2014 S Matt Morrissey Has A Lot to Say About Michigan State and His Recruitment

Matt Morrissey Q: Matt, how are you buddy? A: I’m doing well. Thanks for having me. Q: You can go look all you want, but you have to admit…even if you

Matt Morrissey

Q: Matt, how are you buddy?

A: I’m doing well. Thanks for having me.

Q: You can go look all you want, but you have to admit…even if you pick a different school, I think you’ve got little Spartan helmets flowing through your blood.

A: Our house was a Spartan house my whole life. The process is fun, the recruiting process is fun. Hopefully I’ll take a couple visits here in the next couple of weeks and come down to a decision.

Q: How much of a blessing is it that your family is backing off and letting you pick what’s best for you?

A: Oh yeah, it’s unbelievable. Obviously they give me a couple jokes here and there about wanting me to come to Michigan State, but overall they really want me just to make my own decision and find the best fit for me, just because I’m the one going to college for the next 4 years. It’s great that they let me kinda make my own decision.

Q: I’m gonna give you one little piece of advice, because I know your dad. I’m gonna root for you wherever you go…

A: Thank you very much.

Q: …but if you go to Michigan, your Dad will kill you.

A: Yeah, I don’t know. It’s probably not his favorite school. But here again, he’s letting me make my own decision and I thank him for that every day.

Q: You can say you don’t know, but I’m telling you... You could pick anywhere you want, but if you pick Michigan the man is going to kill you.

A: Yeah, Michigan’s not on his highest list I’m sure.

Q: Your dad played football and a lot of people may have known about your dad, but not your mom. What an amazing lady. Are you able to step back and really appreciate how blessed you are to have the family that you do?

A: Of course. It’s a blessing every day just to have the parents that I do and the way that they raised me and the man that I am today. Obviously it’s also my other three siblings…my two sisters and my older brother. I’m the youngest of 4. But they’ve taken care of me and it’s just a blessing every day to have those people in my life.

Q: Do you have any old tape of your dad?

A: He likes to bring it up sometimes but I haven’t watched too much of it.

Q: You play just like him. When you were growing up, was football something he let you fall in love with or did you just fall in love with it because your dad loved it?

A: My dad let me play all the sports from baseball to basketball. I still play basketball now. It’s just something that I realized as a kid that my dad did, my older brother did whom I idolized very much. It’s a game that grows on you. It’s a team game that I love so much and our family has been around our whole lives. My dad’s really just kinda let me grow to love it and now that he realizes that I do, he loves it and embraces that and we kinda share that bond together.

Q: I talked to your coaches and teachers and heard the same thing about you from three different people. You think you’re a comedian. You’ll say stuff and you’ll laugh, but nobody else is laughing. And then everybody else starts laughing at you laughing at yourself. Does your sense of humor need a little help?

A: If you don’t think your own jokes are funny then why tell them? You gotta at least laugh at yourself.

Q: One of the ladies in your office said that you think you’re hilarious. That’s pretty funny that everyone notices that about you.

A: Yeah, it’s alright. Hopefully I make some people laugh though. But if they don’t at least I’m enjoying it.

Q: No, you do. They didn’t mean that in a bad way. They just thought it was funny.

A: Oh, okay.

Q; If you had to pick an NFL player or someone that everyone knows, how do you think you play?

A: Boy, I don’t know if I can pick out a specific player. I feel like I come to every game. You gotta play angry…my dad’s always taught me that. It’s a physical game, it’s a violent game…football…you have to come every play and you know that the guy across from you is gonna come every play. So bring it on every play and play fast and just play physical.

Q: Your game reminds me of John Lynch. I don’t know if you’re too young to remember him.

A: Yeah, Tampa Bay safety. Thank you for that. That’s a great comparison.

Q: Lynch was not afraid to come up and almost play like an additional linebacker, but he was also very comfortable and fluid back in coverage. I just think you’re very fluid. You can flip your hips and be a coverage guy. Is that a fair comparison?

A: Thank you very much. I hope so. That’s a great comparison for me. I’ve played linebacker my whole life, in middle school and growing up. When I moved to safety it kinda felt like a natural transition for me. I can run pretty well, so that’s why I think safety’s more of a spot for me. If I put on some weight I see some colleges thinking they can go back to my middle school days and play some linebacker.

