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From a Two-Acre Backyard to Chestnut Hill: Before Facing His Former Program, Morales Reflects on His Football Career

Outside of the double-wide trailer that Kamari Morales grew up in, there are two acres of land. The conjoining acres are among a 10-acre community, consisting of five families, called Buck Lake.

Just a 30-minute drive separates Buck Lake from Tallahassee, Fla. But the plot of land is more resemblant of a southern agrarian ambiance as opposed to an urban space. Instead of referring to himself as a Tallahassee native, Morales chooses to represent his Buck Lake roots, where his entire family is from, and still resides.

His father, Alan Morales, said Morales’ Buck Lake upbringing gives him a great sense of pride, even though you can’t find it on a map.

“If you Google Buck Lake, Florida, you’re not gonna find it,” Morales said. “I put Buck Lake instead of Tallahassee because I just wanted to represent my whole entire family.”

Morales spent his childhood busy with the other kids in his “neighborhood,” including his cousins, aunts, and uncles, playing sports and attending cookouts on the two fields surrounding the house, where his parents still live.

The house, bricked, and now furnished with a front deck, a back patio, and screening, has expanded from the one Morales grew up in. Morales said he loves his house, and being so close to his relatives when he comes to visit is an additional benefit of the property.

Morales and Coach Thompson of Lincoln High School. (Courtesy of Jacquelyn Morales)

Morales’ grandmother, who he calls “Grandma Dubie,” lives right next door, and so did her sister, who the family referred to as “Auntie Pumpkin,” before she passed away. 

His cousins have had fluctuating residencies in the accompanying homes, which are all occupied by members of the Rogers family. Rogers is the maiden name of Morales’ mother, Jacquelyn, and they have persisted in Buck Lake for several generations.

“We don’t meet strangers here,” Jacquelyn said. 

Of all the people who grew up in Buck Lake, Morales is the only one who made it out, according to Jacquelyn. In December, Morales will earn his third degree, and his second master’s.

“It was a lot of guys that came through Buck Lake, because my family is really, really big,” Jacquelyn said. “This is where I was born and raised, and a lot of ’em was great athletes, too. But he’s elevated more than anybody from Buck Lake. We’ve had a lot of great athletes, but he’s the only one who got a [college] degree.”

The first two are from the University of North Carolina, where he played football the last four seasons under head coach Mack Brown.

Morales’ last degree will be earned at Boston College, where he transferred in December 2023, in executive organizational leadership. He earned his first master’s in sports administration after the 2023 season.

“Playing in the NFL has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid,” Morales said. “But I’ve been trying not to really stress out about it. And I say that because there’s so many guys that I’ve played with, they go, they get their shot in the league, and boom, it doesn’t work out for them. And now they’re like ‘What do I do with my life?’”

Morales said he keeps that in the back of his mind as he trends toward his next step. If he takes care of his business on and off the field and does his job, he feels like everything will work out just fine, he said. 

His approach of one thing at a time is a means for his success. Morales said he learned that piece of wisdom this season from his new head coach, Bill O’Brien.

“I’m just trying to take it one game at a time, like Coach O’Brien taught me,” Morales said. “And then when I’m training in the offseason, one rep, one whatever it is I’m doing to get ready, and then just put my best foot forward. I want to play NFL ball as long as I can.”

Right before the first grade, Morales remembers shaking up one of his uncles with a juke that made him touch earth.

“I have an uncle, Uncle Shontell [Austin]—he lived with my grandma, so I would ask him to come outside and throw the football with me,” Morales said. “I remember one time, he threw up the ball like it was a kickoff return. I hit him with a little okie doke and made him slip and fall. And we just sat there, laughed our behinds off. That’s when I was like ‘Oh shoot, I really love this.’”

Morales’ dad said he threw the ball with him until he thought his shoulder was going to pop out.

The backyard outside of Morales’ house. (Courtesy of Jacquelyn Morales)

Karonte Donaldson, though, was Morales’ most impactful throwing partner. He still is to this day, maybe apart from Grayson James.

Donaldson is five years older than Morales and played college football at Fort Valley State, an HBCU in Fort Valley, Ga. Donaldson played cornerback in college and helps instruct youth players in the Tallahassee region, coaches a seven-on-seven youth team, and trains players at Florida A&M and Florida State.

Morales works with Donaldson whenever he’s back home, and he’ll go back to prepare for the draft with Donaldson as well.

“He was my biggest role model,” Morales said. “I just always thought he was so cool—that cool older cousin to me. I feel like I am who I am because of him.”

Part of the reason why Morales felt so connected to Donaldson is because Morales is an only child.

“That’s the brother he never had,” Alan said.

Morales played quarterback in Pop Warner and when he was in middle school at Swift Creek.

Morales said he got sacked 10 times in the eighth grade, just in the first quarter alone. One wide receiver on the team could throw as well, so the coach gave him a shot because of his shiftiness.

Morales came into practice the next day and found out they were repositioning him to tight end. He was bummed at first, but his countless hours of playing catch in the yard helped him develop great hands.

“When I moved to tight end, I was like ‘Oh shoot, they throwing me the ball,’” Morales said. “The rest is history.”

