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People SearchFind an individual who either played a sport or was a member of a support group. Search by last name by clicking on the first letter of the person's last name.
Mr. Connor Morel
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Home Phone: 504-352-4935 Football: Morel may be UL’s man Dan McDonald Connor Morel’s relief stint for UL’s football team Saturday probably won’t be his last Cajun appearance. Desormeaux was a questionable starter at FIU but led UL to touchdowns on its first two possessions. However, he was hit while scrambling on the first play of the second quarter. He added bruised ribs to the clavicle injury he had late in UL’s 34-24 win at Middle Tennessee one week earlier. Morel, who had seen only mop-up duty in three games prior to Saturday, had taken virtually every practice snap with the number one offense last week. “I took all the reps until Thursday and that’s a no-contact day,” he said, “and that helped a lot. The whole week my mind-set was to be ready to play regardless, and it’s going to be pretty much the same thing this week. Mike’s going to play until we get the diagnosis that he can’t. “I want to play, but it’s unfortunate that it’s at that expense. Mike and I are very good friends and he’s supporting me all the way. I really wish he hadn’t gotten hurt, but at the same time I’m glad I got a chance to play. It would be a nice Thanksgiving for me to get to play some.” Morel, whose father Tommy was a three-year starter at wide receiver for LSU from 1966-68, knew almost instantly that he was entering the game Saturday. “When I saw Mike was on the ground and wasn’t getting up real quick, I immediately started warming up and went to the offensive line group,” he said. “I told them this was where we were going to determine how this was going to come out. I wasn’t going to let Mike going down affect us winning that game, and they embraced me with open arms. Chris (Fisher, UL’s starting center) was the first one that told me they had my back, and I really appreciated that.” Just in case Both Morel and Bustle were asked Monday about backup quarterbacks, specifically what would happen if Morel was injured. If Desormeaux was unavailable, the Cajuns’ options would be true freshmen Chris Masson or Brad McGuire, both planned to redshirt, or other roster players not listed as quarterbacks. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Bustle said. UL had running back Deon Wallace of Houston and wide receiver Richie Falgout of Lafayette High running as scout-team quarterback during Sunday’s evening practice. UL took its regular Monday off and will return to workouts today. “Chris (Masson) told the coaches he’d do whatever was needed to help the team,” Morel said. “He wasn’t selfish about having his redshirt taken, but it’s really doubtful he’d get his redshirt pulled this week. We’ve had Deon and Richie both running some with the second squad just in case.” Last time The Cajuns have 22 listed seniors on this year’s roster, but two of them – defensive back Derik Keyes and defensive lineman Lanier Coleman – will not be with the group honored pregame Saturday on Senior Day. Those two have or are expected to fulfill NCAA requirements of completing 80 percent of their degree requirements in their first four years and gaining back their final year of eligibility next season. UL reserve quarterback Connor Morel (left) may be called upon again Saturday as the Cajuns attempt to finish the season a three-game winning streak, which could elevate UL as high as third in the Sun Belt race. Daily Advertiser, Nov. 20, 2007 * * * * * * * * * * * * * Football: Backup QB saved the day for Cajuns Dan McDonald Some familiar names came to the forefront Saturday night, and because of that UL’s football team is on its first winning streak in almost a full year. And Lamar Morgan – who finished with 10 tackles and two sacks – had two of the game’s biggest plays in the final three minutes, recording a fourth-down sack and then ending the game with a fumble recovery with 20 seconds left. That threesome not only combined for 30 tackles, but also led a defense that allowed FIU only one score on its last 10 possessions after the Panthers had scored three touchdowns the first four times they touched the ball. Senior Connor Morel entered Saturday’s game early in the second quarter with UL trailing 21-14 and with starter Michael Desormeaux on his way to the locker room, after aggravating an already-bruised clavicle. UL didn’t do much on Morel’s first meaningful series of his two-year Cajun career, punting after one first down. But the Cajuns scored touchdowns on three of their next four possessions, with Morel leading drives of 69, 82 and 95 yards for scores that gave UL the lead for good. “It’s unfortunate what happened to Mike,” Morel said, “but you can’t stop