Early years
Barbara Morrison, Steve's mother, says Steve was read his last rites on the day of his birth because he had the same lung disease that Patrick Kennedy, the son of United States President John F. Kennedy, died from. He was then put in an incubator where his mother could not touch him for 12 months. [1] Morrison wanted to be a linebacker because of the tenacity of the position. [2] His favorite book was a book about Jack Lambert and Jack Ham and he grew up a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. [3] He played soccer when he was a youth. [4]
High school
Morrison competed for Brother Rice High School of the Detroit, Michigan Catholic High School League. [5] As a junior who played both fullback and linebacker, he was sidelined for the remainder of the season with a knee injury in his third game, but the team went 7–2 for the season despite his injury. [6] As a senior, Morrison was part of a 1989 team that lost in the Class A semifinals 6–0 to Martin Luther King High School at Atwood Stadium. [7] The team had been ranked as the number three high school team in the Metro Detroit Area by the Detroit Free Press in its pre-season poll. [6] Morrison had been hailed as a blue chip athlete entering his senior season in the same pre-season summary. [6] The team was 11–0 and the number one ranked area high school team prior to the loss. [8] Once, Morrison executed an 82-yard punt during a high school game. [4] During his senior season, his coach, Al Fracassa, was the Detroit Free Press Coach of the Year and Morrison was a First-Team All-Metro Detroit selection at linebacker. However, fellow fullback/linebacker two-way Detroit area player Jerome Bettis was the first team fullback. [9] Both players earned first-team Detroit Free Press All-State honors. [10] However, a poll of 14 experts selected Bettis first-team all-Midwest (Big Ten States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin because Penn State had not yet joined the conference), but only selected Morrison second-team all Midwest. [11] In high school, Morrison was an All-American in lacrosse, along with Brother Rice and Michigan football teammate Gannon Dudlar. [12] He was a Catholic High School League Hall of Fame athlete and was inducted in the 1995 Hall of Fame class that included Shawn Respert, among others. [5]
College
After attending Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, his college decision eventually came down to a choice between Michigan and Michigan State University. [13] He was part of a highly touted Michigan recruiting class that was ranked fourth in the nation and that included five of the top twelve players in the state and seven of the top twelve regional players. [14] [15] [16] He spent five years at the University of Michigan where he anchored the defense as an inside linebacker. [1] [17] In 1990, he was the first true freshman to start on defense since 1987. [18] In his 1991 debut for Michigan against the Boston College Eagles, he opposed former Brother Rice teammate Pete Mitchell, who was appearing in his first game. On Mitchell's first career catch, Morrison was warned for making a late hit against Mitchell. [19] A total of seven Brother Rice alumni played in the game. [20] He became a rare five-year varsity letter winner while wearing #36 for the Michigan Wolverines football program from 1990 to 1994, [21] He was mentored by 1991 Butkus Award winner Erick Anderson. [3] He helped the 1990 three-peat Big Ten Conference Champions defend their title for a total of five consecutive conference championships ending in 1992. The 1991 and 1992 teams went to the Rose Bowl. [22] [23] During the 1992 season, he replaced Anderson, who had led Michigan in tackles four consecutive seasons, [24] as the defensive signal caller. [25] He was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after making 15 tackles against Purdue Boilermakers on October 31, 1992. [26] He was named the 1992 winner of The Roger Zatkoff Award as the team's best linebacker.
He became team captain in 1994 for coach Gary Moeller. [27] On a team that had two All-Americans (Ty Law and Remy Hamilton), he was one of six All-Big Ten players (Law, Hamilton, Tyrone Wheatley, Amani Toomer and Jason Horn) and a Butkus Award semifinalist. [27] [28] Morrison earned his bachelor's degree in sports management and communications in 1994 from Michigan. [29]
At the time of his graduation, he ranked third in career tackles in school history, behind Anderson and Ron Simpkins. [30] He has since been passed by Jarrett Irons and Sam Sword, and he stands fifth with 220 tackles. [30] In terms of tackles and assists combined, Morrison once totaled 23 in a November 14, 1992 game against the Illinois Fighting Illini football team, which stands as a Michigan Football record for a game at Michigan Stadium. [31] [32] Morrison suffered compartmental syndrome in his calf, which necessitated surgical repair to stop internal bleeding, [33] during his 1990 freshman season, for which he earned a medical redshirt season by the NCAA. As a sophomore (redshirt freshman), he sat out four games with a broken leg. In 1993, he missed the first seven games with a broken foot. [1]
