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November 24, 2009

Morris brings ‘real brains’ to Beavers

By JED LOCKETT

BLUEFIELD — Alex Morris may be known by fans as No. 28 for the Bluefield Beavers, but in the locker room he goes by another name, “Real Brains.”

“My brother (T.J.) was up here during the ‘04 season and his name was ‘Brains,’” Morris said. “And I came up here just open-minded, wanting to learn everything and they called me R.B., ‘Real Brains.’

“Everyone has their own little nicknames throughout the team and it just brings us closer as a team and a family basically.”

That family mentality is an important reason why the Beavers have gotten so far.

“It’s really close,” Morris said. “It’s pretty much a family.”

From the beginning, the Beavers family has put in the time and the effort in search of a common dream.

“It’s going really great,” Morris said. “From day one, we come in here and work hard and hopefully our hard work will pay off. Just like everyone hopes to end their final, senior season as a state champion, we only go game by game, week by week as a team.”

This close-knit group of Beavers is a direct descendant of the last state championship team from Bluefield High School in 2007. According to Morris, this group of seniors took cues from that group of seniors on how tight a team needed to be so it could achieve greatness.

“It showed how much the seniors on that team and how they showed leadership on their team and how close that team was compared to this one,” Morris said. “This team is real close if not as close as they were.”

Now Morris and his fellow seniors have their own opportunity not only to play a central role in another state title, but also to influence the next groups of seniors coming down the line.

“It’s been everything,” Morris said. “I can be a senior and a leader as I was before. But as ninth graders look up to not only me but other seniors and just it’s like they look up to us and what we accomplish, what we do and will do in the future.”

Morris looks on his past with ample amounts of pride.

“I’ve always enjoyed Bluefield High School. It runs through the veins of my blood,” Morris said. “We come in day-in, day-out, work as hard as we can with everything we do for our school and football, lifting and everything.”

Morris has made contributions at times, rushing 14 times for 255 yards and catching one pass for 49 yards this season. But he is just one of many and he is fine with that.

“Everyone puts on their pads the same way,” Morris said. “Everyone has their spot. It’s just who’s going to step up at the right time and who’s going to fill it.”

When his time at Bluefield High School is over, Morris wants to study to become a registered nurse. He is attracted to nursing because of a desire to serve others.

“I love to help people with their problems and everything,” Morris said. “I knew that would fulfill my needs if I help people every day.

“I’ve looked at it in my family and I have cousins that are doctors and nurses and radiologists and it just runs in the family.”

Before Morris can join the rest of the family in the medical profession, he will need to attend college first.

“I was hoping to play football,” Morris said. “If I can’t, then I can’t. If I can, it’d be great.”

And before Morris can attend college, he will have the chance to make some more memories with his teammates before the postseason ends in Wheeling.

When asked what he would remember most about his time at Bluefield High School, Morris said, “Tradition and the fact that we’re so close. It’ll be from having troubles in the classroom, coming to football and some people will help them. We’re just so close. And I’m going to miss them, every single one of these teammates are like brothers.”

— Contact Jed Lockett

at jlockett@bdtonline.com

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