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DEL.ICIO.USSmall back put up big numbers in Texas
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Marcus Wright, whose 3,374 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns last season at San Antonio Reagan helped him earn a share of the Associated Press Texas Class 5A offensive player of the year award, signed Wednesday to play next season at Georgia Tech.
The 3,374 yards — a San Antonio record — is part of the 7,036 yards he gained in his high school career, which puts him 18th all-time in the state.
Those are big numbers — even if Wright (5-7, 175 pounds) is not.
“Anybody who’s ever seen me play, my size is not a question,” Wright said, filling out the Georgia Tech T-shirt he was wearing.
Wright, who originally had committed to Tulsa, expects to play the A-back position in new coach Paul Johnson’s offense.
He was born in Atlanta. His mother is from Atlanta and his father is from Columbus. There are about 100 relatives remaining in Georgia.
But Wright and his father said they didn’t ask Georgia Tech to recruit him — either before Chan Gailey was fired or when Johnson was hired.
“I think a couple of days after the new coaches got there, they contacted me,” Wright said. “So it wasn’t like I was on the bottom of anybody’s list.
“I had always dreamed to play for either Georgia Tech or Georgia. So when I got the call and it clicked that I could play there, it was big. With the offense they run, you have to have the A-back on the field all the time. So I’ll have an opportunity to play a lot.”
One of his teammates — offensive guard Jaime Villafuerte — expects to see Wright playing on television in the future.
“On our offensive line, we would just try to get our guys for three or four seconds, and whatever hole Marcus found, he was gone,” Villafuerte said. “Any hole he sees, he could go. It was fun.”
Wright has been timed in the 40-yard dash at 4.3 seconds. His coach at Reagan thinks speed will be one of the ways he’ll overcome his size.
“When he played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl [high school all-star game last month], you could see he was small,” coach David Wetzel said. “He’s got outstanding speed and quickness. But first and foremost he’ll succeed because of character. He’s got a great work ethic.”
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