Marcus Calvin knew football was his future, commits to Kansas

Growing up Marcus Calvin would have never believed he would be going to college to play football. Calvin played on the AAU basketball circuit against some of the top teams in the nation.

To this day, at 6-foot-3, 290 pounds he handles the ball on the perimeter, drives and shoots threes at a high level. But his football days are just beginning, and he will be spending his future at Kansas.

Just minutes ago, Calvin announced he committed to the Jayhawks.

“I was literally going to practice one day, and I had my Kansas wristbands on,” he said. “I bought some Kansas gloves recently online. So, after practice I got on the phone with Coach P, and I was like, ‘This is the one.’ And I waited one night, texted Coach P in the early morning that I was ready to make the big decision.”

He reached out to Jim Panagos, who was the lead recruiter, and gave him the good news. Then he spoke with head coach Lance Leipold.

“Coach P was ecstatic, man,” Calvin said. “I mean, he was lit. He really couldn't believe it because my decision was so early. He really couldn't believe and then I talked to Coach Leipold, and he was lit. They really enjoyed having me down there and they just said they were really happy for gaining me and taking me with open arms.”

Panagos played a big factor in luring Calvin to KU. The two built a good relationship early and Calvin liked what he saw on his official visit to Lawrence.

“Me and Coach P just got closer and closer,” Calvin said. “He's a great dude. I had already had it in my heart that it was a great school, and it was a great school for me. I just didn't want to make any big decisions there and regret it. One day I was like, ‘Yeah, man. That's the place for me. That's the place I want to take my talent to.’ I loved it down in Lawrence. I love all the fans that's giving me all the love.”

Calvin made his name in the area in basketball. When he started playing football, he was always trying to cut weight to play basketball.

For a player of his size, he still moves well and succeeds playing AAU. But he realized his future was on the gridiron and a game he fell in love with.

“I really had no dreams or hopes of football my whole life,” he said. “I was just fighting to be a basketball player. I was losing weight. I was trying to beat the odds, so people wouldn't say that. And then three years come, and three years pass, and I fell in love with a game that I never thought I would.

“Fell in love with the game. Fell in love with the grind, fell in love with the hustle, fell in love with the people I did it with. It took me a long way. It was basically just God timing it. It was God’s planning. He always had it planned for me. I'm just very blessed.”

Calvin wanted to make his college announcement on August 1st on his younger brother Jordan’s birthday. He hopes to be a role model for Jordan who turned 13 today.

“My brother is a teenager now and it is a different world of life,” Calvin said. “13 is the age where I basically say everything started becoming real. That's when life started becoming real. That's when I had to realize how to grow up. So, I feel like doing this on his birthday and waking him up and saying that his brother's a division one football player, can help him seek through all the distractions he's going to have when I'm gone. He knows what he can do. He knows how he can get there.”

He is ready for his senior year at Gibbs High. He can put recruiting behind him and focus on his final season and know that his hard work paid off with his commitment to Kansas.

“It’s a feeling that I can't even explain,” he said. “It's cheer, its happiness. From a kid from the lowest part of Florida, going to division one and making the decision. Three years ago, I was at my school, crying. I didn’t have any offers. It just opened my eyes and shows me how much I've been through.

“It means a lot to me. It means that my grind, it worked, and it paid off. I can't even explain it. It's a lot of excitement and a lot of blessing and I'm just happy. I get one of my promises for my mother, and I'm going to keep my academic and athletic career going at the next level.”