Drew Morgan was supposed to be an ancillary weapon in Arkansas’ 2015 offensive arsenal, providing a generally unproven third- or fourth-option for the Hogs to move the ball downfield.

But one by one – or foot-by-foot – the injuries began piling up. Each new season-ending foot injury — RB Jonathan Williams, WR Keon Hatcher and WR Cody Hollister — steadily upped Morgan’s importance in the Razorback offense. And before you could say “Woo Pig Sooie,” the man who entered the season with one career touchdown sat atop the SEC’s regular-season wide receiver leaderboard with 10 scoring grabs.

Meet Drew Morgan, one of the SEC’s most underrated players.

Morgan became the go-to guy for Brandon Allen during the senior’s stellar season. The two formed a rapport that, not coincidentally, peaked around the time Arkansas turned its season around with a 6-1 finish.

The Allen-Morgan tandem put the conference on notice with a four-overtime thriller over Auburn. It was the gritty Morgan who hauled in two touchdowns during extra play, including the game-winner on a 25-yard score. He followed up those heroics with a three-touchdown effort two weeks later as the Razorbacks upset Ole Miss. That set of touchdowns included yet another over-time game-winner.

By now the guy with marginal size – he’s only 6-foot and 195-pounds – had quickly built a reputation as one of the most clutch players in the conference. He’d go on to lead Arkansas with 843 yards (No. 9 in the SEC) with an average of 13.4 yards per catch.

Morgan is a confident player and it’s run him into head coach Bret Bielema’s doghouse in the past. These days, the coach couldn’t be more thrilled with the player who finished sixth on the team in receiving last season with 181 yards. After all, the evidence was in front of our faces the whole time; we just didn’t see it as Morgan led the team as a sophomore with an 18.1-yard average per catch.

As Bielema — a man no stranger to brashness — told reporters in October, Morgan (1,024 career yards, 11 TDs) expects the ball every snap, no matter what his role is.

“According to him, he’s open on every play,” Bielema said of Morgan in the October presser. “He’s a guy that is so dependable I couldn’t be happier with him.”

If Bielema is happy with Morgan’s 2015 season, then he’d better hold onto his hat next year as Morgan’s younger brother Grant Morgan has committed to Arkansas as a preferred walk-on. Grant, a three-star recruit, is cut from the same cloth as his brother, who was also considered a defensive star at linebacker during high school. Both could probably play both ways in Fayetteville if Bielema let them, but it’s more likely that Morgan 2.0 would switch to a fullback role.

With Hatcher — the team’s 2014 leading receiver — returning among the wide receivers, along with Dominique Reed, Jared Cornelius and tight end Jeremy Sprinkle, it’s going to be awfully hard for opposing defenses to focus squarely on Morgan. That could make it possible for him to officially shake the underrated label for good.