Q: How much do you really weigh? You look more muscular than the 180-190 that I’ve heard.

A: Basketball’s kinda different. When I’m in basketball I’m kinda that weight, but after basketball I was about 180. I’m up to 195 now. The spring has been fun and the working hard with my team every day. I’ve been trying to put that weight back on. I’m back up to about 195. I’m just getting ready for this summer. It starts in a week and I’m pretty excited.

Q: Going back to the Lynch example… You are a ferocious hitter. You absolutely love to tattoo guys. Am I reading you right?

A: Of course, definitely. That’s the game of football. You always gotta bring everything you got on every hit. So yeah, of course.

Q: I wanna say this with complete honesty. When you’ve grown up a Spartan and you’ve been on campus a million times, how do you come take a visit? What will you be looking for?

A: Yeah. I’ve been to the campus many times so it’s not really a look in the campus style. I wanna meet with the coaches. I know I’ve met with them once or twice, but I wanna kinda sit down and talk to them for awhile and kinda see where I stand. Academics is very important to me as well, so I’d like to sit down with some of the academic counselors and talk to them and see where I fit in that category. I just wanna kinda feel for it, maybe get to know a couple of the players that are down there right now and kinda see how I fit in.

Q: Off the field, school is extremely important to you. Would you talk about that educational part of you, please?

A: Definitely. Of course. In my family, football is a big part of our lives. But it’s family first, then school, then your sport. My mom and my dad have always stressed that to me my whole life. That’s really paid off for me in school. I’m studying right now actually for finals in this next week. It’s been fun and I gotta keep working hard every day in the classroom and on the field.

Q: Do you enjoy the recruiting process? Has it been fun?

A: Yeah, it’s fun talking to a lot of different schools. All of these coaches have been great to me. They’ve definitely let me kinda play through all my options. It’s been great and it’s kinda nice to maybe get it over here in the next couple weeks, focus on my football season coming up here and hopefully I can have a big senior season for my team.

Q: In the recruiting process, what’s the funniest thing a coach has told you in recruiting? For example, a recruit told me once that a coach told him, “The chicks are prettier here.”

A: Yeah, there’s been that exact example you just gave me. I’ve had that one before. A coach came up to me and was saying, “We brought out the models for you today.” It was pretty funny with the girls and stuff like that. But besides that I can’t really think of anything too funny or out of the ordinary. It’s been fun talking to coaches. All the coaches that have been recruiting me have been great guys and have respected me and I always respect them of course. It’s been a good process for me.

Q: With your mom and sister being a Spartan, you must admit that the prettiest women are in East Lansing.

A: Of course, of course. I can’t deny that. Definitely going with the mom and sister. Can’t go against them.

Q: And even if you didn’t think that, if you want an inheritance and you wanna keep your teeth, you can’t deny that.

A: Yeah, of course not.

Q: When was that moment that you realized you love football?

A: That’s a funny question to be asked because going into high school I thought I was a basketball player. My sport was basketball growing up. But then when I got kinda into high school, I started playing on my freshman team my freshman year. It was fun playing…playing with my team and playing with my friends. But it really stuck with me when I came home after my sophomore year after a game, it was one of my better games. We won in overtime. I just came back to the house and had my parents and my siblings and my cousins there. They were so proud of me and happy for me that I had a great game. It’s fun because football is such a community sport. When it comes down to it you’re playing for your family and you’re playing for your friends and your community. That’s what really came down to it…football is just that sport for me.

Q: I was told to ask you this by someone at your school. Who’s the better athlete, you or your sister?

A: That’s a good question. I’d have to say myself. We’re competitive, of course. We always go to our local gym and play one on one. It’s actually a battle; you’d be surprised how good she is and how well she can shoot. So you always gotta stay on her. I don’t let up just because she’s a girl, of course not. Because if I did, she’d beat me. She gets me sometimes of course, she beats me sometimes, but it’s fun playing her. We’re a competitive family and it’s fun to play with each other.

Q: Matt Morrissey, terrific young man.