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Marrow excited to face the Buckeyes
By Joe Scalzo
Two years ago, when Toledo played nationally-ranked Ohio State at Cleveland Browns Stadium, Desmond Marrow figured his chance to play the Buckeyes was gone forever.
“I was devastated,” said Marrow, who missed the 2009 season after tearing his ACL midway through the 2008 season. “Growing up, everyone in Ohio wants to go there and every other school is the stepchild as far as fans are concerned.
“Later that season, I found out we’d added Ohio State in 2011 and I was like, ‘I’ve got to get a sixth year, I’ve got to come back and play them.’”
Marrow, a former 2005 Division IV player of the year at Cardinal Mooney, played in 12 games last season, finishing fourth on the team with 68 tackles and tying for the team lead with three interceptions.
After the Rockets lost to Florida International in the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl, Marrow, who also missed the 2007 season with a hamstring injury, submitted his paperwork to the NFL to gauge his draft status. At the same time, he was petitioning the NCAA to grant him a sixth year of eligibility due to losing more than two years because of injuries.
NFL scouts told Marrow he wouldn’t get picked before the fourth round — and may have to sign as an undrafted free agent — and that he’d benefit from the sixth year. When the NCAA granted his request, “it was kind of a no-brainer,” Marrow said.
“Of course I have dreams of playing at the next level but I felt like I needed another year to work toward that,” said Marrow, who at 6-foot-3 could make the switch to safety in the pro ranks. “And we hadn’t won a MAC [Mid-American Conference] championship or a bowl game since we’d been at Toledo.
“I knew most of the team was coming back so we had a good chance of doing both.”
Marrow had seven tackles and broke up a pass in Toledo’s 58-22 win over New Hampshire on Saturday but the schedule is about to get tougher. The Rockets play at No. 15 Ohio State on Saturday, then play host to No. 4 Boise State on Sept. 16.
Marrow views these games as job interviews.
“When scouts look at you, they want to see you against quote-unquote big schools,” he said. “The first tape they’re going to turn on is Boise State, Ohio State and Syracuse.”
Marrow is keeping one eye on his football future and another one his post-football career. He’s already graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in criminal justice and he’s working on a master’s degree in recreation and leisure.
He and his former Mooney teammate Derrell Johnson-Koulianos co-founded Make Plays or Die, Inc., which they hope to expand into an apparel business ala Under Armour. He’d also like to create a YMCA-type boys and girls club with “MPOD” at the center.
Until then, he’s just trying to enjoy his last year at Toledo.
“I’m just approaching everything like it’s the last time I’m going to do it, because it is,” he said. “I’m just trying to cherish each moment.”
For more information on MPOD, visit www.mpod.bigcartel.com