Bucs 2025 second-round pick Benjamin Morrison had a viral moment when Tampa Bay drafted the former Notre Dame cornerback.
With everything getting documented in today’s day and age, Morrison was seen getting very emotional when on the phone with general manager Jason Licht and head coach Todd Bowles when they told him he was getting drafted. Bowles even had to tell him to calm down at one point.
Morrison and the rest of the rookies have made their trek to Tampa and entered the Bucs facility for rookie mini-camp. It was the first time we were able to speak to him in person. Morrison explained a little bit more about why he was so overcome with emotion.
Benjamin Morrison Felt He Was Overlooked
“I wasn’t really doing it for anyone else,” Benjamin Morrison said. “I think for me, going into the year understanding I was one of the top corners, and then you get injured. Then you feel like you’re forgotten about. There’s so many things behind closed doors that many people don’t know that I had to go through last year with the uncertainty of my hip, the combine process, all that stuff. It honestly felt like a lot of people gave up on me. I’m still a kid at the end of the day, I’m growing up. I’m still going to have those growing pains, so it was tough.
Bucs CB Benjamin Morrison – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
“But at the end of the day, God doesn’t make mistakes, I landed at the right spot. It kind of validated when I walked in the doors that this was the place I was supposed to be at. My mom was like ‘You’re on a mission. God sent you here for a reason. Go attack it.’”
The reason Morrison dropped to the second round was because of the hip injury. But if he can recover from it and stay healthy, the Bucs may have gotten a steal by picking him. Morrison dealt with the injury to his other hip, so it’s helped him through this process.
“The same hip that people were concerned about is what they’ve watched on film for the past five years,” Morrison added. “The plays that they wowed about is on the repaired hip and the other one’s going to be the same way. I’m older, I heal faster, things like that. It’s not going to be the exact same just because I’m at a different phase of my life, but overall, the same people are helping me out. I plan to have the same success I did when I had the first one.”
Benjamin Morrison Goes From One Defensive Coach To Another
Bucs CB Benjamin Morrison – Photo by: USA Today
While every rookie attempts to adjust to the NFL level, Benjamin Morrison will have a slight sense of commonplace. Playing at Notre Dame, his head coach Marcus Freeman was a defensive minded head coach. Morrison certainly excelled under Freeman, recording nine interceptions in three seasons.
Coming to Tampa Bay, Morrison will get to play and learn under Todd Bowles, who was a defensive back in the NFL and was teammates with Morrison’s dad back in 1993. Bowles has gotten the best out of young defensive backs and Morrison could be next.
“I love it,” Morrison said of playing for a defensive coach in Bowles. “Coming from coach Freeman, that defensive mindset. Having head coaches who during indie periods is looking over at the safeties and corners as extra eyes. Coming to this team, nothing’s going to change. I love it, that’s what I’m used to playing for a defensive coach. It’s awesome.”