WAUWATOSA — At Tosa East, Offensive Lineman Marcus Mbow didn't get recruited in football until near the mid-point of his junior year. He agreed to play football at Arizona State, only to have the Sun Devils drop their scholarship offer.
"So I trusted them," Marcus Mbow says.
With big plays downfield like this, Tosa East offensive tackle Marcus Mbow committed to Arizona State.
Lance Allan asks: "You give your word, or they give their word to you like you are our guy. How did that work out, and what did you think at the time?"
"Well you know, I just told them that I was going to commit after awhile, because I just was super stressed out by the whole entire thing," Mbow says.
Then they weren't committed to him.
"I asked some of the coaches, I was like, am I going to get dropped? You know, will I be OK? And they told me I had nothing to worry about," Mbow says. "And that I wasn't going to get dropped. About 3 days before it happened."
Mbow found out, at of all things, on the sideline.
"I was a ball boy, for the JV game," Mbow says. "Our coaches, you know had varsity players sign up and volunteer. And I was just like, 'I'd love to do it.' I checked my phone, and Coach Mawae told me to call him. Yeah, and it was just like, at first you can tell, it wasn't a, how you doin' kind of call, you know what I mean?"
It left him understandably losing trust.
"I was hurt by it, you know because I gave a lot to the program. Even though I haven't been there, you know. I was one of the biggest voices on Twitter," Mbow says.
And wondering if he had a spot.
"I just didn't know what to do. I was really upset by it. And like I was just kind of lost. And almost all the schools that were on my, I think, no, all the schools that were in my top 5, all filled up," Mbow says.
Of all places, he found comfort in the often shameful social media.
"Telling me how messed up it was," Mbow says. "And how much like support I was getting on Twitter. Even from schools I wasn't going to go to."
Now, this young teen, wise beyond his years, has learned a valuable lesson.
"Don't fall in love with coaches. And his main reason for that was, you know, because they could leave at any time," Mbow says.
The silver lining: Marcus will sign with a new college, scheduled for Wednesday morning at 11:30.
