Wisconsin offensive lineman Marcus Mbow talks ASU offer
There was a time where Marcus Mbow hated football. He despised the game. Even in middle school, he hardly got playing time. He rarely stepped foot on the field. Then in high school, he disagreed with some of the philosophies of his high school coach. He was fed up that none of his teammates trained in the weight room.
Marcus Mbow was a basketball player and thought he would probably go to some D-I or D-II school to play hoops. He was 6-foot-5 with the scale tipping north of 275 pounds and impressive bounce. He compared his game to DeMarcus Cousins, a big man who had a skillset versatile enough to play outside of the paint.
So why did Mbow stick with football?
“My mom making me,” he said. “I was always like, ‘Mom, I don’t want to play anymore. I don’t want to play football this year.” And she’s like, ‘Yes, you’re going to.’”
Now, with just a year of high school remaining, he’s thankful his mom didn’t let him quit.
When Dave Pfeiffer took over Wisconsin’s Wauwatosa East High football program in July 2019, he told the disgruntled offensive lineman that he had a gift, that he would excel. A few weeks into Mbow’s junior season, it was confirmed.
He spoke with Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell and received his first college football offer. A D-1 power-five offer. A chance to go to college for free. Mbow couldn’t speak.
“I had a straight face for about three minutes. Everybody was like, ‘Where’s the excitement?’ I was like, ‘I don’t even know what’s going on. I don’t even know what happened,’” Mbow said of his first offer. “I just never thought (football could lead me to college) for free.”
At the moment, Mbow is a three-star offensive tackle with more than a dozen offers and seven from power-five programs. Among those is Arizona State.
ASU's offensive graduate assistant Adam Breneman followed Mbow on Twitter a little over a month ago and eventually talked on the phone with the 300-pound offensive lineman. Their relationship grew, Mbow said. And it all led to last Thursday when Mbow and his family hopped on a Zoom call with some of ASU’s coaches. After getting to know each other for a little bit, offensive analyst Kevin Mawae delivered the good news.
And while Mbow said Mawae will likely take over his recruitment, it’s his relationship with Breneman that has given him such good feelings about the Sun Devils thus far.
“Me and him have been really close, talking a lot. It’s more like a big brother than a coach,” Mbow said of ASU’s grad assistant. “We’re real tight. It’s not really like a coach-player relationship.”
While Mbow’s measurables jump off the chart (He’s 6-5 and got up to as heavy as 325 pounds during his junior season), he’s only taken football seriously for one year. For now, there are miles of potential still to be realized.
“(Coaches say) that I’m very athletic. I like blocking people. They like my footwork,” Mbow said. “I play mean, fast -- I like to get out in space, like run full-speed and just (hit someone).”
At the moment, Mbow said ASU ranks alongside Michigan State, Iowa State, and Nebraska as the quartet recruiting for his services the hardest. But with the COVID-19 pandemic indefinitely halting any in-person visits, Mbow has no timeline for his decision, other than noting that he would really prefer not to commit until he’s visited a number of campuses.
And while Mbow has lived within the same eight-mile radius in Wauwatosa, Wisc. his entire life, he’d be willing to leave for the perfect fit. And what would that look like?
“I need to have built good relationships with the coaches,” Mbow said of his recruiting wish list. “Also, a family atmosphere, I want that support. (A place) that can help me get to the next level. And having a positive mindset about the team, that’s another big thing for me.”
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