A similar thing happened in Morales’ junior year of high school. This time, however, it wasn’t a position change that unlocked Morales’ potential.

Grant Thompson, Morales’ offensive coordinator at Lincoln High School, taught Morales the true concepts of football and exposed him to the finer details of offensive schemes, according to Alan.

Morales’ family is like royalty in the Lincoln athletics realm—all of his cousins played football there, and Jacquelyn made the school Hall of Fame for basketball. 

“Those first two years [of high school] we ran a West Coast offense,” Morales said. “But when [Thompson] came it was spread. I got to play in the slot a lot more, I got the ball in space, [and] I was able to run more routes. Because of his impact, I was able to get to this level.”

Alan said Thompson taught Morales more than just football. 

“[Thompson] told him ‘Don’t stop,’” Alan said. “Just keep going, no matter what. He saw something in Kamari, he really did.”

Morales took that advice to heart from both an athletics standpoint and an educational one. He decommitted from South Florida State in the 10th grade, and his recruitment came down to North Carolina and Ole Miss.

When he visited Chapel Hill for the first time, he fit like a glove. His best friends to this day are the guys in his recruitment class from North Carolina.

“It was just something different [about North Carolina],” Jacquelyn said. “We saw something different. He’s usually clingy to us, but when we went up there he told us ‘bye.’ And then we knew it.”

Morales’ decision to transfer to BC happened before Blake James, BC’s athletics director, hired Bill O’Brien to replace Jeff Hafley, who took a defensive coordinator position for the Green Bay Packers.

Morales’ playing time at North Carolina came to an unexpected halt after a 2022 season in which he broke the program’s record for career touchdowns by a tight end with 10. 

“But 2023 rolled around, and I magically stopped playing,” Morales said. “No touchdowns. Make that make sense.”

Morales has no bad blood for the university he once played at. He calls Chapel Hill, N.C., his home, and said he will always consider it to be a lifelong place for him. Getting the ball was his top priority.  

When he arrived in Chestnut Hill to meet with BC’s coaching staff, he got straight to business. 

“I straight up said ‘I’m not here to take any pictures with uniforms,’” Morales said. “Let’s go to the meeting room. Show me how y’all are going to get me the ball. Show me how y’all are going to get me involved in the offense. I don’t care about none of the other stuff. I got one more year to make this thing right.”

BC’s senior offensive analyst, Rob Chudzinski, who the team calls “Chud,” played a major factor in attracting Morales to the Heights.

“I told my mom and dad [that] if they don’t retain Chud, I might consider getting in the portal again,” Morales said.

Chudzinski stayed when James hired O’Brien and so did Morales. Under Chudzinski’s offense, Morales leads BC with five scoring receptions. That’s not the only transition Morales has noticed.

In summer training camp, O’Brien’s strict regimen took the weaknesses out of Morales. He noticed that right away, when he had to get on all fours during summer sprints and needed to tap out.

“The toughness of the people is genuinely the biggest difference between here and UNC,” Morales said. “The strength and conditioning here is tough, like they make you a dog here. That was like the biggest culture shock.”

From day one, O’Brien has called Morales a BC’s type of player.

“I’m sad that it’s his last year,” O’Brien said. “He’s just an awesome guy on the team. He does everything we ask him to. He shows up everyday of practice, [and] has not missed one practice. If he’s banged up, he plays hurt. Just a BC guy, even though he came here from North Carolina.”

Everything O’Brien looks for in his recruits, he sees in Morales.

“He’s everything that we want in a guy in our program,” O’Brien said. “And the same thing I would say about Jeremiah Franklin.”

Despite boasting different physical frames and expertises, Morales and Franklin have become a steady feature of the Eagles’ offense.

Both Morales and Franklin rank top five in receiving yards and top five in receiving touchdowns.

Franklin said when Morales is by his side, he has no trepidation.

“We’re like brothers,” Franklin said. “I love blocking with him. Any time we’re next to each other, I know it’s going to be a good play. I have no fear whenever Kamari’s to my side, and I know he can say the same.”

Morales said one of his favorite moments of the season so far is when around 50 relatives came to visit him in the Eagles’ first game of the season.

Morales’ parents have made it to six games this year and plan to make it to BC’s upcoming contest against the Tar Heels on Saturday, where they’ll watch their son play in-person for the potentially last time in college.

(Courtesy of Jacquelyn Morales)

Morales has plans of making this a career year for him against the very same team, coaches, and players he once battled with.

“Coming in after transferring, I wanted to have a career-high in catches, yards, and touchdowns,” Morales said. “So I guess I’m on track. But I’d rather win than reach those goals, especially against these guys.” 

Morales looks to prove to his former program why he should have been given the opportunity to get the ball more.

Alan, Donaldson, and the others who spent nights playing catch on the partly-mowed, two-acre lawn in the thick heat of the Tallahassee suburb know why.

“UNC’s program means a lot to me,” Morales said. “I will always be indebted to the University for the things that they did. Yeah, there may be some people within the football building that I didn’t see eye-to-eye with, and that ultimately ended up resulting in me leaving. If you take that aside, I have no complaints. But on Saturday, I mean, they got to pay the pipe.”

November 21, 2024

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