needs to be more of a vocal leader this year. Whether that means putting a foot up someone’s butt when they need it or just vocal support or whatever. And if he’s not living up to what I think he’s capable of then he will hear it from me.”
While everyone around the program is optimistic Morton will continue to progress 2006 will not be a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination.
The cat is without question out of the bag and when the opposition line up against the maroon and white they will hardly underestimate the junior QB and his ability.
In addition, the Ghosts schedule is somewhat tougher from one year ago, with non-league teams like Northeast High, Souderton and Central Bucks South scheduled, and the loss of the team’s two best receivers has some questioning just who exactly will Morton be throwing to.
Sorber, however, is hardly concerned.
We had some great receivers last year and it does hurt to lose them,” said Sorber. “But if you look at us a few year years ago our leading receiver had 12 catches and we were still able to put points on the board.”
As the Ghosts head into their first regular season game against Central Bucks East this Friday night all eyes will be on Morton as he leads the team onto the field for another promising year.
With a similar offense in place from last year and a threatening running game to balance the attack Morton has the tools around him to make his rookie season look like child’s play.
With everything in place for a successful year only time will tell if the talented young QB has the talent to outrun that sneaky sophomore jinks.
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