Athletes - Marcus Dupree

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	Athletes - Marcus Dupree

Marcus Dupree was born on May 22, 1964 in Philadelphia, Mississippi, USA. He was one of the most highly recruited high school football players ever. Dupree was so heavily recruited that Willie Morris wrote a book about his recruiting called The Courting of Marcus Dupree.

Career

High school

Marcus played high school football for the Philadelphia High School Tornadoes from 1978 to 1981. As a freshman in 1978, Marcus ran a 4.4 40 yard dash. He had a 75 yard kickoff return touchdown on his first play in high school. He played wide receiver that season and scored 5 touchdowns and had 7 more on kick and punt returns.

As a sophomore in 1979, Marcus was switched to running back and rushed for 1850 yards with 28 touchdowns.

His junior year in 1980, he rushed for 1550 yards with 20 touchdowns. Marcus had 4 more touchdowns on only 5 kick returns.

In 1981, his senior year, Marcus rushed for 1955 yards with 26 touchdowns. He also could run a 4.3 40 yard dash. That gave him 87 high school touchdowns to break the record set by Herschel Walker by one. He finished high school with 5284 rushing yards on 8.3 yards per carry.

Marcus was recruited by several schools that season. Among them were UCLA, Texas A&M, Alabama, Mississippi State, Georgia, Oklahoma, LSU, Southern Miss, and Pittsburgh. Marcus even received a visit from Billy Sims urging him to attend Oklahoma, where Marcus decided to attend.

College

His freshman season at Oklahoma in 1982 had ups and downs. He did not get to start a game until halfway through the season, but he did see action the first half. He had 4 100-yard rushing games including 158 yards against Kansas on October 16, after which he was given the starting tailback position over Stanley Wilson by OU head coach Barry Switzer. He was also named Big 8 Offensive Player of the Week for that game.

Marcus finished the season with 905 yards on 129 carries with 13 touchdowns for a 7.0 yard per carry average. He was named Big 8 Newcomer of the Year and was also named to the AP All-Big 8 first team and to UPI's All-Big 8 second team. A drama professor at Oklahoma even wrote a song about Marcus called "Mr. Marvelous". The November 1982 Sports Illustrated issue featured Marcus on the cover.

On January 1, 1983, Oklahoma played Arizona State in the Fiesta Bowl. Marcus started the game but had to leave 3 times due to injuries. He had an ankle injury, a rib injury and a pulled hamstring. He also broke a finger so he only played half the game. Arizona State won the game but Marcus was still named the MVP of the game due to rushing for 239 yards on only 17 carries. In doing so, he set the rushing record for yards in the Fiesta Bowl.

His sophomore season turned out to be horrible. During the offseason, Coach Switzer trashed his work ethic and this created a bad relationship between the two. Marcus only played in 3 games that season but had 2 100-yard games. He finished with 369 yards on 61 carries with 3 touchdowns. He quit after the 4th game of the season. He transferred to Southern Miss but was told that because of NCAA rules that he would have to sit out the 1984 season, so he left after 3 months.

USFL

Marcus was signed by the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League in 1984. He gained 684 yards on 145 carries with 9 touchdowns for a 4.7 yards per carry average. He had 2 100-yard rushing games. He was often injured and Buford Jordan was the starting tailback most of that season. Marcus was only 19 years old and a millionaire.

The Breakers moved to Portland, Oregon for the 1985 season. In the first game, Marcus was named the starting tailback but had his knee severely injured on a play while he was sweeping around to the left. This injury ended his USFL career. He had 69 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown.

NFL

Marcus tried to comeback during the 1987 National Football League strike with a tryout for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His knee failed the physical and he seemed to give up on playing again.

Walter Payton met Marcus on some business ventures and urged him to get back into shape to tryout for the NFL again in 1990. Marcus agreed to do so and got back to running a 4.5 40 yard dash and was eventually signed by the Los Angeles Rams. On week 9 of the 1990 season, Marcus got into the game and rushed for 22 yards on 4 carries. He wore number 34 in honor of Payton instead of his usual number 22. He started his first game on week 16 and rushed for 42 yards on 13 carries. He finished his first NFL season with 72 yards on 19 carries.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Marcus Dupree ]

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