CHARLOTTE — Dan Morgan always was willing to fight for the Miami Hurricanes.

Long before he became one.

Growing up near Philadelphia, he was surrounded by Penn State fans, and knowing he'd go on to be one of the great linebackers in college football history and a first-round pick in the NFL draft, you'd think "Linebacker U" might have appealed to him.

But instead of dreaming of being the next Jack Ham or Matt Millen or Shane Conlan, Morgan was the only kid in his school — maybe the state — with a Hurricanes linebacker Bernard Clark jersey.

"I was always a Miami fan, even when I lived in Philly; like that's all I cared about when I was a little kid," Morgan said recently. "I would fight with all my friends. We would literally get in fistfights over games, going back and forth on who was better and who was going to win."

And because Morgan was the guy he was, you liked his chances.

The Panthers general manager will be honored by his alma mater today, when he's inducted into the Hurricanes Ring of Honor for his incredible career there. He'll be joined by quarterback Ken Dorsey, wide receiver Andre Johnson, and offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie at the ceremony, where they'll join the school's incredible list of legends, which includes 10 Pro Football Hall of Famers (One Hall of Famer, Devin Hester, hasn't made the Miami Ring of Honor yet. That's what we're talking about here.)

But even there, among all those stars, Morgan stood out.

All Morgan was at Miami was the best defensive player in football. He started at linebacker there for four seasons, left as the school's all-time leader in tackles (532, with over 100 each year), and capped it by winning the Bednarik, Butkus, and Nagurski Awards his senior year, making it an easy call for the Panthers to draft him in the first round of the 2001 draft.

Which is pretty good, considering he wasn't even a linebacker when he went there.

His family moved to Coral Springs, Fla, and he was a smallish running back at Taravella High School before signing with his beloved Canes. And that was a dream come true for him, considering the way he grew up and who he looked up to.

"I knew even before going there, just the tradition of the linebackers down there, and that's part of the reason I wanted to go there," Morgan said. "It's like, Darrin Smith, Jessie Armstead, Micheal Barrow. All those guys like Bernard Clark before me, Ray Lewis, you knew that you had to live up to a certain standard, and you had to play the game a certain way.

"And I think down there like if you don't play it a certain way, like you're going to get weeded out pretty quick. That locker room is pretty tough down there, so if you're not a tough ass and mentally tough, physically tough, you're not going to last long down there."

So two days into his career, he changed positions and began the hard work of fitting in.

"I came into college probably 210 pounds soaking wet, and I was a running back, and then they moved me to linebacker in like the second practice," And I was in linebacker drills, and we had big linebackers. I was skinny, but I was fast, and I remember being in an individual period and hitting one of our linebackers, and I was like, 'Oh, s---.' I'd better put on some weight.

"I always knew that I was good, that I had the talent, and I was tough. And I think once I moved to linebacker and they put me in there, natural instincts took over. My speed and physicality took over, but I was just undersized. So I would say pretty much immediately, I just was like, hey, I've got to set the tone on how I'm going to be, and set my own standard."

And that standard allowed him to fit in immediately.

One of those linebackers he mentioned, Barrow, would end up playing for the Panthers as well, signing in 1997 to be the bridge from Sam Mills to the next generation.

Barrow, who lives in Charlotte, just laughed when he talked about how Morgan fit in, because every time he called back to the school and talked to his old coaches (Barrow was drafted by the Houston Oilers in 1993 after winning two national titles at Miami), he heard more and more stories about the skinny kid who was not just next in line, but would surpass a storied tradition.

"He had Hurricane DNA," Barrow said. "Penn State was known as Linebacker U, and Miami at that point was known as Quarterback U, right, but then we changed it to NFL U because we just started producing ballers at all positions. And then somebody would say he's arguably the most decorated linebacker in the history of the University of Miami, but to me, to me it's no argument. He is. He definitely is."

Barrow said during his NFL offseasons, he'd go back to train with then-'Canes assistant Andreu Swasey, who told him about this new kid at his old position.

"I used to come back every offseason and train with the guys because I started noticing guys who went to the league, they couldn't do our workouts," Barrow said. "And I remember Swasey telling me, 'Man, Micheal, this guy Dan Morgan is a beast.'

"He's relentless like a pit bull, or like one of those cheetahs chasing down a prey. I mean, he was all effort to the ball."

But don't get it twisted. Morgan wasn't just some undersized try-hard — though he was an effort guy. He could fly, and run, and hit.

"Dan broke the norm, we were like, 'White boy can jump,' you know what I'm saying?'" Barrow laughed.

And that allowed him to stand out in a place known for big hitters and great athletes.

Miami had won titles before, but the program was clouded by NCAA penalties that cut into its recruiting abilities. Former coach Dennis Erickson left trophies in the cases, but also NCAA penalties, including restrictions on scholarships. So, new coach Butch Davis had to build the place back up.

Morgan and his small-but-talented class (which included Ed Reed, Santana Moss, and Reggie Wayne) were there to get back to the glory days, and that's a responsibility they took seriously.

"We were coming off probation, so I think we only had 12 guys in our recruiting class," Morgan said. "I think everybody that they recruited, what Butch did such a good job of is pinpointing a certain type of guy, because like we were all so hungry to get Miami back to where it was before probation hit.

"We were so focused on being good and getting Miami back to where it used to be."

They went 5-6 in Morgan's freshman year, their first losing season since 1979, but that quickly turned to 9-3, 9-4, and then an 11-1 run in 2000, a year in which they were left out of the BCS national championship game (despite having beaten title game participant Florida State head-to-head earlier in the year).

