Carter’s Corner: Remembering Former Gators QB Kyle Morris

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Reed House at Live Oaks Golf Club is a picturesque gathering place nestled among towering oaks a few miles outside Jackson, Miss. It’s where former Gators quarterback Kyle Morris poured so much of his heart and soul, turning the municipal golf course he grew up on into one of Mississippi’s finest venues.

The Reed House is a place guests rent for life’s most meaningful events. Former Gators quarterback Shane Matthews has spent memorable nights there, including his daughter’s wedding. Matthews will be back there today for a somber event: the memorial service for Morris, who died a week ago at 55 following a decade-long battle with cancer.

“He battled his ass off,” Matthews said. “We had so much in common. We just became really good friends.”

Matthews and Morris connected in ways beyond being UF quarterbacks.

Both grew up in Mississippi. Morris is from Clinton, not too far from Jackson, and Matthews is from Pascagoula, in the southern part of the state. While at UF, they competed against one another, played golf, went hunting and fishing, and played on a church-league softball team. They each lost a parent during college, so they relied on one another for support.

 

But of course, what Gators fans remember most about Morris and Matthews is that in Steve Spurrier‘s first season as Florida’s coach in 1990, they battled each other for the starting quarterback’s job. They were roommates and competitors, a job Matthews won on the way to being named a two-time Southeastern Conference Player of the Year.

“I didn’t know him in high school,” Matthews said. “He was my host on my recruiting visit to Florida. I got to know him there.”

A year older than Matthews, Morris had started five games in 1988 before a broken finger. Morris was the starting quarterback in 1989 before being suspended, along with a handful of other players, for gambling. Morris returned in Spurrier’s first season and tossed four interceptions in the spring game, which reopened the competition and led to Matthews rewriting the school record books.

Morris transferred to Division II Mississippi College in 1991 and settled back in Clinton. In 2017, he spoke to FloridaGators.com about his place in Gators lore.

“No, I’m not bitter at all. Things happen. And I made some mistakes,” Morris said. “My name came up in some things that were negative, but I still love the Gators. My dream growing up was to go to the University of Florida….