Earlier this week, Kadetrix Marcus of Stephenson appeared on Score Atlanta’s The Official Visit, and co-hosts Fletcher Proctor and Scott Janovitz talked about the recruiting process with the safety. Marcus’s humility was immediately evident as he described his experience. When discussing the dislikes of recruiting, Marcus said, “I hate taking schools out of the process. I feel bad for them. But I do like having choices and visiting places and meeting new people.”
Marcus gave a top three of South Carolina, Tennessee and South Florida. He declared the Gamecocks his favorite to date because Spurrier was the first to offer the safety. “They’ve showed a lot of love and they’ve recruited some of my friends to go there too.” It did seem though that Derek Dooley and the Tennessee Volunteers were hot on the Gamecocks’ heels after Marcus recently returned from a visit to Knoxville.
“The facilities are really cool. I like the weight rooms and the coaches I met at the camp.” Marcus noted that Dooley was a “really good guy,” during the camps. “He coached me up in some defensive back drills, and I chat everyday with the coaches on Face Book.”
And Marcus was also quick to note that the coaches learned not to try and draw comparisons with former Vol great, and Georgia-native Eric Berry, because Marcus doesn’t see himself a Berry-clone. “I don’t really model myself after anyone. I want to bring my own legacy wherever I go.”
Miami and West Virginia rounded out Marcus’ top five and Miami has an ace in the hole in Tyrone Cornelius, a former Stephenson legend that committed to the Hurricanes last season. The Canes have “a lot of tradition,” says Marcus, as well as a friend in Cornelius that is trying to get the safety down to South Beach.
Friends and teammates other than Cornelius are playing a large role in the recruiting process for Marcus. Teammates Tarik Cook, Jared Boyd, Willie Davis and Jonathan Mincy are all weighing offers and several have pledged to a major BCS program and everyone is helping each other out. “We help make decisions and we share information. We’re like a family.”
In the end though, Marcus will have to make his own decision and several factors will go into that decision. Marcus said he will look at the environment of the school as well as the scheme and most importantly, the academic courses available. Location certainly doesn’t matter to Marcus. “I haven’t gotten any offers from Georgia Tech or Georgia, but I don’t mind leaving the state. I’m happy to leave.”
Wherever Marcus decides to go, and he says he’ll decide by December to possibly enroll early, he expects to make an early impact in year one. “I want to get my grades in order, but if I graduate early, I can do that and maybe get in some early playing time.” He lists his strengths as being a great hitter, a reader of offenses and he can come up in the box. “I want to motivate my teammates and be a good leader.” Motivating teammates and providing leadership is certainly the way to start paving your own legacy.
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