playing because the quarterback gets hurt. You’ve got to still go out there and do what you’re supposed to do.” What Morel did was hit 12-of-15 passes for 125 yards and a key touchdown toss to Deon Wallace, and lead an offense that didn’t turn the ball over after he entered the game. UL’s only offensive turnover came when Desormeaux was hit and reinjured when attempting to throw the ball away on a scramble on the first play of the second quarter. The play was ruled a fumble and set up FIU for a go-ahead touchdown and a 21-14 lead. After that, UL’s defense got over the shock of giving up three early scores to statistically the nation’s worst offense. FIU’s next four possessions netted 13 yards, and the defense also provided a key turning point in holding the Panthers on four downs at the Cajun 5 after a 77-yard march midway through the third quarter. From that point, the Cajuns used their hurry-up spread and marched 95 yards – all but nine of those yards on the ground – to a 1-yard Tyrell Fenroy touchdown that became a game-clinching score. The Cajuns would have pitched a shutout over the final 44 minutes of the game had Phillip Nevels not been hit by a bouncing punt which FIU recovered at the UL 24 and scored seven plays later to make it 35-28 early in the fourth period. That kept alive hopes of snapping the nation’s longest losing streak, one that now numbers 22. “That defense stepped up,” said Cajun coach Rickey Bustle. “They got stops when we absolutely had to have them, and at the end we were able to get a sack and a strip. “They (FIU) have scored first on a lot of people. They did against Monroe, they did against Troy and they did on us, and it was important for us to answer with the early scores we got.” Desormeaux had led the Cajuns to touchdowns on both of his series in the game before being injured, hitting all four of his passes and getting 36 yards rushing, including a 6-yard touchdown that put UL in front 14-7. But that wouldn’t have been enough had Morel not stepped in. “Mike helps me every day in practice,” Morel said. “So do the guys in the offensive line. They came up strong for us, and I knew I had them behind me.” Daily Advertiser, Nov. 19, 2007 * * * * * * * * * * Football: Backup QB guides UL to third win Dan McDonald MIAMI – UL’s football team had to use a baseball analogy, but the Ragin’ Cajuns found a relief pitcher when they needed one. Morel, taking over after the first play of the second quarter when Desormeaux aggravated a clavicle injury from one week earlier, hit on 12-of-15 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. More importantly, he continued guiding an offense that eventually rolled up 464 yards and a season-high 27 first downs against the winless Panthers (0-10). “When I went in there, the offensive line said they’d give me all they had,” said Morel, who transferred two years ago from Northwestern State. “They always do that – they do the same for Mike and for all the backs, but they really came up strong today.” And UL’s defense posted big plays when needed. Senior safety Lamar Morgan had a fourth-down sack with 2:25 left and the Cajuns holding a precarious 35-28 lead. Three plays later, Drew Edmiston hit a 37-yard field goal with 1:20 left for a clinching score. Fittingly, Morgan had a fumble recovery on FIU’s last-ditch drive with 20 seconds left. “The coaches said to stick with our game plan,” said Morgan. “Even when they got us with a couple early, we stuck with what we were doing. I got lucky at the end with a couple. It felt good to get that sack. I knew I had to make some plays tonight.” UL’s defense, which held Middle Tennessee more than 100 yards below its average yardage total last week, gave up 144 yards to FIU on two of its first three possessions. The Panthers were over their season yardage average before the end of their first possession of the second half. Fortunately for the Cajuns, the offense kept pace, even with a key turnover and the loss of their offensive leader early in the second quarter, until the defense recorded enough stops in the second half. “The game got away from us a little in the second half,” said FIU coach Mario Cristobal. “We did some good things and came back, but we didn’t sustain it. A loss is a loss.” The loss was FIU’s 22nd straight dating back to last season, the nation’s longest loss streak, but the Panthers didn’t look like losers on their first couple of drives. FIU drove 70 yards on the game’s first possession behind freshman quarterback Wayne Younger, who threw a 22-yard strike to Jeremy Dickens into Cajun territory on the second play. He then completed the 10-play drive with a 14-yard toss to Dickens behind the secondary for an early 6-0 lead after Chris Abed pushed the extra point wide right. The Cajuns struck back quickly with back-to-back scores on their first two possessions in the early scorefest, mostly on the