How Georgia football commit Jaylan Morgan overcame loss of dad, injury to step dad to be SEC recruit

Jonathan DeBerry is one of Rockvale football senior safety and Georgia commitment Jaylan Morgan 's biggest fans. His perseverance has also been a teaching lesson for Morgan, his stepson.

DeBerry lost his right arm in an ATV accident in June 2015, about a year after he married Morgan's mother, Jamara. That was a lot for an 8-year-old Morgan to digest.

"I was actually in Texas with my dad (at the time), and I couldn't believe it when my mom called me," Morgan said. "I was thinking about it the whole plan ride back. But when I saw him, he didn't look any different to me.

"He kept the same spirit and wasn't slouching around. He was doing everything he needed to do, whatever it took. He was cut from a different cloth. Not everybody can handle that."

Morgan is No. 4 on The Tennessean's 2024 Dandy Dozen , a collection of the top college football prospects from the Nashville area as picked by the newspaper. Morgan is a four-star safety according to the 247Sports Composite and No. 6 recruit in Tennessee as well as No. 23 safety nationally for the 2025 recruiting class.

He has the talent, knowledge and physicality to play in the SEC. But his mental fortitude is something that he prides himself on, and that didn't come without battling adversity and persevering during his life.

A few years after DeBerry lost his arm, tragedy struck again when Morgan's father, Andre, who was a former college football player at Troy, died suddenly in 2020.

"In the beginning it didn't really hit me that hard," said Morgan. "I was younger and less mature. But now I'm starting to feel it more. He poured into me every day, walking me up at 6 a.m. every day. What 7-year old do you see waking up at 6 a.m. to work out? It's a little harder now. I wish he was here to see me. When I was younger I didn't realize why he was doing that stuff."

"All of us go through tough times, but Jaylan has stuck his feet in the dirt and decided that, no matter what happens, he's going to overcome it," Jonathan DeBerry said. "He understands that if the sun comes up the next day, you can't sit around and feel sorry for yourself."

Battling the emotional obstacles has helped Morgan become a mentally stronger person and athlete.

Georgia commitment Jaylan Morgan credits hard work as well as talent

Morgan knows it takes more than natural talent to become a Power Five football recruit.

"I'd say it's 70-30. It's 70% athletic ability, but that extra 30, that's straight work and knowledge," Morgan said. "That's the difference in Georgia or (smaller) schools. They don't just look for people that can run fast and jump fast.

"That's the part of my game that stands out. I may not be the biggest, strongest or fastest, but I can tell you one thing ... I know what I'm doing on that field."

Morgan will graduate as the highest profile player to come through a Rockvale program that is still in somewhat of an infancy.

There were rumors of him pondering a transfer in the offseason, but he said there was never any truth to it.

"It was just some stuff I had going on with everything," Morgan said. "It was outside stuff. No, I never considered that. I went to middle school there, grew up with those kids. I wouldn't play with anyone else. (Winning at Rockvale) means more to me. I want to fulfill my own legacy, not just walk into someone else's. I want to go to the top with them."

Cecil Joyce covers high school sports and MTSU athletics for The Daily News Journal. Contact him at cjoyce@dnj.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @Cecil_Joyce.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: How Georgia football commit Jaylan Morgan overcame loss of dad, injury to step dad to be SEC recruit