And through that rise, Morgan drew plenty of attention.

Anyone could see the highlights, and scouts could watch the film, but what made Morgan stand out at that time was the kind of thing you couldn't put on a stopwatch.

Jack Bushofsky, the Panthers director of player personnel and head of scouting during the George Seifert years, would always show up well before practice started when he went places, because that's when he learned things.

"My overall philosophy on drafting, you're going to draft players for, you hope, a long period of time with your organization," the 88-year-old Bushofsky said this week. "I can look at the tape. I could watch him in a game and determine what type of athlete he is, what his skill set is, etc.

"The thing you don't know when you draft a person is how much football really means to him. Does he enjoy playing? Is it a love of his life, or is he just playing, as a chance to make some money and go about his business?"

When he got to Coral Gables, he got his answer on Morgan quickly.

"I like to get to the practice early to see who shows up early and what their demeanor is before the coaches get on the field, and how they interact with other players. Well, Dan's out there, interacting with his teammates, enjoying what's going on, what's going to happen. They're going to practice football, which could be a drudgery, but they enjoy it.

"It was a big part of my philosophy in looking for players — how much they really do enjoy playing football, and does football mean something to them? Because if they don't enjoy it and it doesn't mean something, then the likelihood of them being successful is very small.

"And Dan was always one of those guys. I mean, I remember him. He was always a show up early, stay late guy. And not only that, but also interacting with your teammates. People forget this is a team game. Everybody has to have a feeling of obligation for your teammates. And if you don't have that camaraderie with each other, or the feeling of obligation to each other, then you're not going to be successful in tough times on the field.

"If you become an individual and you start pointing fingers, you can't win that way. There's no way. If everybody in that building is not going in one direction, the chances of you being successful are very minimal. Everyone has to have one purpose in mind, and that's to win. And to support each other, and that's the kind of players that we were looking for. We were very fortunate to get those guys in that draft."

That class Bushofsky referred to also included defensive tackle Kris Jenkins and wide receiver Steve Smith, making it a group that would turn the Panthers around quickly. Just as Morgan's freshman year at Miami didn't go well but led to something better, they quickly rose, and the Panthers were in a Super Bowl by that group's third season.

"He was my Luke Kuechly, right?" former Panthers defensive end Mike Rucker said of his former teammate, invoking the name of another member of the Panthers linebacker lineage. "Like he was Luke before Luke, where he's calling out plays, he's getting people lined up. Here's your real middle linebacker; bloody nose, jammed up finger, whatever. You have to drag him off the field to get him off. When I say D-Mo, that's why I get a smile when I say his name, because he was a true football player from start to finish."

And as he was with the Panthers, he was at the center of that Hurricanes defense, and that's what Bushofsky saw at Miami.

"He was really the leader of that group that particular year," Bushofsky said. "His teammates looked up to him. He was a leader, as far as his actions on the field and his actions off the field, and that stood out to me. It really did.

"Miami always had so many characters, too. He had his way. But I just liked everything about him and the way he handled himself, his composure on the field, and the confidence that he showed during practice and during the games. That's the type of person we were trying to draft, a person who had all the qualities of a football player, not just being a good tackler or a tough guy. He had all the qualities that we were looking for."

It's worth noting that when Morgan stopped to talk about his Miami days this week, he was taking a break from watching film of college players in his office. That focus Bushofsky referenced, that constant work, that building, that's what he's always been about, as a linebacker or a scout or a general manager.

And oh yeah, he was great at football.

Linebacker Trevin Wallace knows it by reputation, having spent a lot of time watching film with Morgan this year. But much of this roster wasn't born when Morgan was terrorizing opponents at Miami.

"I haven't seen it, but my Pops said he was a dawg," cornerback Jaycee Horn said with a laugh when asked about Morgan's college tape. (And Joe Horn would know.)

Quarterback Bryce Young has seen some highlights, and the quarterback recognized the opposite number on the other side of the line.

"I mean, you could tell he was a field general out there in the second level on defense," Young said. "You could tell he was running around, he was hitting, he was instilling fear.

"It makes a lot of sense, like just the competitor he is. You see it upstairs. You see him when he's outside, yeah, it makes a lot of sense."

When Morgan thinks back on his college days, he takes pride in the fact that his Hurricanes did rebuild the standard, winning another national title the year after he left.

"I think my class and the class before got Miami back to what Miami should be; like we set the foundation and the work ethic to get it back to where it needed to be," Morgan said. "We set a new standard."

But if you're going to be a Miami guy, there's still that element of swagger that's part of that "Hurricane DNA" Barrow talked about.

And when Morgan got here in 2001, on a team that would go 1-15 before changing coaches and changing trajectories in a hurry, he also had the ability to ruffle some feathers.

He laughed and said that the talent his rookie year wasn't what he was used to seeing, and when the rookie made a remark, some of the vets challenged him.

"I said something in the paper, and I think some of my teammates got mad at me," Morgan said. "I said it doesn't feel as hard, but I was just being honest because I've always just been honest about stuff. (Former cornerback) Jimmy Hitchcock, I almost got in a fight with him because he said something, but I don't take s--- either. So I said, don't come to me unless you want to do something about it."

Morgan leaned back in his chair and laughed when he recalled that scene, because the last time he saw Hitchcock, that story came up again.

"He still remembers, he was like, man, you were pissed," Morgan laughed. "I was like, you've got to figure the locker room I came from down there, you're used to confrontation."

Morgan always was willing to fight for Miami.

And that's why they're honoring him today.