feet of Fenroy and Desormeaux. Fenroy capped a 70-yard march with a 4-yard counter with 6:34 left in the opening period, one play after Desormeaux’s first carry of the game went for 20 yards. After forcing a short punt, UL came right back with a quick 49-yard march keyed by a first-play 30-yard Desormeaux toss to Abdule Levier that took it to the FIU 19. Four plays later, Desormeaux kept on an option and easily scored up the middle form six yards out for a 14-6 lead. That advantage didn’t last long, when A’Mod Ned broke loose on the third play after UL’s kickoff and went 60 yards on a sweep in front of the Cajun bench to tie the game at 14. Three plays later, on the first play of the second period, things appeared to go south for UL. A scrambling Desormeaux was hit by FIU defensive end Reginald Jones in the backfield. Desormeaux attempted to sling an incomplete pass, but his attempt was ruled a fumble – confirmed by replay – and cornerback Anthony Gaitor recovered at the UL 32. Desormeaux immediately grabbed his chest, the same area he injured in last week’s win over Middle Tennessee, and walked off slowly. He spent the second half on the sideline in sweats. Compounding the bad news, FIU took the lead two plays later when Younger faked a handoff and cut back across the field, going 32 yards for a 21-14 advantage. Morel took over the offense, and after one possession stalled at midfield the Destrehan native guided the Cajuns to two second-quarter scores. The first of those drives started at the Cajuns’ 31 and included an 18-yard Morel-to-Fenroy pass to the FIU 41. From there, Wallace did the rest of the work, popping for 12, 13 and 17 yards on three straight plays to the Panther 4 and then scoring from three yards out two plays later. That one tied the game, and when UL’s defense forced a punt from near midfield, Morel calmly guided an 82-yard march to the go-ahead score. He completed 5-of-6 passes for 71 yards in the drive, converting a 19-yard third-down strike to Jordan Jackson and then hitting Wallace on a wide-open 17-yard throwback 1:22 before intermission that provided the 28-21 halftime lead. UL’s defense came up with its biggest play of the game midway through the third period, at the end of FIU’s best march of the night. A 41-yard strike from Younger to Greg Ellingson gave the Panthers possession inside the Cajun 15, but three plays later Julian Reams was stacked up by Korey Raymond at the UL 5 on a fourth-and-one. Morel and the Cajun offense proceeded to up-tempo march 95 yards – UL’s second-longest of the season – with Fenroy going over 100 yards rushing on a 25-yard ramble and capping it with a one-yard burst with 4:30 left in the third quarter. That appeared to give UL some breathing room, but a lump came back in the Cajuns’ throats when an FIU punt bounced off deep man Phillip Nevels late in the third quarter and Lionell Singleton recovered for the Panthers at the UL 24. Six plays later, Younger threw a 4-yard pass in the flat to a wide-open John Ellis to make it a one-score game. Daily Advertiser, Nov. 18, 2007 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Football: Morel steps up for Cajuns MIAMI – Nobody expected it to be easy. With this season’s UL football team, it never is. But, as the Cajuns have been able to do each of the last two weeks, they had some key players step up. And on Saturday night, that step-up came from an unlikely source. Connor Morel had been almost a forgotten man on the Cajun football squad over the last two seasons, since transferring from Northwestern State with the hope that he’d have a chance to play quarterback on a high level. It wasn’t an easy chance, either. The host Panthers, desperate for a win after 21 straight losses and the only Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) team without a win this season, had just grabbed the lead and the momentum on a touchdown right after UL’s only turnover from scrimmage. I’d like to think that I’m always ready to go,” Morel said after guiding UL’s offense over the final three quarters of a 38-28 victory over Florida International. “You always have to be prepared. But when you’re the backup quarterback, you have to sometimes be prepared for the worst.” The worst could have come when Desormeaux went out, but Morel was more than up to the task. He hit 12 of his 15 passes with two throwaways, and his 17-yard throwback touchdown pass to Deon Wallace late in the first half gave UL the lead for good at 28-21. Later, he engineered an impressive 95-yard drive in the third quarter, taking a full drive in the hurry-up offense and never wavering on as solid a march as the Cajuns have had all season. “I’m so happy for Connor,” said Cajun coach Rickey Bustle. “He did a heck of a job. The offensive line embraced him when he went in there, and he stepped up and made plays for us.” Because of what he did, the Cajuns have now