Southern Lab’s Marcus Spears may play football and basketball for the Kittens, but between the lines, he’s all tiger.
By William Weathers
(At the time of publication, William Weathers was an editor for the Baton Rouge Advocate and was the Louisiana correspondent for Student Sports.)
Editor’s Note: This story was first published in the Dec. 2000/Jan. 2001 edition of Student Sports Magazine. Marcus Spears was a senior at Southern Lab (Baton Rouge, La.). Spears was named the 2000-01 Grid-Hoop National Player of the Year.
Related: Marcus Spears Jr. – Family-backed Confidence
It’s the part of the sport that simply drives Marcus Spears to near exhaustion at times. Spears has often wondered, and even questioned, as to when his friends may be off on a city-wide excursion of some sort, why he’ll find himself dripping in a pool of his own sweat after running. Or aching from seemingly endless repetitions of lifting weights. Or fighting the urge to fall into a deep slumber while watching game film, trying not to only improve as an individual, but dissect the guy on screen.
Spears is almost a modern-day miracle of sorts—a gifted athlete willing to sacrifice the simple pleasures in life—just to gain a leg up on the competition. It’s a philosophy—the burning desire to be the best—that’s transformed the 6-5, 270-pound Spears of Baton Rouge’s (La.) Southern Laboratory High School into one of the nation’s top football and basketball players. “Sports is all about getting an edge on the next man,” said Spears. “If he’s slacking, then you have to work that much harder. That’s why I ran and lifted so much in the summer. I could have been having fun like other people, but I pushed myself. I worked out and tried to get better.”
According to some of the nation’s foremost recruiting experts, Spears did a pretty good job of that. SuperPrep Magazine of Laguna Beach (Calif.) rated Spears as the nation’s top tight end prospect coming into his senior season, combining a rare blend of size, speed (4.65-4.7 in the 40), strength (365 bench press) and intellect (3.8 GPA/18 ACT score) into one imposing package.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that he can play on Sundays,” Southern Lab football coach Eric Randall said of Spears’ ability to reach the NFL. “Not only is he big, strong and fast but he’s got the maturity level to go with it. To be honest, we’re a small school (Class 1A which is the smallest classification in Louisiana), so we have limited resources in which to work with. But Marcus has never let that be an obstacle to stand in his way.
“If you get him in the right program at the right time, there’s no doubt he’ll be playing on Sundays or even Monday nights,” added Randall, a former collegiate quarterback at Southern University. “I just know he’s going to do well.”
This past summer was a virtual whirlwind for Spears who enjoyed the life of a globetrotter, bouncing basketballs in Oregon, Florida, California, Georgia, Indiana and Washington, D.C. In between helping the Houston Hoops travel ball program to its second consecutive 17-and-under AAU national championship with a 22-point average, Spears was among the nation’s top 180 players invited to take part in the prestigious Nike All-American Camp in Indianapolis. For Spears, it was his second such trip to the event and it didn’t take long to realize his stature as one of the country’s top basketball prospects.
“They had me signing autographs and taking pictures,” Spears said with a hint of laughter. “It was a lot different than my first year. I was so nervous, I couldn’t tell what I was doing there.” Spears entered this past year’s Nike camp with a different outlook. He was also riding the momentum of a second straight state championship at Southern Lab, an AAU title with the Houston Hoops and the experience of already having endured the mental and physical aspects of playing against the some of the best players in the country.
“I had a lot more confidence this time around,” said Spears. “The first year, I didn’t know anyone and I had to go and make a name for myself. This year they knew who I was and watched me a little more. I left there feeling pretty good about myself.”
Courtesy of Student Sports
Inspiration Has Come in Many Different Forms
For Spears, no inspiration has been greater than the impact of his older sister Deidre, the one person he credits for his playing basketball at the high school level. Not only does he remember the friendly backyard one on one battles, but Spears can still vividly recall the nights he spent watching his sister play for both McKinley High School (Baton Rouge) and later LSU where she starred for the Lady Tigers.
With each point, assist and steal, little did Deidre realize the impact she had on her impressionable younger brother who grew up idolizing San Francisco 49er wide receiver Jerry Rice. “I would put her up against any girl in America and she would win,” Spears said about his only sibling. “When she was in high school she was almost like a celebrity. I couldn’t wait to get to that point. But beyond that I looked at her success and how people reacted to her. They treated her with respect and I wanted to be like that.”
Spears chose to attend Southern Lab, one of 100 laboratory schools nationwide that’s nestled on the campus of Southern University and run under the auspices of the school’s College of Education, featuring grades pre-Kindergarten through 12.
In addition to being the alma mater of his father, Spears decided the school’s rich academic and athletic tradition were enough to fulfill his needs. According to Southern Lab principal Brenda Sterling, it didn’t take long for Spears to stand out. She said it’s the “big teddy bear’’ aspect of Spears that’s endeared him to the student body. “He just has the ability to relate to everyone,” Sterling said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re in kindergarten or one of his (senior) classmates, he’s just a very nice young man who’s never been in one ounce of trouble. He’s a delightful young man. He’s definitely one to watch.”
Spears has ascended to almost cult-like status on the tiny campus, but fame is not something that is a driving force in his life. He takes equal pride in his academic achievement as an honor student, vice president of his 60-member senior class and participant in the school’s young investor’s club, the latter he hopes to apply to a future in business.
