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Syracuse, N.Y. — JaCobian Morgan has a routine after every touchdown Jackson State scores. First, he looks into the crowd and finds his family. Once Morgan spots them, he blows a kiss to his mother, salutes his father and blows another kiss to all the other women in his family supporting him. It’s a feeling the quarterback has become accustomed to since becoming the Tigers’ starting quarterback last year. But before leading Jackson State to the 2024 HBCU National Championship and a 5-1 record heading into Saturday’s game against Grambling, Morgan, a Canton, Mississippi native, was rarely near his family and often confined to the sidelines at Syracuse. In a phone interview last week, Morgan said he was given a fair chance at Syracuse, and his tenure helped toughen him, showing the game is a business. Morgan appeared in six games with the Orange across three seasons (2020-22) before transferring to Jackson State, a school located about 26 miles from his hometown. He said once former offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Sterlin Gilbert, who was one of Morgan’s primary recruiters, wasn’t retained following the 2021 season, Morgan tried to “stick it out” with new offensive coordinator Jason Beck. When it didn’t work for him, he transferred to Jackson State in the spring of 2023. “I didn’t want to leave Syracuse, but I knew it was best for me,” Morgan told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. “In hindsight, it does look like it was the best decision for me.” Morgan has accounted for nine touchdowns over his last two outings. He racked up 434 yards of offense (314 passing, 120 rushing) and tied his single-game high with five total touchdowns in a 57-24 victory against Alabama A&M on Oct. 4. Morgan then tossed four touchdowns in the Tigers’ 38-24 win vs. Alabama State on Oct. 11. Following his success as a first-year starter in 2024, Morgan said a couple of Power-Four programs showed interest in him, mainly through social media. However, he said he never entertained the offers. Morgan said the pay and benefits he’s earned by sticking with Jackson State have been “phenomenal.” The quarterback declined to disclose how much he was making and added that he cut off communication with other schools during the offseason before they could offer him money to join their program. In the back of his mind, Morgan knew he’d transfer to Jackson State if it didn’t work at Syracuse. The Tigers were one of the final three schools he considered in his original recruitment, and he grew up near campus. As a 0-star recruit, it was a near-miracle that the Orange even found Morgan. Around the time Morgan finished his final high school season, former SU assistant Justin Lustig was in Morgan’s area. Morgan said one of his coaches had a mentor at Syracuse, who then called Lustig to check out the quarterback. Morgan remembers Lustig recording him making some throws, which the coach then sent to other SU coaches. A few days later, then-head coach Dino Babers and Gilbert traveled to watch Morgan themselves. With one light on while on a baseball field, the pair watched as Morgan threw to some of his receivers. After Babers and Gilbert watched him throw, Morgan said he flew to Syracuse, was offered a scholarship and committed. During Morgan’s first year with the Orange, he started two games after starting quarterback Tommy DeVito suffered a season-ending injury and backup Rex Culpepper struggled. Following a 1-10 record in 2020, Syracuse acquired Garrett Shrader in the transfer portal, who became its starting quarterback for most of the next three seasons. Morgan appeared in mop-up duty in two games in 2021 before being stuck behind Shrader and now-Marshall starting quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson in 2022 and not playing. The quarterback entered the portal on April 18, 2023, and committed to Jackson State a month later. “It humbled me to understand that college football is hard,” Morgan said of his time at SU. “It’s hard to get a win. It’s hard to be the starting quarterback.” In his first year with the Tigers, Morgan primarily served as Jason Brown’s backup but appeared in six games, making three starts. After Brown graduated, Morgan became Jackson State’s starter in 2024, passing for 2,236 yards and 18 touchdowns while adding another 321 rushing yards and six touchdowns. Despite garnering interest from high-tier programs, it was never a thought for Morgan to leave the Tigers, he said. “Just having a fan base, having a coaching staff, having players that believe in you and putting that confidence back into yourself, I just feel like I owed it to them,” Morgan said of his decision to use his final year of eligibility at JSU. For Morgan, it was affirmed that he made the right decision after throwing the game-winning touchdown in the final minute of the Tigers’ Homecoming game against Alabama State two weeks ago. After the game, Morgan remembers celebrating with his mother and thinking this is what he’s here for. The quarterback said around a dozen of his family members attend every Jackson State home game. At SU, he said his mother, father, stepmother and stepfather came every now and then. Morgan said playing for the Orange helped him grow into a man, understand the game of football and helped lay the foundation for what he’s set with the Tigers. It’s put him in a position where he’s now considering taking a shot at playing in the NFL after the season. And without transferring to Jackson State, it’s likely something the quarterback could only dream about.