won two in a row on the way to their goal of winning three straight to finish the season and FIU still holds the nation’s longest losing streak. “Their quarterback did a heck of a job throwing it when he had to,” said FIU coach Mario Cristobal. “It didn’t look like they missed a beat.” The Cajuns scored on two of their first three possessions after Morel entered the game, and that was all the confidence one of the team’s best-liked players needed. “That was huge for me,” he said. “We were pretty much able to keep that going the whole game, and the defense stepped up and made some big stops down there at the end.” Whether or not Morel will play again next Saturday in the home finale against UL Monroe – a shocking 21-14 winner at Alabama on Saturday – depends on Desormeaux’s health. But whether he sees action or not in his final game, he’s already proven something to his Cajun teammates – that he can be the quarterback of a winning team. “This feels really good,” Morel said. Sure does. It always feels good when a good guy does good. RaginCajuns.com, Nov. 18, 2007 * * * * * * * * * * Courtesy: RaginCajuns.com MIAMI – Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns lost quarterback Michael Desormeaux on the first play of the second quarter, but Connor Morel rallied his team to a 38-28 victory at Florida International Saturday night at the historic Orange Bowl. Morel led three touchdown drives, throwing his first career touchdown pass which gave UL (3-8, 3-3) a 28-21 halftime advantage. Midway through the third quarter, FIU (0-10, 0-5) appeared to be headed toward a game-tying touchdown drive until stalling at the UL five-yard line. Facing a fourth-and-one, the Golden Panthers bypassed the field goal attempt and tried to run up the middle of the Cajuns defense. Korey Raymond and a host of Cajuns stopped Julian Reams short and the Cajuns took possession at their five-yard line. Louisiana marched 95 yards in 11 plays to take a 14-point lead, 35-21, with 4:30 remaining in the third quarter. The Cajuns hurry-up offense ran 10 times, including six rushes by Tyrell Fenroy for 53 yards. Fenroy ended the drive with a one-yard scoring plunge, his second touchdown of the game. The Cajuns defense stopped FIU again, but the Golden Panthers took control at the UL 24-yard line after a special teams miscue by the Cajuns. Wayne Younger hit John Ellis on a four-yard touchdown pass to cut the Cajuns lead to 35-28 with 13:34 left in the game. Drew Edmiston tacked-on a 37-yard field goal with only 1:20 remaining after the Cajuns defense stopped FIU on downs. Morel finished the night 12-of-15 passing for 125 yards and added 14 yards rushing. Tyrell Fenroy had 150 yards rushing and two scores. He is 97 yards shy of his third career 1,000-yard rushing season. The Cajuns had trouble with the FIU ground game as A’mod Ned finished with 152 yards rushing, while Younger added 100 yards. The teams traded 10-play, 70-yard scoring drives to begin the game. FIU scored on a 13-yard pass from Younger to Jeremy Dickens, while the Cajuns used a four-yard scoring run by Fenroy to get on the board. The difference in the drives, and the scoreboard, was the extra point. Chris Abed was wide with his kick, while Drew Edmiston split the uprights to give UL a 7-6 lead. The Cajuns scored on their next possession to build a 14-6 lead. UL moved 49 yards in five plays, scoring on a six-yard run by Desormeaux. The drive’s key plays included a career-long 30-yard reception by Abdule Levier and a nine-yard run by Fenroy on third-and-five from the FIU 15-yard line. The Golden Panthers tied the scored just 67 seconds later. Ned responded with a 60-yard touchdown run. After the Cajuns were flagged on the extra point for a substitution infraction, FIU decided to try for a two-point conversion. Younger his a wide-open Elliott Dix in the end zone to make it a 14-14 game with 1:27 remaining in the first quarter. FIU grabbed a 21-14 lead early in the second quarter. The Golden Panthers took possession on the Cajuns 32-yard line after Desormeaux was sacked and lost a fumble that was recovered by Anthony Gaitor. Younger run up the middle on the drive’s second play and raced into the end zone to give FIU a seven-point lead. Morel replaced Desormeaux for the rest of the game. On his second series, Morel directed an eight-play, 69-yard drive that culminated in a three-yard scoring run by Deon Wallace. Wallace carried six straight times on the drive for 46 yards. Morel gave the Cajuns a 28-21 lead with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Wallace with 1:22 remaining in the half. Morel completed 5-of-6 passes, to five different receivers, totaling 71 yards. The key pass was a 19-yard connection to Jordan Jackson on third-and-10 from the FIU 36-yard line. Ragincajuns.com Nov. 17, 2007 * * * * * * * * * * * *
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