Sept. 26, 2006

(Editor's note: This article originally ran in the Baylor - Army football game program)

by Carroll Fadal

Watching the intensity Marcus Foreman displays chasing down opposing quarterbacks and ball carriers, you would be hard pressed to guess his post-football career dream.

Hint No. 1: He is a telecommunications major. So, naturally, he wants to be a John Madden or Mike Golic style television analyst, right?

Nope.

Hint No. 2: He is really into music. Okay, telecommunications major who is into music. He plans to replace Simon Cowell or Randy Jackson as a judge on American Idol. That's got to be it.

Wrong again.

All right. So, he wants to be on the other side of the stage, as a performer, right?

Three strikes, you are out.

The senior defensive end who is starring collegiately in his hometown has a different sort of career in mind.

"My friends are into music, and I want one day to be able to produce for them," Foreman said. "I like R&B and rap; but, I listen more to R&B, because as I got older, rap was not the way I felt at times. But R&B is kind of soothing, so it is something I can just listen to and not have to worry about life or whatever."

That career as an R&B producing mogul will have to wait. Right now, Foreman is too busy producing sweet sounds of a different kind. Recruited out of Waco's Midway High School, the 6-2, 248-pounder came to Baylor as a linebacker but quickly found himself thrust into the lineup as an undersized defensive end. But, that move has proved to be a blessing, both for Foreman and the Bears.

He started this season as Baylor's top returning tackler and last season ranked No. 3 among Big 12 defensive linemen with 5.8 tackles a game. He does his best work behind enemy lines; last season he had 7.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and four pass breakups on the way to honorable mention All-Conference recognition.

"When I came in, I did not really expect to play my freshman year," Foreman said. "But I played then. I really thought I was going to play linebacker, but it did not work out that way, and I have been playing end ever since. I have really been surprised the way things have turned out, especially last year, the honorable mention All-Big 12, especially at my size. I felt like I was undersized, and I have surprised myself a couple of times."

As an end in Baylor's 4-2-5 defensive alignment, he lines up opposite opponents' tackles, most of whom weigh far north of 300 pounds. So it would stand to reason that Foreman would be a speed-rush sack master. But once again, what appears obvious is not the case.

"I will watch film and realize I am more of a run-stopping defensive end, and at my size, that is weird," he said. "I have surprised myself in that regard. The thing now I want to better myself at before I graduate in order to go to the next level, if the opportunity presents itself, is the pass rush."

"Marcus came in and had to play as a freshman," head coach Guy Morriss said. "He played pretty well his freshman year, and he has just gotten better and better. He has got a tremendous motor and is all over the field. He is a kind of quiet leader; he does not say much, but he leads by example. People watch him and see how you are supposed to play that position."

That he has been able to achieve his somewhat unexpected success in his hometown has been a bit of a bonus. Even though he grew up in Waco and Hewitt, Foreman did not go to bed at night dreaming of becoming a Baylor Bear.

"Baylor is a great school academically; and, it always looks good to have that on your resume after you graduate," he said. "That is one of the main reasons I came. I have been here my whole life. I thought it was kind of neat to grow up in a town that had a Big 12 school. As I got older, I kind of grew to like it. Being little, I really did not know anything about it, it was just a school. But as you get older and realize how life changes, sometimes your opinion changes."

Foreman pointed to the coaching staff change from the Kevin Steele regime to Morriss' as one of the prime reasons he considered Baylor, adding he attended a handful of games as a child, back before the south end zone was covered with a tarp.

"I would sit on the cement before they stopped letting people sit there," he said. "I remember seeing Odell James play at Baylor." James is now Baylor football's assistant director of operations.

Now it is Foreman who people look to for outstanding defensive line play and inspiration.

"People respect Marcus, and he, along with a couple of other guys, are our key leaders on that side of the football," Morriss said. "He just leads by example. He plays with great passion, and that motor never stops. That you cannot coach. And he's technically very sound. He makes big plays, because he is always moving to the ball; he is around the football all the time."

"My big deal is hustle," Foreman said. "Playing snap to whistle as Coach (Bill) Bradley (BU defensive coordinator) would say. Even if I am not in the play, I am trying to get to the play. I have put on a couple of pounds over the summer; and, it is a little bit more difficult this year. But, if I am out there, I am trying to give it 100 percent, even if I am not going to be in the play, because you never know. He could cut back, I could be there. He could fumble the ball and I could pick it up. You never know.

"That is the way they train us, to run to the ball. If they pass the ball 60 yards downfield, the defensive lineman, we have to turn and run to the ball."

It is the hustling, never-give-up mentality that has allowed him to thrive, despite his lack of bulk. It has not always been easy.

"My freshman year when we played Kansas State, they had some of the biggest linemen and tight ends I have ever seen," Foreman said. "It had to be the game I have felt the most undersized in. But as time has gone on, I have realized it is not really how big you are at certain times, it is the leverage. I learned to use it to my advantage in being quick."

For all his accomplishments on the field, there is still one that he wants to achieve.

"I want to score a touchdown," he said, emphatically. "I have not done it yet. It happened my senior year in high school when I got an interception as a linebacker. I might drop back in coverage and get a pick. If I do, I am going to the end zone with it."

Beyond Baylor - and before the music studio - Foreman hopes to play in the NFL.

"I know a lot of people out here have aspirations and some do not; but, I figure if you are out here, you might as well. That is really not my attitude. I have always wanted to go to the NFL. It is a whole different thing once you are out here, when scouts come out here and tell you what they are looking for.

"It is that realization as a senior this is it; you are either going there, or you are going into the work world."

Either way, expect Marcus Foreman to produce.