NFL Combine: Marana's own Jordan Morgan credits Fisch, Arizona with prepping him for pros

INDIANAPOLIS — When Jordan Morgan watched “Hard Knocks,” a lot of things looked familiar.

Former Arizona football coach Jedd Fisch used to call his Wildcats the 33rd NFL team. Everything about them — from the offensive playbook to training table, from workouts to rehab — reflected what he learned in 13 years as an NFL assistant.

It wasn’t until Morgan watched HBO’s annual training camp documentary that he saw the similarities for himself. The meetings looked a lot like what the Wildcats did.

“He’s a pro-style coach,” Morgan said Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “You get to the league and it’s a pro-style everything. Everything you go do, it’s already there. You already know everything.”

In that sense, Morgan has been preparing for the NFL for years. This time, though, he’s healthy.

He likely would have turned pro a year ago — and been drafted in the first three rounds — had he not torn the ACL in his right knee in a 2022 game against UCLA. Staying at Arizona for a fifth year made the 22-year-old even more ready.

“It taught me to stay more patient,” he said. “Before, I was really good. During the injury, I was getting frustrated at the beginning, being out for so long and not being around my teammates and missing so much. It was hard but it taught me to be patient and understand I still have another year.”

He used it well. The Marana native gave up only two sacks in 2023. Pro Football Focus gave him the highest grade on the Wildcats in pass-blocking, run-blocking and total blocking. The football analysis site considered him the fifth-best blocker in the Pac-12.

He got there by pushing through his rehab. Wildcats tight end Tanner McLachlan points to Morgan’s professional attitude — particularly at his lowest points — for his success.

“He went through that ACL and he handled that rehab like a pro,” said McLachlan, one of four Wildcats in Indianapolis for the combine alongside Morgan, wide receiver Jacob Cowing and running back Michael Wiley. “You see it in his work ethic, you see it in his every day work style.”

And you’ll see it in the NFL soon.

Exactly where — and at what position — will get sorted out at the draft in late April.

“Jordan Morgan is a little bit of a tricky evaluation,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said last week. “He is a little bit up and down. He is coming off of an ACL … but there’s a lot of ability there.

“He’s someone who I think teams feel like has that type of versatility to be able to start inside before eventually kicking back out. He played left tackle at Arizona. Maybe he could find his home back out there.”

Teams used part their 20-minute meetings this week to gauge Morgan’s interest in moving from tackle to guard. Morgan suspects it’s because of his lack of ideal arm length — his measure 32 7/8 inches — though he pointed to Chargers tackle Rashawn Slater as someone who made it work.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

The secret, he said, is technique.

“Striking before they expect me to strike,” he said. “Striking too early, that’ll give me an advantage — getting my hands in their chest before they can get their hands in my chest.”

Tackles typically make more money in free agency than guards. They get drafted higher, too. Of the five offensive linemen drafted in Round 1 last year, four were tackles. The fifth, Peter Skoronski, played tackle at Northwestern but was a candidate to move inside because of his arm length. The Titans did just that after they drafted him 11th.

The NFL has 14 tackles slated to have more than a $20 million salary cap hit in 2024 — and only four guards.

Morgan played tackle at the Senior Bowl, and did well. He’d rather stary there, but said he’s willing to do whatever his next team needs.

“I’m not going to be mad about it,” he said. “You can’t be mad about it. They’re drafting you at the end of the day. You gotta be excited about it. You got to be ready to do whatever you’ve got to do to help a team out. …

“That’s the name of the game. You have to be able to bounce around and help where you can.”

He’s likely to become the first UA offensive lineman drafted since Eben Britten was taken in Round 2 by the Jaguars in 2009. He might even be the highest Wildcats lineman drafted since John Fina went 27th to the Bills in 1992.

Morgan credits the professionalism he learned from Fisch — even if Fisch isn’t at Arizona any longer.

“You’ve got to understand that it’s a business,” he said. “It happens. He’s a really good coach at the end of the day. I don’t despise him for it, I don’t hate him for it. He’s a really good coach. I still stay in contact with him.”

And with new coach Brent Brennan.

“Since he got there, he’s been a really good coach,” he said. “He’s been on my side.”