Mercury Morris
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| Position: | Running back | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth: | January 5, 1947 | ||||||||||||
| Place of birth: | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | ||||||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school: | Pittsburgh (PA) Avonworth | ||||||||||||
| College: | West Texas State | ||||||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1969 / Round: 3 / Pick: 63 | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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| Rushing yards: | 4,133 |
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| Rushing average: | 5.1 |
| Rushing touchdowns: | 31 |
| Return yards: | 3,118 |
| Return touchdowns: | 3 |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Eugene Edward "Mercury" Morris (born January 5, 1947), is a former American football running back and kick returner. He played for seven years, primarily for the Miami Dolphins in the American Football League (AFL), then in the American Football Conference following the 1969 merger with the National Football League (NFL).
Morris played in three Super Bowls and was selected to three Pro Bowls. In 1982, Morris was convicted of felony drug trafficking charges. After three and one-half years in prison, Morris was released after a plea agreement in which he pleaded no contest to cocaine conspiracy charges.
Mercury was nicknamed early on in his career for his quickness when running with the ball.
Morris was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Avonworth High School in the northwestern suburbs of the city. Morris attended West Texas State University (now known as West Texas A&M University) from 1965 to 1969, where he was an All-American at tailback in 1967 and 1968. In 1967, he finished second in the nation to O.J. Simpson of USC in rushing yards with 1274. In his record setting year of 1968, he set collegiate records for rushing yards in a single game, with 340, rushing yards for a single season with 1571, and rushing yards over a three-year college career (freshmen being ineligible), with 3388. Simpson broke the single-season rushing just one week after Morris set it. Morris' three-season career rushing record was broken two years later by Don McCauley.</ref name=morris>
After college, Morris was picked in the third round of the 1969 AFL-NFL Common Draft by the AFL's Miami Dolphins.
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