Going into the season I expected big things from Anthony Morelli. Given the skill at wideout, I figured all he would have to do was complete the five yard pass and let Williams, Butler, and Norwood do the rest. This proved to be more challenging than I thought.
At the beginning of the season Morelli showed a lot of inexperience. He threw into coverage. Took unnecessary sacks. Overthrew his man. Stared down receivers. You name it. He looked like a freshman rather than a junior. In his first five games Morelli threw five interceptions.
By mid season Anthony started settling down and showing some maturity. Over the last nine games he only threw three interceptions with two of them coming off tipped balls. But although he cut down on the turnovers, he has yet to develop into a big playmaker going a stretch of nine games without throwing a touchdown pass to a wide receiver. For the entire year he only had 11 touchdown passes, not very impressive on a 13 game schedule. He only completed 54% of his passes for a very average 2424 yards.
Sadly, this may be the image forever linked to Anthony Morelli and the 2006 Penn State season.
In Morelli's defense, he was somewhat handicapped having Jay Paterno for a coach and offensive linemen that moonlight as matadors in the off season. Otherwise he would be ranked higher on the list.
Previous 2006 Disappointments
#4 - Jim Shaw
#5 - Derrick Williams