Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1467458
5 6 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M personality. He's very well liked and well respected by his teammates. He's the guy who injects the energy into our football team, whether that's in the weight room or on the practice field and definitely on Friday nights. A lot of times, especially at the high school level, maybe that kind of person- ality doesn't end up being your quarter- back. Maybe that's your middle linebacker or someone else. We ended up having a really good season last year. We had 36 seniors on our team, but Marcus was still the most vocal out of all those guys, even as a junior. Those upperclassmen were looking to him to lead the team and make plays, and that's what he did. BWI: Is there any specific trait or skill that just comes naturally to him? DRAFTS: When a play breaks down, whether we have a protection issue or whatever, he always seems to make some- thing out of nothing. We ended up, as the year went on, really morphing into an of- fense that was tailored almost 100 percent around him. A lot of the plays that we ended up call- ing were pass plays. I felt comfortable knowing that if there was a protection issue, or just no one was open, he was go- ing to get out of the pocket, scramble for 10-plus yards, make an off-balance throw or do something positive for us. Any time you can snap the ball to a kid like that, you feel pretty good as a high school coach that good things are going to happen. BWI: His recruitment really took off in a short period of time after the National Combine in San Antonio in January. What was that experience like? DRAFTS: It was really neat. I was actually out in San Antonio because we had a punter who was playing in the All- American Bowl. It was also the AFCA coaching convention, so I was out there with them. I didn't get a chance to watch him perform that afternoon, but he told me that he did really well. I also saw some videos that popped up on Twitter. The next thing I knew, when I was still in San Antonio, Coach [Mike] Yurcich, the offensive coordinator from Penn State, called me. Up to that point, I don't think he had an offer yet. I think he may have had some FCS schools, but no Power Five schools or anything like that. When that phone rang and the guy on the other line says, "Hey, this is Mike Yurcich from Penn State," I was like, "Holy crap." He was asking, "Who is this kid? How does he not have more offers?" I just responded saying I've been thinking that for six months now. Ever since then, and especially after his visit to Penn State, everything changed. BWI: Yurcich came down there and got to watch Marcus work out in January, I believe. What do you remember from that day? DRAFTS: We had just a normal throwing session planned that day. We're allowed to do seven-on-seven basically the whole offseason down here in Florida. We had a few guys planning to work out, so Coach stopped in and was able to watch it. That was the first time that Marcus had worked out in front of a college coach, which as you know is very common nowadays. He absolutely crushed it. We have to get our workouts in before school. It was early in the morning, and I remember it being a cold day for Florida. It was proba- bly 45 degrees at 7 o'clock in the morning, and he just killed it. I wasn't surprised that Coach Yurcich was impressed. He told me then that he saw a lot of what he needed to see, and then his recruiting process really took off from there. BWI: What stood out about Penn State's recruitment of Marcus? DRAFTS: The main thing that stood out to me is that they just made it clear they didn't care where he was ranked, what other offers he had, none of that. They came in, saw him, and instantly thought he was one of the best quarter- backs in the country. Recruiting is weird nowadays. A lot of people offer kids, but it's not commit- table. There's a lot of stuff that I need to weed through as a coach, and then even more so for a 16- or 17-year-old kid, but that wasn't the case with Penn State. C o a c h Yu rc i c h was very transpar- ent from the begin- ning that they had Marcus at the top of their board and that they would take his commitment when he's ready. It was great to hear that from him, because other schools were hemming and hawing, saying they liked him, but they hadn't offered yet. I think that played a huge role for Marcus. They were the first Power Five, and obviously others came calling, but Coach Yurcich was definitely there from the beginning. BWI: What's Marcus' potential? What do you think he can accomplish? DRAFTS: He's got all the potential in the world. He just turned 17. He played the whole [2021] season at 16 years old. In this day and age, with guys reclas- sifying or being held back, you never know how old anyone is anymore, and that makes a huge difference. Picture Marcus having the year he had this past year as a sophomore. He would be one of the highest-ranked quarterbacks in the country and a five-star. The difference a year makes plays a huge role. We've really been getting after it this year, making sure he's locked into ev- erything it's going to take for him to be successful for us. I think he's going to have a great senior year, and then look- ing forward to the future, he's going into a great, top-10 program in the country. Coach Yurrich has got a great history with QBs, and I think the sky's the limit for Marcus. ■ "He just turned 17. He played the whole [2021] season at 16 years old. … Picture Marcus having the year he had this past year as a sophomore. He would be one of the highest-ranked quarterbacks in the country and a five-star." C O A C H D R A F T S O N S T O K E S ' P O T E N T I A L