Morlon O'Neil Greenwood (born July 17, 1978) is a former

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 wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

Early years

Greenwood attended Freeport High School and participated in both football and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

. At first, he was a wrestling athlete who had won the Empire State Games in the freestyle division as a sophomore and as a junior as well as the Greco-Roman division as a junior. An assistant wrestling coach Russ Cellan (who was also the head football coach) then convinced him to play football as a junior. As a senior, in football, he was an All-County and an All-State pick, while he won the state wrestling title in the 215 lb. class.

College career

Greenwood played collegiate at Syracuse University where he started 48 consecutive games at linebacker. As a red shirt freshman, he recorded 64 tackles and two quarterback sacks while being named to the Freshman All-American second-team choice by The Sporting News. During his sophomore year, he made 55 tackles and 3 sacks. As a junior for the Orange, Greenwood collected 91 tackles along with one sack, which was against Michigan quarterback

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

. Being named co-captain his senior year, he had a career high 98 tackles while being named to the 2000 All Big East First-team along with teammates

Dwight Freeney Dwight Jason Freeney (born February 19, 1980) is an American former football player who played as a defensive end and outside linebacker for 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Syracuse University, whe ...

and. He graduated from Syracuse with a bachelor's degree in Health and Exercise Science.

Professional career

Greenwood was selected in the 2001 NFL Draft by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

. He played four years with Miami including a 2004 season in which he recorded 108 tackles for the Dolphins. In 2005, as a free agent, he signed a five-year contract with the Houston Texans which was worth $22.5 million and featured a $7 million signing bonus. His career with the Texans was highlighted by a 2007 season where he posted 118 tackles. In 2009, he had a brief period with the Oakland Raiders. Morlon Greenwood, a graduate of Freeport High School, was inducted in the inaugural Nassau County High School Athletics Hall of Fame. The class of 6 included notable athletes from Nassau County on Long Island such as Jay Fiedler of the Miami Dolphins and fellow Syracuse alum and NFL Hall of famer Jim Brown. The induction ceremony took on September 30, 2015 in Long Island NY.

Player profile

Greenwood was known mainly for his superb level of strength and conditioning. During his pro day at Syracuse, he posted a 4.47 40 yard dash time, a 415-pound bench press, a 685-pound squat, and a 350-pound power clean. In addition, he was named a 2002 National Strength Coaches Association All American. He was also known for his awareness on the field, having 4 straight NFL seasons of over 100 tackles.

References

just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenwood, Morlon 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica Sportspeople from Nassau County, New York People from Freeport, New York Jamaican emigrants to the United States Jamaican players of American football American football linebackers Syracuse Orange football players Miami Dolphins players Houston Texans players Oakland Raiders players Omaha Nighthawks players