Joe Mortensen
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Joe Mortensen (born July 27, 1986 in Walnut Creek, California) plays linebacker for the University of Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA college football tournament. Mortensen, described by many as a tough, rough, and hard-nosed hitter with a nasty disposition, led the Jayhawks with 106 tackles in 2007 after moving from the outside linebacking into the middle position prior to the start of his junior year. A 2007 All-Big 12 First team selection, Mortensen's stops was 9th best in the league while his 15 TFLs was second in the conference. As a testament to his vast development from the previous season, he was awarded with the team's defensive most improved honor at its public awards ceremony and was also named as one of the early candidates for the 2008 Rotary Lombardi Award.
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[edit] Personal Life
Joe is one of Tracy Mortensen's two children; he also has one sister. A psychology major at The University of Kansas, Joe would like to be a Navy seal someday. When he is not on the field, he likes to read, watch movies, and hit the gym to lift some weights. The hard-hittin' California native says that the best part of football is hitting people. His favorite athlete is Bo Jackson, his favorite movies are Seven and Braveheart, his favorite food is meat and considers his teammates as the best thing about playing in Kansas.
[edit] High School
Mortensen attended Clayton Valley High School in Concord, California where he earned letters in football, track and basketball while recording Broke Clayton Valley HS weightlifting records in the bench (385), power clean (330) and squat (515). Mortensen, who held a physical advantage over the opposition with his ability to play as a rover, tallied a school-record 175 tackles, 12 sacks, and 3 interceptions with two of his picks returned all the way to the endzone enroute to being named the Northern California Defensive MVP. His performance also earned him a first team all-state selection, a first team all-city (San Francisco) pick and a first team all-metro (Oakland) accolade. Mortensen was adjudged MVP of Nebraska's summer camp in 2003 and was also named as the top linebacker prospect at the Stanford Nike camp.
[edit] College
Several schools wanted to sign Mortensen up, including San Jose State, Nebraska, Colorado State, and Kansas. He made his visit at CSU on the 23rd of January 2004 but Scout.com's 3-star rated linebacker eventually signed his letter of intent with KU after his February 13 visit.
[edit] 2004
As a freshman, Mortensen redshirted and helped the Jayhawks out in their game preparations as part of the scout team. He received a scout team defensive player of the week honors for the Kansas State game.
[edit] 2005
Mortensen played behind Nick Reid and Kevin Kane as a redshirt freshman, seeing action in all of the Jayhawks' 12 games as part of the special teams and as a reserve linebacker. By the end of the year, he recorded a total of four tackles with three solos, posting his season best of two tackles against Florida Atlantic.
[edit] 2006
With the graduation of Kane from KU, Mortensen took over from his old post. Kane also helped Mortensen's transition by teaching him how to watch film and analyze offensive schemes. The Walnut Creek, California native played the outside linebacker position and made his season debut against Northwestern State, quickly setting a new personal best of 6 total tackles (5 solo, 1 assist) and a season high 3.5 tackles for loss in the 49-18 win. He also posted 6 tackles a piece against Louisiana-Monroe and @ Toledo then racked up 8 stops (all assist) in the win against South Florida. The loss against Nebraska, where he had 5 tackles, 1 pass break up, and 1 QB hurry, started a four game slide for the Jayhawks that include losses to Texas A&M (9 tackles), Oklahoma State (8 tackles, 1 TFL), and Baylor (season low 3 tackles). The team however managed to turn the tide after winning three straight, with Mortensen tallying 9 stops against Colorado, and 5 tackles apiece against Iowa State, and Kansas State, with 2 TFLs against the Cyclones and 1 TFL against the Wildcats. The Jayhawks rapped their season up with a loss @ Missouri as Mortensen erased and replaced his career high in tackles (12) in addition to his 1.5 TFLs.
Mortensen capped his sophomore year as the #2 tackler in the team (82 stops) while registering a second best 12 TFLs, 3.5 quarterback sacks, a pair of fumbles and one forced fumble.
[edit] 2007
In early fall practices, the team's leading linebackers switched positions, with Mike Rivera moving to the outside linebacker position while Mortensen taking over inside as coach Mark Mangino believed that manning the middle was Joe's forte. Despite a good season in 2006, some observers believed that Mortensen had trouble keeping up with quicker receivers away from the line of scrimmage and thus coach Mangino started the adjustments beginning in the spring game.
The change seemed to work like a gem for Mortensen as he looked like a natural in the middle, stopping Central Michigan's offense 8 times, with 2 TFLs, 1 sack, 1 pass break up, and 1 QB hurry before following it up with a 9-tackle performance against Southeastern Louisiana with 3.5 TFLs. After recording 6 tackles against Toledo, Mortensen tallied double digits in tackles for the ensuing wins @ Florida International (13 tackles, season high 3.5 TFLs, 1 forced fumble, and 1 pass break up) and Kansas State (11 tackles, 1 TFL). He posted 8 more stops @ Baylor, recorded 11 @ Colorado (with a single game season high of 9 solos), and 7 @ Texas A&M with 1 pass break up. For the next three wins, Mortensen recorded a total of 12 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 sack, and 2 pass break ups. In the regular season finale against 3rd ranked Missouri, Mortensen matched his season high of 13 tackles, with 1 TFL but his stats were not enough as the 2nd ranked Kansas fell, 28-36 in the rivalry game.
Mortensen returned to the postseason and led the KU defense against Virginia Tech, posting 8 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, and 1 blocked kick as the Jayhawks turned back the Hokies in the FedEx Orange Bowl, 24-21. He ended his junior year with a team-leading 106 tackles (#9 in the Big 12) with 52 solos and 54 assists, 15 tackles for loss (#1 in the team, #2 in the conference), 3 sacks (tie for #1 in the team), 5 pass break ups, 1 QB hurry, 1 forced fumble, and 1 blocked kick. Mortensen, who turned out four games with more than 10 tackles, received a First team All-Big 12 selection for his outstanding defensive performance.
[edit] 2008
Mortensen was listed as one of the 54 players in the Rotary Lombardi Award preliminary watch list.
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2008
- Rotary Lombardi Award preliminary watch list
[edit] 2007
- All-Big 12 First Team Defense
- CollegeFootballNews.com All-Big 12 Defense
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #3 LB in the Big 12
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #18 Player in the Big 12
- Kansas Defensive Most Improved Honor
- Phil Steele All-Big 12 Second team
- Phil Steele Midseason All-Big 12 First team
[edit] 2004
- Scout team defensive player of the week (vs. Kansas State)
