Marcus Davenport, a first round and overall number 14 pick of the New Orleans Saints in the 2018 NFL Draft, was a former player/recruit of mine. Prior to being a Real Estate Broker in Durango, Colorado, I was a College Football Coach for over three decades.
Just like all my players, I am very proud of Marcus due to the fact that he was not given anything. He earned every stripe that he was wearing. In fact, coming out of high school, he was only a two star recruit and had only two or three offers. The last week of the NCAA recruiting period is a critical time in recruiting, because recruits will choose schools and decline other schools. Davenport’s high school was only 15 minutes away from our campus at UTSA. A local kid, you might say.
As coaches we were required to do extensive travel during the week and then come back to campus on Fridays to host recruits for an official visit weekend. This was the final week of recruiting, a critical week because of numbers. When I arrived on campus, I was given a video of Marcus Davenport of San Antonio Stevens High School. Prior to this date, I had never heard of Marcus, let alone evaluated him. He was not even on our recruiting board. A tall, lanky kid with outstanding speed and hand explosion. I was asking myself a lot of questions, What’s wrong with this player? I really thought he was a talent. Why was no one else recruiting him? What is his upside? I ignored all of those questions because we all, at times, have to trust our gut and instincts. The next question was, at this late in the stage, could we get him on campus? He was committed to UNLV. Our Defensive Coordinator, Neal Neathery, went to his high school to visit him. He had a basketball game that night, so it would cut into the 48 hour window allowed for official visits. We eventually got him on campus and I might add that it wasn’t a cinch that he was going to get offered. The reason being was that he was too skinny, and if he was offered, it wasn’t a cinch that he would accept, due to the fact that we were so late in the game.
After much debate, we offered him and went into the National Letter of Intent Day not knowing whether he will sign with UTSA or UNLV. Fortunately for UTSA and more significant for the staff that succeeded us (Ecclesiastes 2;21), he signed with the Roadrunners. Going into our pre- season camp, he was not big enough at that time to play and we had five upper classmen returning starters coming back. For those reasons, we planned and felt that it was in his and our best interest to Red Shirt him in order to give him a chance to grow and develop. As fate may have it, all of our Defensive Ends got hurt and he was forced into action. He would show up in my office to watch film on his own, because he possessed a quality of initiative. We went into the first game to a full house at the University of Houston and on national television, and he had one superior game. The spot light did not phase him one bit. From that point on, the rest is history. A quiet young man that chose his words very carefully. A man that possesses a great deal of wisdom. Has tremendous effort at all times. Mentally and physically tough. A quality of perseverance. Very good listener and learner. Has the ability to process and that’s what makes the game slow down for him.
These are all the characteristics that I hope to poses in my real estate in Durango Colorado and qualities that we all can add to our toolbox to succeed in our daily lives. It is a skill to live. Best wishes to a great man and an inspiration to many, Marcus Davenport, who in my estimation, will be wearing a Gold Jacket one day! This is a nice recent interview on myself in regard to Marcus https://247sports.com/college/texas-san-antonio/Article/UTSAs-Davenport-projected-as-a-first-round-pick-117668948
If you have any questions on coaching or Real Estate in Durango, Colorado at http://www.ericroark.com
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