Senior linebacker Marcus Newby participated in his first football scrimmage in the third grade, playing quarterback for a football team near his hometown of Gaithersburg, Md. Newby remembers taking his first hit that game, coming off the field crying to his dad and telling him he never wanted to play again.
“My dad just kept pushing me,” Newby recalled. “‘You’re going to go back out there. I don’t care if you like it or not.’”
Since that day, Newby’s dad, mom and four brothers became the base of support for his football career. Growing up, he came home from school with grass-stained jeans and dirt-covered hands from blackout football with his older brothers.