From the first days he practiced with the Bulldogs men’s lacrosse team in the fall of 2016, junior Yale attackman Jackson Morrill attracted the respect of the Bulldogs, young and older. Morrill was far from the fastest or flashiest guy on the field, but man, could this new kid play the game.

Senior midfielder Joe Sessa vividly recalls Morrill’s first impression, from his humble, easygoing manner to his dead-on passing accuracy and especially his razor-sharp lacrosse acumen, all of which combined to announce that a youthful force had arrived in New Haven.

“At our first practice, the coaches put Jackson with the second-string attack. During our four-on-three [drill], he’s just putting the ball right on shooters’ ear holes,” Sessa says. “I remember looking at [current Yale assistant] Coach [Andrew] Baxter and hearing him say, ‘Just give that guy the ball.’”

That’s what the Bulldogs have done for three seasons, and Morrill the operator has rewarded them in kind, as the data plainly reveals – 99 career goals, 93 assists, 40.6 percent shooting and barely one turnover per game.

Entering Sunday’s NCAA tournament quarterfinal clash with fourth-seeded Penn, Morrill has started every Yale game of his career. He will make it 53 straight, as the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (13-3) aim to stay on the path to their second straight NCAA title by beating the fourth-seeded Quakers for the first time in three tries this spring.

Sessa looks at Morrill and marvels at how relentlessly he has pushed himself, his teammates and the program forward.

Morrill’s consistent improvement is evident, from his 39-point freshman season to his breakout sophomore year, when he stepped outside the wide shadow of superstar attackman and eventual Tewaaraton Trophy winner Ben Reeves last year with a vital contribution of 72 points, including 19 in the NCAA tournament.

As Yale’s leading scorer this year with 81 points, including a team-high 42 assists, Morrill has been the indispensable quarterback of the offense. Yet, what endears Morrill the most to his teammates is how seriously he takes his roles as performer and leader, but in such low-key, self-deprecating stride.

“[Morrill] is one of the least athletic guys on our team. We always make fun of Jackson when we test our vertical leap. He can [only] reach the lowest ring,” says Sessa, who jokingly refers to Morrill as “the sloth.”

“But he really knows how to move on a lacrosse field, and he is the general out there – always in the right spot, always telling people where to go. He’s quiet, but he commands everybody’s attention. He’s taught me more about the game than I ever thought any kid – especially a younger kid – could ever teach me.

“It’s true. I’m not the most athletic guy on the team. I’m well aware of that. I’m probably near the bottom of the team [in terms of athleticism],” Morrill says. “But there are things I’ve learned about this game, and all of those things have added up to help me, as a lot guys have passed me athletically.

There is a reason that Morrill, despite the shortcomings in the measurable areas of speed and hops, seems at least a step ahead of the competition so often when attacking as a dodger, shooter or passer.

There is a reason he was seeing and anticipating things as a youngster on the practice and playing fields of Baltimore that many Division I players still don’t see. There is a reason Morrill plays the game faster than most attackmen and makes the correct decision and executes the right play with such regularity.

How many college players have benefitted from the elite lacrosse lineage that has helped to form the exceptional talent that is Morrill? Not many. The others are named Zeke Morrill, Jackson’s older brother and a 2018 graduate of Georgetown; and Garrison Morrill, his younger sister who plays varsity lacrosse at Roland Park Country School.

The Morrill family is the only one with three generations honored in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Each of them starred at Johns Hopkins.

Mike Morrill, inducted in 2016, from the class of 1988 and Jackson’s father, was a two-time All-American on attack. He helped the Blue Jays win NCAA titles in 1985 and 1987 and went on to win two world championships with Team USA in 1990 and 1994.

William Morrill, Jr., ’59, inducted in 1978 and Jackson’s grandfather, was a three-time, first-team All-American who graduated as Hopkins’ all-time leading goal scorer and point scorer and led the Blue Jays to two national championships.

The late William Kelso Morrill ’27, inducted in 1962 and Jackson’s great-grandfather, starred for three seasons at Homewood and made the Hall of Fame as a head coach there. During his 16-year run at Hopkins, he guided the Blue Jays to two national titles.

In addition, Jackson’s mother, Mary Page, played lacrosse at Dartmouth.

