Big Ten Turns Brother Against Brother

The strange story of two brothers colliding on the football field unfolds tomorrow at Penn State, where Northwestern's unthinkable season continues.

Running down the field on kickoffs will be the Morrison brothers of South Kitsap High, Tucker for Northwestern and Mac for Penn State.

In the stands will be their father, Bill, so excited about this meeting that he has hired renowned sports artist LeRoy Nieman to capture it.

Tucker is a senior, Mac a freshman. Both play linebacker, both are second string, but both are key figures on special teams.

"Two sons on scholarship to play football in the Big Ten," mused Bill, the owner of a Seattle manufacturing company. "How many fathers can say that?"

Not many.

Mac is the first player from the state of Washington to play for Joe Paterno at Penn State. He is one of 13 true freshmen playing this season.

Tucker was a part of last year's epic trip by Northwestern to the Rose Bowl after a 46-year absence, and yet his presence on the team was no less an upset than the team getting to Pasadena.

He wanted to play for Cal after his career at South Kitsap. He had high SAT scores, was looking for a top academic school and wanted to throw in with Keith Gilbertson's new program in Berkeley.

"When they didn't scholarship me," Tucker said this week, "I decided I would just go to the best possible school."

He ended up at the University of Chicago, studying economics and playing linebacker for a Division III program. After two seasons, he wanted more from football. He was put in contact with Gary Barnett, the coach at nearby Northwestern.

Tucker became part of one of college football's great stories, the Cinderella rise of Northwestern, which now seems less an aberration than most thought.

The Wildcats are unbeaten in the Big Ten again and tied for the conference lead with Ohio State. They don't play the Buckeyes and would lose a Rose Bowl tie-breaker if the two stay undefeated in the Big Ten. But Ohio State must play Michigan, although at Ohio State. And Northwestern must get by Penn State this week.

Even though the Nittany Lions are 3-2 in the Big Ten, they are favored by 10 points at home against Northwestern.

"If you believe in playing 60 minutes in a game, and we do," Tucker said, "then you're going to come out on top. We're proof of that."

Northwestern came from behind to beat Michigan, scored to beat Wisconsin after the Badgers fumbled in the waning seconds of the game, and came back again last week to edge Illinois.

"Last year was a dream come true," Tucker continued, "but I think this year we really believe we're a damn good football team."

He said even his younger brother, Mac, didn't believe Northwestern would continue to win.

"I think we've cracked the upper echelon of the Big Ten now," said Tucker. "I hope we are viewed with the top teams."

Bill Morrison played at Tulsa and briefly with the Miami Dolphins. He settled his family on Bainbridge Island, where Tucker and Mac played Peewee football, but moved to the South Kitsap area when his wife, Cinda, was named a vice-principal of the school.

Thus the Morrisons joined Ed Fisher's program at South Kitsap, where producing Division I players is a way of life. Two starters on Washington's offensive line, Benji Olson and Tony Coats, are from South Kitsap.

Unlike Tucker, Mac was recruited by Washington. But Tucker had opened his brother's eyes to the Midwest, and Mac went to Penn State's summer camp.

"Washington wanted Mac," said his father, Bill, "but never really came out and told him they wanted him. They're arrogant in that way. The day Mac got back from Penn State's camp, he got a Fed Ex letter from Joe Paterno saying the school would offer him a scholarship."

So all that is left now is for the two brothers to run into each other on the first kick.

"I've been waiting for this since last January," said Tucker. "It's going to be great."

-------------------------------------------------------.

THE TOP FIVE

A look at what has happened to last year's top five recruits in the state as selected by The Seattle Times:

1. Travis Claridge, Fort Vancouver High, 6-6, 300, will start at guard for USC tomorrow against Washington, the first true freshman to start on the offensive line at USC since Brad Budde, a winner of the Lombardi Award, in 1979.

2. Chad Ward, River View High, 6-6, 315, will enroll at Washington next quarter, participate in spring practice and be a freshman next season. He is rehabilitating an Achilles tendon injury.

3. Mac Morrison, South Kitsap, 6-2, 220, is a second-string linebacker at Penn State. He had five tackles against Ohio State.

4. Jamal Hill, Mercer Island, 6-3, 220, is serving a redshirt season at Louisiana State. "We have a lot of linebackers," said an LSU spokesman, "but the coaches are very high on him."

5. Ben Lindsey, Lynnwood, 6-6, 250, is enrolled at Washington, where he will be a member of the track team. It is not known whether he will play football.

Others: Riall Johnson of Mariner and Russell Stewart of Newport are redshirting at Stanford. At Washington, Anthony Hicks of Tumwater and Kai Bynum from Capitol High in Olympia have played, while cornerback Toure Butler of Cascade in Everett has gone to court over his eligibility and Jon Minter of Blanchet is emergency QB.