Bernard Raphael Morris (born May 29, 1985) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who is a free agent. He was signed as a

street free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

Arkansas Twisters Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage la ...

in 2009. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Marshall Thundering Herd The Marshall Thundering Herd is the intercollegiate athletic collection of teams that collectively represent the Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Thundering Herd athletic teams compete in the Sun Belt Conference, which are member ...

Early years

Morris was born on May 29, 1985 in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

to Marcia Morris. He played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

at Jones High School in Orlando. In basketball, he averaged nine points per game and 10 rebounds per game. While in football he ended up being named the offensive player of the year after throwing for 1,179 yards with 14 touchdowns in his senior year.

College career

College career statistics

Professional career

Morris was rated the 12th best quarterback in the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27, ...

by NFLDraftScout.com.

Arkansas Twisters

Morris was assigned to the

on December 15, 2008 along with ex-

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

quarterback, Xavier Lee. In the first round of the

2009 af2 season The 2009 AF2 season was the AF2's 10th and final season. It was preceded by 2008. The regular season began on Friday, March 20 and finished on Saturday, July 25. The league champion was the Spokane Shock, who defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pi ...

playoffs, Morris fumbled against the

Boise Burn The Boise Burn was an arena football team based in Boise, Idaho. The Burn began play in the af2 league in March 2007. Burn home games were played at the Qwest Arena in downtown Boise. Team history *June 6, 2006: af2 officials announced a Boise e ...

which was returned 32 yards for a touchdown. Arkansas ended up losing the game, 77–36.

Jacksonville Sharks

Following AF2's ceasing of operations in September 2009, Morris signed with the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks began play as charter members of the National Arena Leag ...

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

on January 6, 2010.

Pittsburgh Power

Bernard Morris signed with the expansion Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football League on September 27, 2010. He made his starting debut March 11, 2011 against the Philadelphia Soul. He was placed on injured reserve March 20 with a sore arm.

Jacksonville Sharks

On March 23, 2012, Morris re-signed with the Sharks for the 2012 AFL season.

Orlando Predators

On February 10, 2014, Morris was traded to the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

along with Matt Marcorelle and Trevis Turner for Aaron Garcia. Morris announced his retirement on October 11, 2016.

Washington Valor

On October 14, 2016, Morris's rights were acquired by the

Washington Valor The Washington Valor were a professional arena football team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2017 to 2019. The team's home arena was the Capital One Arena. The Valor were owned by Monumental Sports an ...

during the dispersal draft. He was placed on refused to report on March 15, 2017 and activated from refused to report on March 21, 2017.

Monterrey Steel

Morris signed with the

Monterrey Steel The Monterrey Steel was a professional indoor football team and a charter member of the National Arena League (NAL) that played in the 2017 season. Based in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, the Steel played their home games at Arena Monterrey. The Stee ...

on May 24, 2017. He played in 4 games for the Steel, completing 51 of 79 passes for 607 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. He also rushed for 88 yards and 4 touchdowns.

AFL statistics

''Stats from ArenaFan'':

References

External links

Jacksonville Sharks bio

postgazette.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Bernard 1985 births Living people American football quarterbacks Arkansas Twisters players Jacksonville Sharks players Marshall Thundering Herd football players Monterrey Steel players Orlando Predators players Jones High School (Orlando, Florida) alumni Pittsburgh Power players Players of American football from Orlando, Florida Washington Valor players