Mike Morrill coached his sons for much of their recreational lacrosse days, before Jackson went on to star at McDonogh School

By that time, the kid had marinated in lacrosse knowledge and wisdom, imparted by his father and grandfather. He learned to watch lacrosse on a deeper level – spotting opponents’ tendencies, improving on his weaknesses, sharpening his shooting mechanics and overall stick skills, seeing the patterns of the game and worshipping the fundamentals – through their eyes and advice.

Jackson also gives his older brother much credit for his development as a young player.

“I looked up to [Zeke] and followed him more than anybody. I started at age four on [Zeke’s] team when he was six,” Jackson Morrill says. “He used to let me use his high school stick for my middle-school games.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized how fortunate I was to have my dad and granddad around [to teach me], something I realize a lot of players don’t have. They taught me different ways to watch the game,” he adds. “[My granddad] used to write me notes that were like scouting reports. [My dad] taught me things that sometimes get re-taught at Yale.”

That happened, as Sessa tells, during the first week of fall practice of Morrill’s freshman year. While the offense was working on setting proper picks, Morrill started explaining the slip pick to some teammates while standing in line. Then he asked a Yale assistant if he could explain the concept to more players.

“Jackson took over the session for about five minutes. I was like ‘Oh my God, this kid knows what he’s talking about,” Sessa recalls.

“He’s all about those little details. During timeouts, he’ll be saying things like, ‘Look for this pass if [the defense] does this or that.’ The thing is, he’s such a humble kid. He doesn’t care about anything more than the success of our team. The name on the front of the jersey is all he cares about.”

“[Morrill] works really hard on his deficiencies,” says Yale head coach Andy Shay, noting how typical it is for Morrill to work on his own extensively after practice. “He’s never trying to do too much or push too hard. He lets [the game] come to him. Sometimes you don’t notice that he has four goals and two assists. That’s a beautiful thing.”

Mike Morrill, who says he only talks to his son in the immediate minutes following a game – unless the son calls his father for any reason -- says there was one creed he lived as a player and passed on to each of three, lacrosse-playing children.

“Be unselfish,” Mike Morrill says. “It doesn’t matters who scores. It matters that we score. I never see Jackson just throw the ball at the goal. He values the ball. You can’t take dumb shots. It ruins the offense.”

Jackson Morrill has damaged his share of defenses at Yale. In the season opener of his freshman year, he scored five goals and six points against Villanova. He had five, multi-assist days and scored 20 goals.

Last year, he became a deadly complement to Reeves. As a second-team, All-Ivy League member, Morrill registered 40 goals and 32 assists. He got the Elis rolling toward the school’s first NCAA crown with a seven-goal show in a first-round, 15-13 win over UMass.

With Reeves and the rest of a hugely impactful senior class gone, the offense has been in Morrill’s hands at the “X” position from day one in 2019. The kid has not disappointed by averaging five points per game. Morrill also has other players thrive in Yale’s high-octane offense, such as attackmen Matt Gaudet (44 goals), freshman Matt Brandau (39 goals, 18 assists) and Jack Tigh (41 points) and midfielders John Daniggells (23 points), Brian Tevlin (30 points) and Sessa (31 points).

The Bulldogs entered quarterfinals weekend ranked second nationally with a scoring average of 15.44 goals per contest.

If you’re wondering how Morrill ended up at Yale instead of Hopkins – where his father teamed up as a junior with current Blue Jays coach Dave Pietramala on the ’87 title team – Mike Morrill says it came down to two factors.

One was a compelling recruiting pitch by Shay. The other was the presence of then-attackman/quarterback Shack Stanwick as a fixture at Homewood, where Stanwick would be a junior during Morrill’s freshman year.

“We had a fantastic recruiting trip to Hopkins, and our first visit to Yale really resonated with [Jackson]. We went back two more times. It was clear Andy really wanted him,” Mike Morrill says. “With Shack there [at Hopkins], we didn’t know if Jackson would play [for those first two years]. He wasn’t too excited about that.”

Morrill and the Bulldogs are focused solely on winning Sunday. Jackson Morrill says this has been a challenging season, more so than the team’s 13-3 record would indicate.

“It hasn’t been easy. There has been a lot of soul-searching. We’ve been close to playing like we want to, but we haven’t gotten there yet,” he says.

“No one on our team is even thinking about [winning another title]. We have to try to beat a Penn team that’s beaten us twice [each by one goal],” Morrill adds. “Our coaches don’t let us think any other way. Everyone is worried about the first ground ball on Sunday. That makes it very easy to forget about the big picture.”