Foster a Bearcat
Troy junior commits to UC football program
By David Fong
Executive Editor
TROY - Marcus Foster always dreamed of using his athletic skills to earn a college scholarship.
The Troy High School junior just always figured it would be a basketball scholarship.
"Basketball was my first love," Foster said. "It's what I played my whole life growing up. But now I feel like football is what I was blessed to do."
And football is what Foster will be doing in college ... at the University of Cincinnati. Sunday, Foster called UC coach Butch Jones and offered a verbal commitment to the Bearcats. Cincinnati was the first school to offer Foster a scholarship, but soon was followed by a number of schools, including Duke and nearly every school in the Mid-American Conference.
"They were the first to offer me a scholarship," Foster said. "They just made me feel really comfortable. Plus, it's close to home, which is important to me. It pretty much came down to Duke and Cincinnati, but I wanted to go some place closer to home so my friends and family can come and watch me play. Hopefully I can come in and play early."
By committing early, Foster said, it will allow him to focus solely on his senior season this fall.
"I'm glad the recruiting process is over," Foster said. "It gets to be kind of a repeating process - every day you are getting the same things from schools."
Foster has spent the last two seasons playing both halfback and cornerback for the Trojans. He moved to safety toward the end of last season and he said that's where the Bearcats want him to play in college. This past fall, Foster earned second team All-Ohio, first team All-Greater Western Ohio Conference and first team All-Southwest District honors.
Foster had 32 tackles, three interceptions, two tackles for loss, one fumble recovery and two passes broken up. On offense, he led the Trojans in both rushing (120 carries for 870 yards and 13 touchdowns during the regular season) and receiving (14 catches for 336 yards and three touchdowns). He also led GWOC North in all-purpose yards with 1,475 (870 rushing, 336 receiving and 269 kick returns).
"They said they like my aggressiveness on the field," Foster said. "I'm willing to come up and tackle - they want that kind of player."
Troy coach Steve Nolan said Cincinnati's hard work in recruiting Foster paid off.
"They were on him from the beginning," Nolan said. "They were in constant contact with me - they sent position coaches, they sent the head coach, they sent everybody. You could tell they really wanted him. They are getting a heck of a football player and, as important, a heck of a student."
In fact, Nolan said, they may be getting a steal - and bigger, more traditional football programs may be missing out on Foster.
"He's really just starting to his his stride," he said. "He actually is growing a little bit taller. He brings great ball skills and a lot of mental toughness. He's a very good athlete, but he's also a very good student. He'll understand what they want him to do and he'll learn their system quickly. He really brings a lot to the table. They are lucky."
http://www.tdn-net.com/main.asp?SectionI...M=85387.86
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Nice Article on Marcus Foster from my former newspaper
