College Sports: Marcus Vick: When the chickens flew home to roost

Marcus Vick, a quarterback whose talents experts have debated, and a thug whose thuggery is now pretty much beyond debate, said recently it would "really hurt" if he went undrafted.

Vick must "really hurt" right now. Here is espn.com's article on the subject:


VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Marcus Vick lacks ideal height for a quarterback. He also lacks playing experience (having started only one season) and doesn't have his superstar older brother Michael's amazing athleticism (though he is considered a better passer). And above all he doesn't, to say the least, have a sterling reputation, thanks to the lengthy rap sheet he compiled during four often difficult years at Virginia Tech. One thing Vick isn't lacking, however, is self-confidence.

For instance, when asked Friday to compare himself to the three most celebrated quarterbacks in the 2006 NFL draft class, Vick suggested that he believes he is the second-most talented quarterback in the draft.

Marcus Vick versus Vince Young, a hero of his: "He's great. He'll throw for 300 and run for 200. He's like a taller Michael Vick."

Marcus Vick versus Matt Leinart: "I'm taking Marcus Vick in this case right here, because it's something about when you have an athlete at the quarterback position it just changes the game."

And Marcus Vick versus Jay Cutler: "I'm taking Marcus Vick once again."

“I'm not going to sit up here and make excuses about anything. I understand that situation. If I was a GM, I would have a few doubts myself.”
—Marcus Vick

Thing is, Leinart and Cutler were taken Saturday with the 10th and 11th overall picks, respectively. Young went off the board first among quarterbacks at pick No. 3. And Vick? The seven rounds came and went and his name was never called (unless you count some fans attending the draft at New York's Radio City Music Hall, who were chanting "Marcus Vick" as the last of the final 255 picks were announced).

If Vick gets an NFL invitation, it will be via free agency. Asked before the draft about the prospect that he would not be selected, Vick was clearly bothered.

"I would understand it," he says, "but it would hurt. It would really hurt."

The fact he wasn't drafted came as no surprise, however, when you consider he did not have any pre-draft interviews or private workouts.

"I'll tell you one thing," he said. "Without the character issues and the problems I had in my past, I was definitely a first-round guy from my point of view."

He may believe he's just as good or better than just about every other quarterback coming out, but the fact is Vick, a first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer this past season, killed any chance of being an early pick by his behavior, mostly off the field but sometimes on it. Vick jokingly attributed his troubles to "some kind of curse, like I broke too many mirrors when I was young or something."

His well-documented legal troubles led to his being suspended by Virginia Tech for the 2004 season, and in January, not long after concluding his junior season, the university, which had placed him on a "zero-tolerance" policy, permanently dismissed him from the team because of the "cumulative effect of legal infractions and unsportsmanlike play." The proverbial last straws were his intentionally stepping on Louisville defensive end Elvis Dumervil's leg during the Gator Bowl and the school's eventual discovery that he had been cited during a traffic stop in December.

Rather than transfer to a lower level school or sit out a year when he was dismissed, Vick decided to forgo his final year of eligibility and enter the draft.

"Oh, man, I was hurt," after being kicked off the team, he said. "I was disappointed. I was waking up every morning like, 'Oh, man, I can't believe that this is happening,' because I was on a straight path. I was doing everything correct and, you know, in a snap of a finger everything changed. My whole life changed. From that point on, I just automatically started thinking about the future."

On Friday he was expecting a long wait into the draft's second day: Rounds 4-7. He said he planned to watch the draft at home, alone. Watch and wait.

"I definitely understand [the doubts about his character]," he said. "I definitely understand that. I'm not going to sit up here and make excuses about anything. I understand that situation. If I was a GM, I would have a few doubts myself."

Vick said he would choose himself sometime during Day 2, "because you really can't put too much money into one guy when you really don't know."

Well, then, who is Marcus Vick? For that matter, who isn't he?

"The perception of me is some kind of villain, and that's not me at all," he said.

Vick was the one who stomped on Dumervil's left calf. And yet Vick was the one who, as he tells it, nervously approached Dumervil at the scouting combine, hoping to apologize. They talked for 10 minutes, Vick said.

"As soon as I [saw] him, I saw the back of his shirt and it said 'Dumervil,' and I walked up to him, and he kind of looked at me. He was looking at me like, 'What is he going to do?' But I said, 'Hey Elvis, can I come over here and talk to you for a minute?' And we just kind of went around the corner and talked about a few things, and I told him, 'Look, I'm sorry. I really wasn't thinking about the bigger picture. I could have hurt your leg. It could have [been] worse than it was.'

"He said that he understood what I was going through. We just kind of dapped up [shook hands] and hugged each other. I just felt it was a big relief off my chest." Vick said he thought about the Gator Bowl incident every morning, while some nights he was unable to sleep until he encountered Dumervil again.

Vick reiterated that he is not Maurice Clarett, the troubled former Ohio State star whom the Broncos took a chance on in the third round last year, only to cut him during training camp.

Vick has taken the questions, but got no answers during the draft.
"He's a guy that kind of pushed himself out there for problems to come by challenging the NFL and kind of wanted the attention, whereas in my case, I don't want the attention," Vick said. "I want to go straightforward on a clean path. I'm never gonna challenge no NFL ruling or nothing like that. He's a guy that got picked in the third round last year. Aw man, with all those problems that he had? In the third round? That's something that I [was] praying for …

"Clarett got picked in the third round, and one year later look what he's doing [out of the league]. If I get picked in the fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh round, one year later they're going to be saying, 'Oh yeah, we got a great quarterback out of this guy. He's gonna become something."

Vick, clearly motivated to prove his critics and doubters wrong, had a message for the teams who will have passed on him in the draft.

