BUILDING BLOCKS: Morris leads Penn D-backs

Quakers are second'ary' to none With a defensive front seven featuring six new starters, the Penn defense has many questions to answer heading into the season. But as far as the secondary is concerned, there are no questions. What there is, though, is a lot of heart, intensity and fire. With three seniors lining up in the defensive backfield, the secondary is the deepest and most experienced unit on the defense. With this experience comes the need to provide leadership, and this talented unit will do plenty of that. "Last year we were kind of the young bucks on the team," senior Dana Lyons said. "Now this year we have to take in the reigns and be leaders out there." Paving the way will be strong safety Nick Morris, who garnered second-team all-Ivy status last year. Joining Morris at safety is Lyons, who also started every game last season. Kevin Allen, another second-team all-Ivy secondary member, is back to man the right cornerback position. The lone newcomer to the group is sophomore Larrin Robertson. Robertson will have the burden of replacing the best cover man in the Ivy League last season, Jamie Daniels, who was lost to graduation. "I think the biggest change is we can't make as many mistakes as we did last year," Allen said. "We made a couple mistakes that we can't make this year. With the front seven last year, we were able to get away with those mistakes." The defensive backfield is going to find itself assisting the front seven this time around. Secondary coach Rick Flanders plans to incorporate the safeties into a role featuring much more run support. Often an eighth man will be brought up to help neutralize the opponent's ground game. "We just have to take care of our own," Morris said. "If everybody does that there's not going to be a problem. We just have to do our job." With a safety being brought up in run support, the rest of the secondary must pick its performance up to an even higher level. Allen and Robertson will find themselves in much man-to-man coverage. If past performance is any indication, the two corners should prosper. "This is the best group of kids I've had in 13 years of coaching," Flanders said. "I never have to worry about motivating this group. They're very competitive human beings. At times I have to back them off a bit." No one is any more competitive than Morris. A fifth-year senior who has also logged time at quarterback, the safety's aggressive, emotional play fires up the entire defense. The hard-hitting Morris was third on the team with 78 tackles last year, recovered four fumbles and picked off two passes. This year's statistics should be even more impressive. "Nick is a very intense human being," Flanders said. "His mentality is more like that of a linebacker. And that's good since we teach coverage from a finesse standpoint and Nick brings us a hard-nosed style." Complimenting Morris' aggressiveness is Allen. A senior who will be graduating in January, Allen has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the program. Despite a bad back, he is sacrificing himself to try to preserve the Quakers' winning ways. "Kevin is making a hell of a commitment this season," Flanders said. "He's going to play in major pain this year. He's going to feel like an offensive lineman after games this year. That's the nature of the beast in him." More like the nature of an outstanding secondary.