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Paige: Herrod finds "real" home at CU
By Woody Paige
The Denver Post
Posted: 08/29/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
Note, I posted some more of this story, more to read click on link, but this is a story that makes you want to root for a player like this that has worked hard to get where he is.
click link here for rest of story
BOULDER — When Marquez Herrod was a youngster in San Diego and spent his days begging for money on the streets and his nights sleeping next to his mother Katherine on a bench in the bus terminal, a short ride from three major universities, he never dreamed of attending college and playing football.
He dreamed of the Wednesday special at McDonald's.
"They had a 50-cent hamburger, and we would scrape together our nickels, buy one and split it. That was our meal for the whole day."
Two years later, when his mother was sent to a psychiatric hospital suffering from schizophrenia, Herrod was ordered to Polinsky Children's (foster care) Center, just north on Interstate 15 from the football stadium where the Broncos recently had won the Super Bowl. But Marquez never thought about playing pro football.
He thought about escaping.
"Polinsky was like a prison. I was there for almost two years. A jail was nearby, and we ate the same food as the inmates and exercised in the same yard. A lot of broken kids were staying there. I just wanted out."
College? Football? NFL? "No. You can't imagine something you don't even know exists."
Marquez is a student, and he is an athlete.
The 21-year-old senior defensive end is a preseason second-team all-Big 12 pick and a returning second-team conference all-Academic selection.
He could be chosen in the NFL draft next year.
More important, he will graduate from the University of Colorado in December with a 3.0-plus grade-point average and a double major in psychology and business management.
If you don't feel good about this story, you have no feelings.
Difficult, hard, tough was when his father (Marquez has no memory of him) abandoned Marquez and his mother; when they had no money and no place to live; when she was taken away and he was put at Polinsky and in six foster homes (each for less than a year); when he attended two dozen elementary and junior high schools; when he was constantly scared of what would happen to him.
"I just didn't want to go wrong. I just wanted to settle down with a family. I just wanted to graduate from high school."
At San Pasqual High School in Escondido, Herrod also wanted to run. He always could, and had to, run. (He runs a 4.76, one of the top-10 40-yard times for defensive end pro prospects.) He joined the track team. The high school football coach saw him run and told him to try out — and agreed to become his legal guardian. By his junior season, he was among the best California prep players (and rated the 21st defensive end in the country). In his junior season he also decided to become a superior student — and began making the honor roll every semester. He lived in four more foster homes.
Marquez was recruited by a dozen schools — including Boise State (which he didn't believe would be a major power). He chose Oregon State until Boise State's Dan Hawkins and members of his staff moved to Colorado. "I liked the coaches and the academic atmosphere here."
The sharp, smart, handsome, 6-foot-2 young man has been living in Boulder full- time since 2006 — and has increased his weight from 220 pounds to 285. His scholarship, a stipend for playing football, and a federal Pell Grant, have financed his education and all the McDonald's hamburgers he can eat. "I'm very thankful that I finally found a real home, and everybody at CU is my family."
Read more: Paige: Herrod finds "real" home at CU - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_15928237#ixzz0yHuzFsbq
By Woody Paige
The Denver Post
Posted: 08/29/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
Note, I posted some more of this story, more to read click on link, but this is a story that makes you want to root for a player like this that has worked hard to get where he is.
click link here for rest of story
BOULDER — When Marquez Herrod was a youngster in San Diego and spent his days begging for money on the streets and his nights sleeping next to his mother Katherine on a bench in the bus terminal, a short ride from three major universities, he never dreamed of attending college and playing football.
He dreamed of the Wednesday special at McDonald's.
"They had a 50-cent hamburger, and we would scrape together our nickels, buy one and split it. That was our meal for the whole day."
Two years later, when his mother was sent to a psychiatric hospital suffering from schizophrenia, Herrod was ordered to Polinsky Children's (foster care) Center, just north on Interstate 15 from the football stadium where the Broncos recently had won the Super Bowl. But Marquez never thought about playing pro football.
He thought about escaping.
"Polinsky was like a prison. I was there for almost two years. A jail was nearby, and we ate the same food as the inmates and exercised in the same yard. A lot of broken kids were staying there. I just wanted out."
College? Football? NFL? "No. You can't imagine something you don't even know exists."
Marquez is a student, and he is an athlete.
The 21-year-old senior defensive end is a preseason second-team all-Big 12 pick and a returning second-team conference all-Academic selection.
He could be chosen in the NFL draft next year.
More important, he will graduate from the University of Colorado in December with a 3.0-plus grade-point average and a double major in psychology and business management.
If you don't feel good about this story, you have no feelings.
Difficult, hard, tough was when his father (Marquez has no memory of him) abandoned Marquez and his mother; when they had no money and no place to live; when she was taken away and he was put at Polinsky and in six foster homes (each for less than a year); when he attended two dozen elementary and junior high schools; when he was constantly scared of what would happen to him.
"I just didn't want to go wrong. I just wanted to settle down with a family. I just wanted to graduate from high school."
At San Pasqual High School in Escondido, Herrod also wanted to run. He always could, and had to, run. (He runs a 4.76, one of the top-10 40-yard times for defensive end pro prospects.) He joined the track team. The high school football coach saw him run and told him to try out — and agreed to become his legal guardian. By his junior season, he was among the best California prep players (and rated the 21st defensive end in the country). In his junior season he also decided to become a superior student — and began making the honor roll every semester. He lived in four more foster homes.
Marquez was recruited by a dozen schools — including Boise State (which he didn't believe would be a major power). He chose Oregon State until Boise State's Dan Hawkins and members of his staff moved to Colorado. "I liked the coaches and the academic atmosphere here."
The sharp, smart, handsome, 6-foot-2 young man has been living in Boulder full- time since 2006 — and has increased his weight from 220 pounds to 285. His scholarship, a stipend for playing football, and a federal Pell Grant, have financed his education and all the McDonald's hamburgers he can eat. "I'm very thankful that I finally found a real home, and everybody at CU is my family."
Read more: Paige: Herrod finds "real" home at CU - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_15928237#ixzz0yHuzFsbq
DAL @ GB
