Daily Pilot Football Player of the Week, Morgan Craig: Safety first

Barry Faulkner

When the Newport Harbor High football team’s defense takes the

field, head coach and offensive coordinator Jeff Brinkley usually takes

the opportunity to visit with quarterback Morgan Craig.

These sideline sessions can include brief reassurance, strategic

scheming, constructive criticism or, sometimes, a terse talking to.

The first-year junior starter’s play, however, continues to ensure

confabs with his coach fit the description of quality time.

“Sometimes it’s good to be able to talk to coach and go over what’s

going on out there,” Craig said. “But, it can be a bad thing, if you have

to come over and face him after you’ve made a bad play.”

Bad plays, even incomplete passes, have become fleeting for the

6-foot-2, 182-pound signal caller, whose sound decisions have helped

fourth-seeded Harbor win nine of his 10 starts, en route to Saturday’s

CIF Southern Section Division VI semifinal against top-seeded and

unbeaten La Mirada.

Craig, who opened the season as returning starter (and now tailback)

Chris Manderino’s understudy, completed 7 of 8 passes for 62 yards in

Friday’s 49-10 quarterfinal win over Kennedy. He is now 13 of 16 for 170 yards and one touchdown in the playoffs, upping his season completion

rate to nearly 62% (87 for 142). In addition, he has thrown more than

twice as many touchdown passes (seven) as interceptions (three).

“He’s playing very well for us,” Brinkley said of the Daily Pilot

Player of the Week. “He’s staying within the system, has been very

accurate, and his turnover ratio has been very good.”

Craig attributes his success, which includes 1,017 passing yards this

fall, to an increased comfort zone, since becoming the starter in Week 3.

“I’m a lot more comfortable out there and I’m doing a better job of

not getting so stressed out,” he said. “In the past, I’ve worn myself

out, because I got so nervous the day of a game. But I’ve gotten better

at relaxing and not worrying so much.”

Though most of the team leadership comes from seniors, Brinkley said

Craig does not shy away from taking command of the offense.

“He’s a good leader, who is respected by his teammates,” Brinkley

said. “He has that intangible of being a very competitive young man.”

Lately, Craig is competing with perfection. And, Brinkley believes, he

has only scratched the surface of his potential.

“I still think his best game is yet to come this year,” Brinkley said.

“I like his progress, physically, as well as mentally. But any time you

become more comfortable, more knowledgeable and you understand things

better, you should be more and more productive.”

Craig’s only football experience before high school was three years in

a flag league.

“I didn’t start playing quarterback till my last year of flag in

eighth grade,” Craig said. “But my coaches told me I should try to play

quarterback in high school.”

Craig displayed a strong, accurate arm for the Sailors’ freshman team,

then began ascending toward the starting role Brinkley bestows on few

juniors.

Though relatively new to the position, his lineage includes

quarterbacking ties. His grandfather, Grenville Lansdell, played

quarterback at USC, capping his three-season tenure with a Rose Bowl

appearance to culminate the 1939 campaign.

In addition to his passing prowess, Craig’s mobility makes him a

threat to scramble, or run by design.

Against Kennedy, Craig carried four times on bootlegs, gaining 32

yards and forcing the Fighting Irish to attack the off-tackle running

play (which he faked, before sprinting around end) more conservatively.

He has the freedom to change plays with audibles, but admits he rarely

executes this option, trusting Brinkley’s experience over his own.

All the better to increase those sideline installments of quality

time.