"I'm gonna show you in the future," he said. "The teams that don't pick me, I'm gonna get the chance to play you, and you are going to be sitting up in the box saying, 'Damn, we should have considered him. We should have taken him.' "

And, Vick says, he's willing to do whatever it takes to prove his worth, even play other positions if necessary. "If they need me on special teams, then I'll play special teams. If you need me to play receiver, then I'll play some receiver."

Vick, 22, who has been working out in Atlanta, says he has matured greatly since Jan. 6, when Tech cut ties with him. Shortly thereafter he started attending church and says he has developed a relationship with God. He says he's smarter, that his life has "slowed down."

Asked who in 10 years will have had the better NFL career (assuming he indeed has one), him or his superstar brother, the younger Vick responded without hesitation, "I say Marcus, because Marcus is going to pass for more yards than Michael (winks)."

It'll be up to Vick whether he sticks around or his career amounts to just passing through.


I give him 10 months until some judge gives him 10 years.

BHN

I'm not much for watching the draft on TV (growing grass can be more exciting, IMHO), but did catch some of the end of it yesterday, and found it hilarious as the fans were chanting "Marcus Vick" to be Mr. Irrelevant. Truth be told, he's not even deserving of that title.

Those comments by Vick burn with racism. He admitted that Vince Young--a fellow African American--was a better QB than he, but he would not admit that two white guys were better. That does happen sometimes. I remember Charles Barkley making some remarks like that. He is one of my all time favorite players, but he used to slight good white players. When asked where Barkley ranked among the great players since 1984 (the year he entered the NBA), he said he was second only to Michael Jordan. He never admitted the superior ability of Larry Bird, once claiming that Kevin McHale was a better player. Now I loved to watch McHale play, but he was not in Bird's league. Isiah Thomas once made a racist statement about Bird as well, saying that if Bird were black, "he would just be another great player".

Vick comes across as an egotistical, defiant malcontent. He may get a chance in the NFL, but I belive he will be nothing but trouble.

Actually, if I remember correctly--and I'm quite sure I do--young DENNIS RODMAN made the racist remark about Bird, then Thomas endorsed it. Shame on both of them for the racists they are.

As for Barkley, on the best day of his life, he was MAYBE the player McHale was, but he sure as hell wasn't the player Bird was. He was, however, twice the player Thomas was.

And YO, Mr. Thomas, sir, if you're not too busy running some league into bankruptcy and oblivion with your stupidity, may I have a word with you? For myself, all I have to do is remember your inbound pass. You DO remember THAT, don't you? One of the more significant plays I've seen. ("Now, there's a steal by Bird!!!! And a layup by D.J.!!!" One of Johnny Most's most famous calls, mainly because he was so stunned the game had been snatched from the jaws of victory by a moronic pass.)

Guys like Thomas and Barkley offend the hell out of me, though in Barkley's case, I'm bothered 10 times as much by his shameless hatred of women--which he NEVER gets called on--as I am by his racism. With Thomas, it's like he thinks someone's conferred on him an unlimited right to be as hatefully racist as he likes (you know, like John Thompson, another real racist s.o.b.).

I am glad you brought this up.

As for Vick, his remarks can burn with whatever he likes. That's his coulda-been-a-contender career WE see burning. The Niners were shamless enough to draft Lawrence Phillips, for god's sake, but I don't see Marcus Vick playing one minute in the NFL.

Like I said, though, IF he keeps his attitude appropriately in check--and thereby keeps himself alive--I do see his being the first pick in every draft in the yard... in football games at whatever prison he winds up in.

"If bustouts brought fame, in life's sickest games, you'd be a legend in your time. If they gave gold statuettes, to psychos with no regrets, you'd be a legend in your time. But there's no praise or fame for 15-year-olds you've lain, nor for legs that you've broken, with cheap shots that you've tooken. [Cringe. .] If loneliness meant world acclaim, for plunging miles on Draft Day, you'd be a legend i-i-in, your time."

(Apologies to Don Gibson.)

BHN

Actually, Most's call was, "Now there's a steal by Bird! Underneath to DJ--he lays it in!"

You are right about Rodman being the instigator. If I'm not mistaken, Rodman and Thomas made those remarks after that Game 5 steal by Bird in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. (And yes, Isiahh blew that game.) Rodman was a rookie and wouldn't acknowledge that Bird made a great play. When a reporter conveyed whatever Rodman had said to Thomas, he then made the claim about Bird. Thomas always did have an ego problem. In Jordan's rookie season (1984-85), Thomas did not like all the attention Jordan was getting. Supposedly, he organized a little freeze-out in the All-Star game to prevent Jordan from getting the ball too often. And let's not forget Game 4 in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1991. The Bulls had lost to Detroit in the playoffs three straight years. In 1990 they finally beat the Pistons in a four game sweep. But in the closing seconds of Game 4, Thomas led the other starters off the court before time expired. He refused to congratulate Jordan or the rest of the Bulls on their victory.

The news came out yesterday that Vick has been invited to the Dolphins' minicamp. The talks with the Vikings regarding Joey Harrington have stalled, so I guess Nick Saban is looking elsewhere for the time being for a backup. There is no guarantee, though, that Vick will be offered a contract. He has only been invited to try out.

Some team will give him a shot. Hopefully, but I'm doubtful, he'll change his ways. Maybe the insult of not being drafted will make him realize that he needs to mature. Then again, maybe his brother will end up taking care of the bum for the rest of his life.

Not if he goes where I think he'll go.

Originally posted by BaseballHistoryNut
Not if he goes where I think he'll go.

The Raiders? Or the Ravens? Those are the first two criminally inclined teams that I can think of...

A penitentiary.

Ah, that would be more fitting, but I bet he never gets there.