“I love my school … I really do,” said Spears. “People don’t look at me as just a football or basketball player, but as a person. I think I have their respect as a student first, then as an athlete. Some guys think that since they’re an athlete, they should have certain privileges afforded them,” continued Spears. “I don’t believe that. I know what I have to do and what is expected of me and I take care of my responsibility.”
While remaining a constant in Southern Lab’s undefeated football season, Spears is also juggling the rigors of college recruiting. Since June, recruiters have flooded his home with phone calls and his mailbox alike.
“I stopped counting,” Spears of trying to keep up with the aforementioned contacts. Spears looked forward to the day he would go through the recruiting process, select a handful of colleges in which to visit and eventually sign with the school of his choice.
Spears is still in the infancy stages of that period, wading through reams of information and trying to make sense of all of the assorted pitches from prospective recruiters.
“I get a little tired of people always asking me where I’m going … where are you going,” said Spears. “Sometimes I just want to get it over with and focus on the thing I’m doing now, which is high school, and handle the college part later. And one thing I don’t like is people trying to put pressure on me.
“This is going to be my decision,” added Spears. “I want my parents to be happy with my decision, but they’ve told me they don’t have to go play a down or go to class. I want to make them happy, but they’re leaving it totally up to me.”
Spears places equal emphasis on academics as he does on the football or basketball portion of his decision. He’s just as interested in a school’s academic support center and graduation rate as he is in how many times a team will throw to the tight end or which school will allow him to play both football and basketball.
“It’s funny how things change, because when I was young I said I wanted to leave, I didn’t want to be here,” Spears said. “But when you get down to it, you have to look at a lot of aspects like what type of people are you going to be around? You have to think about things that are most important to you.”
That’s what made Spears’ first official visit in November—to Miami of Florida—so revealing. Aside from the eye-popping nightlife of South Beach and high-caliber football the Hurricanes are playing again these days, Spears had to shove the obvious aside for the tangible reasons he’s going to choose the right college.
“I really liked the quality of people there,” said Spears, who has scheduled official visits to UCLA and Ohio State and will select between Florida and Florida State for another while keeping hometown LSU squarely in his crosshairs. “I think it’s how you’re treated that’s important and those people didn’t know Marcus Spears before I got there. And I met some students and faculty that had their hand out in friendship and that made an impression on me.”
Spears is an Equally Adept Athlete
He can catch a football and block as a tight end or sack a quarterback from his defensive end position. He can also drop step in the low post and dunk over the opposition or step out on the perimeter and drain three-pointers.
“A lot of guys can play the game but they don’t know the game,” said Southern Lab basketball coach Joel Hawkins. “Marcus knows the game and how to play it. He’s developed into a fine basketball player, but more than that he’s a fine young man. You wouldn’t think a kid 6-5 and 270 pounds can do the things that he does, but he’s a prototype No. 3 (small forward) because he’s strong enough to play inside and quick enough and can shoot it, good enough to play outside. He’s the total package.”
Which begs the question. Is Spears a football player playing basketball or vice versa? “I’m a football player first,” Spears said. “Basketball used to be my first love, but success makes you change your mind. People tell me I have NFL size and speed, but know it’s about getting the fundamentals of the game.”
“I guess it’s a matter of opinion and who you talk to, but he’s a football player in my opinion,” said Randall. “I know basketball can be more glamorous watching it on TV, but I think he understands that football’s going to open a lot of doors for him. But it doesn’t surprise me that he’s excelled at both.”
For all of his game-altering abilities, Randall witnessed Spears’ greatest trait during Southern Lab’s game against arch-rival and defending district champion Kentwood in late October. With the Kittens clinging to a precarious 12-7 lead late in the third quarter, Spears gathered his teammates without any coaches around and told them to follow his lead for the remainder of the game. Southern Lab won 20-12, but more than a district championship, the victory re-instilled that Spears remained the undisputed leader of the club.
“They were getting a little rattled and he just told them to get on his back,” Randall recalled. “You could see it in his eyes and when the younger kids saw that, they were inspired as well. When they see him perform, they get excited.”
“When I was younger I thought I could just sit in the back and just lead by example,” said Spears. “But that changed this year. If we were going to be successful, it’s up to our seniors to set the tone and lead by words of encouragement as well.”
For Spears that responsibility will follow him to the basketball court this year as well. Southern Lab, which was nationally-ranked the past two years, will feature a talented but young team that will not only rely on Spears’ productivity, but his leadership as well. “Last year we had three or four seniors that started,” said Hawkins. “This year we’re going to play with some younger guys that played last year when the games were out of reach. We have a saying that tradition doesn’t graduate, only players do. And it’s because of players like Marcus Spears, we’ll continue that tradition.”
Postscript: Marcus Spears earned a scholarship to LSU after emerging as the No. 1 tight end prospect in the country. He was also named the Louisiana Gatorade State Player of the Year in basketball and played in the first U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Spears helped LSU win the 2003 national championship, was a consensus All-American in 2004 and played nine seasons at defensive end in the NFL after being drafted in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. Spears and his wife, former WNBA player Aiysha Smith, who also attended LSU, later had three children: Cari, Marcus Jr., and Miko. Cari is now playing volleyball at Texas and Marcus Jr. is arguably the top recruit in the national 2027 class.
Related: Marcus Spears Jr. – Family-backed Confidence
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