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Marble Falls’ David Morgan awaits fate in this weekend’s NFL Draft

David Morgan

David Morgan

JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER

SAN ANTONIO — At Marble Falls High School, David Morgan was regarded as an under-the-radar college football prospect. Few powerhouse Football Bowl Subdivision programs extended scholarship offers to Morgan as he headed into his senior year in 2010-11.

Six years later, the tight end isn’t an unknown anymore. Now that he’s exhausted his NCAA eligibility at the University of Texas-San Antonio, he’s entered the NFL Draft, which is April 28-30 and will be televised on ESPN.

Draft experts have him as “a better than average chance to make a league roster” thanks to his overall grade of 5.17 at the NFL Combine in February.

He has been one of the most talked-about prospects for his position after his performance at the combine.

His numbers made him the top performing tight end, which led marketing departments from most of the NFL teams and sports websites to write about him and post video.

David Morgan“It’s really cool,” Morgan said with a grin. “There’s another outlet of people trying to help you out. They take time out of their day. I try to be respectful to them. They’re doing me a huge favor. I’ve really enjoyed that.”

Since the combine, he has returned to San Antonio, where he has met with officials from the New England Patriots, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Philadelphia Eagles and is finishing his degrees in business administration and coaching.

The team meetings included workouts and examinations of Morgan from head to toe. Specifically, staff looked at his legs. He broke his right femur in 2012.

“They see what else you can do and get a better idea,” he said.

Morgan laughs as he reflects on the past two months.

“I never thought it would be the way it is right now,” he said.

And he hasn’t rested on his laurels. Unhappy with his combine time in the 40-yard dash, which was 5.02 seconds, and his vertical jump of 30 inches, he participated in the UTSA Pro Day in March.

His dash time dropped to about 4.85 seconds, and he increased his vertical to 32 inches.

He hopes these improvements will satisfy some of the doubts, he said.

“I really just kept grinding and improved myself,” he said. “It was something that needed to be done.”

Soon after he returned from the combine, Morgan visited Marble Falls and found a former high school teammate working out — lineman Cyril Lemon of the New Orleans Saints — with private coach Calvin Richard.

So Morgan joined Lemon for the first time since high school for a workout.

“It was awesome,” the tight end. “We did shuttle work, but his workout is a lot more cardio. It’s a different style of workout.”

Morgan said he doesn’t have a preference on which team drafts him, though like most Texans, he grew up cheering for the Dallas Cowboys. The former Mustang is simply enjoying the process.

“I just need an opportunity, when I go wherever I’m going, to work hard, to do whatever I need to do,” he said. “I’m happy with wherever I end up.”

jfierro@thepicayune.com