Despite entering his fifth and final season with NC State football, redshirt senior safety Jarius Morehead brings a lot of new attributes to the defensive backfield this year. He’s got a new nickname, as head coach Dave Doeren and the team have dubbed the veteran safety “Old Head.”
Thanks to getting in some coaching experience during the offseason, he also brings a wealth of new knowledge and leadership abilities. That experience, however, did not come on the gridiron.
As part of Morehead’s coaching practicum class, he needed a coaching internship that would give him 30 hours. He found that right across the street from Carter-Finley Stadium with the Cardinal Gibbons varsity boy’s basketball team.
While Morehead, who played basketball his freshman year of high school, needed just 30 hours to fulfill his requirement, there was something about the family atmosphere of that Gibbons team that drew him right in, and he was with the Crusaders almost every practice and game day during their season.
“They just made me feel like I was part of the team, part of the family,” Morehead said. “The kids that were there were really fun to be around. They’re just fun, it put a smile on my face, just because I’m in that group chat with them all the time, we’re just always having conversations like that. They’re fun to be around and I was just excited to be there.”
Morehead’s responsibilities included helping the team run drills in practice and warmups after recovering from an offseason shoulder surgery, but, more than anything, serving as a mentor to the high school players.
Morehead found that the players were going through a lot of the same things he went through in high school, and he was able to give them advice and draw from his experiences.
“Coach would always say ‘Be happy that you’re in that position that you’re a college athlete so people are going to listen,’” Morehead said. “‘You’re not going to have that forever in life. So take advantage of that and be happy with what you can do.’ Just give them that advice, and all their eyes are staring at you. They’re locking in, just shaking their heads like they’re understanding.”
For the players on that Cardinal Gibbons team, especially those that aspire to play sports in college, getting to learn the kind of commitment that takes was invaluable.
No matter how many times the players’ high school coaches, parents or advisors tell them how dedicated they have to be on the field/court and in the classroom, nothing compares to the benefit of getting to see a first-hand example of a Division-1 student athlete.
Getting to see Morehead’s dedication to both his sport and academics, as well as the way he acted off the court, simple things like opening doors for people or saying thank you, provided Gibbons’ players with a role model for their own future.
“It’s ultimately about the bigger picture,” Gibbons junior Brady Whilden said. “Sports are great, but it’s also about how you act off the court as how you act on the court. That’s really going to shape who you are and colleges kind of look for the whole package. If you have both of those, it looks really good on them and you. So, ultimately, it’ll be better for everyone.”
Morehead was a help to the players on the court as well. Once his shoulder was healed and he was able to participate in drills with the Crusaders’ players, it was clear he knew his way around a basketball court, and enjoyed getting back to the game.
“He impacted by showing us how to go through drills,” Crusaders junior Michael Boney said. “How to take everything seriously and not to take anything for granted. Anytime you’re allowed in the gym you should get in there and work.”
For Cardinal Gibbons head coach Jim Ryan, having someone close to the players’ age, who could relate to them but also command their respect and admiration, to help hammer home his message made Morehead an addition whose value was “hard to codify.”
“I couldn’t have asked for a better role model,” Ryan said. “For me, it was really even more the student athlete. Even more the student side than the athletic side. To see a guy like that, even the amount of time you can clearly see just looking at him, physically, that he has put in [the work]. We tell guys, you’ve got to work harder in the weight room, and you’ve got to be better conditioned. We can tell them all they want, then they see a guy like Jarius walk in, and they say, ‘Oh my goodness, maybe that’s what coach is talking about.’”
Ryan noticed the way the players would listen to Morehead, and were, “hanging on his every word” when he spoke to them. Morehead provided an example of the focus and commitment athletes at a high level have to have.
He was fully committed to helping the Gibbons team and setting an example for the players, not just fulfilling the hourly requirement for his class. Ryan never saw Morehead on his phone while he was with the team, and emphasized to the players the importance of appreciating the opportunity to be on a team.
“A lot of times, his message was, ‘Hey, embrace this,’” Ryan said. “Because you’re never going to have another opportunity like this… Jarius, a couple times said, and I was really happy he did, that he still looks back on his high school teams that he played on as a really special event because those kids grew up together. I think when he said that, our kids really got locked in. Especially our juniors, because they’re realizing, ‘Ok, I’ve got one year left with my band of brothers here.’”
Morehead also brought a heightened energy level to the team. Ahead of a home game against top-ranked Millbrook Feb. 5, Gibbons ran a “take a charge drill” before in warmups. Morehead got involved in the drill to the point where he was sliding in and taking charges from the players.
The Gibbons team’s energy level in the pregame drill (before a game in which it led a top-ranked late into the third quarter) was so high that Millbrook Athletics Director Scott McInnes went up to the Crusaders’ coaching staff and said it was one of the best high school warmups he had ever seen. That was the first time in Ryan’s five-year tenure at Cardinal Gibbons that an opposing coach or AD commented on a warmup drill.
“Honestly it was because Jarius got the level of excitement and intensity up,” Ryan said. “… I will always remember that. I’ve never had that happen, another coach or an athletic director come up to us and tell us that a drill we did before the game was one of the best they had ever seen. And it was him, he was taking a charge, literally.”
Morehead will look to “take a charge”, so to speak, for NC State this season. A team that is replacing its starting quarterback, top two receivers, four assistant coaches and a number of key contributors on both sides of the ball will need veteran leadership from its leading returning tackler and one of its longest tenured players.
“We call him ‘Old Head’ now because he’s been here so long,” NC State head coach Dave Doeren said. “Jarius is awesome. He’s a great person, first of all. He cares so much about his teammates and how he carries himself. He’s a true role model. We lean on him a lot. Not just for football, but how guys are doing and how he’s doing.”
When Morehead is trying to lead the way for NC State’s younger players, or give them advice off the field, he’ll be able to draw on his experiences with the Cardinal Gibbons team.
“Since it’s my senior year and people see me as a leader, better to say something than to say nothing,” Morehead said. “I feel like if I can communicate with the younger guys, they’re going to see me just like the high school team sees me. Just say something and they’ll just listen and buy into what I’m saying.”
Morehead’s experiences at Cardinal Gibbons will help him in his life after football, whenever that may be, as well. He already knew going into his internship that he wants to coach when he hangs up his cleats.
Working with Ryan, a 12-year veteran at the college level with UNC-Asheville and Middle Tennessee State, and the Gibbons team did nothing but strengthen that desire.
“I want to coach when football’s done with,” Morehead said. “No matter what I’m always going to be around a sport. I just can’t live without any other sport. I want to be around football and basketball, but just helping other players or students is one of my goals in life. It’s just what I want to do is help others.”
When Morehead does get into coaching, he’ll have at least one advocate on his side.
“I think he’d be a tremendous coach,” Ryan said. “Part of it is the cachet that Division-1 athletes have. When a guy like him walks into a gym, there is instant respect. Even beyond that, when he says something, kids seem to be able to put it right into effect. That’s something that’s very difficult; it’s almost a thing you’re born with… I know I’d love to have him on my staff someday.”
