Gold Helmet, Silver Lining

Sporting News, The, Oct 2, 2000 by Terry Frei

Freshman MARCUS HOUSTON has the talent to pull Colorado from the rubble of its rocky start

As ugly as the figures (0-3) look in the parentheses, underachieving Colorado's stumbling start is a misleading measure of the Buffaloes' potential in the second year of the Gary Barnett regime. The losses came to Colorado State, USC and Washington by a total of 10 points. In other words, if CU athletic officials only had gone along with the practice of scheduling the softest touches available, the perception might even be that Barnett's program is on the upswing as the Big 12 Conference season is about to open.

But more significant, the evidence is mounting that freshman tailback Marcus Houston is that once-in-a-decade running back who can be the catalyst in a program's climb back among the nation's elite.

In the first three games, Houston, a 19-year-old from Denver, rushed for 332 yards, including 150 September 9 in the Los Angeles Coliseum against USC.

"Houston is remarkable," USC coach Paul Hacker said that night. "Imagine what he's going to be like in a couple of years."

Houston (6-2, 205) is big and strong enough to seem almost impervious to the first hit and has that uncanny ability to look as if he's changing direction in midstride. The style at least reminds of Eric Dickerson or Thurman Thomas. Houston has shown why the considerable fuss in Colorado over his recruitment and signing wasn't overreaction.

When Houston announced he was going to CU last spring--after visiting Florida State, Texas, UCLA and USC--it was treated in Colorado as if John Elway had undergone bionic arm and knee surgeries and announced he was returning to the Broncos. Barnett's predecessor, Rick Neuheisel, frequently was accused of apathy about in-state recruiting, and Houston's signing was portrayed as a huge step away from that legacy. A more fair measure of Barnett's approach to Colorado talent would be how many tackles he recruits from Colorado Springs. Yet perception often is more important than supportable reality, and Houston's signing was a huge dose of in-state credibility for Barnett and his staff.

For Houston, the circus atmosphere produced considerable pressure. But when the figurative spotlight comes on, Houston seems capable of reaching for the microphone and making a speech that causes you ask: How old is this guy again? Twenty-six? When outsiders have watched him run and then asked if he's a good kid, too, the answer is a resounding no--but only because he's not a kid at all.

This is a young man who was president of his Thomas Jefferson High School class all four years and had a 3.6 grade-point average. After being named the king of Denver's Juneteenth, a celebration of African-American heritage, he traveled to Ghana and was named an honorary chief in a village.

He won Colorado's coveted Gold Helmet Award for football ability, citizenship and scholastic standing. Amnesty International arranged for him to appear in Europe at a discussion of youth and race relation problems, and he went to Washington, D.C., to represent Colorado in the Youth Senate. He even started his own foundation to challenge Denver high school students. So off the field, he was a "given" class act.

"On the field, he has been even better than I thought he would be," says Barnett, whose Buffs were off last weekend and face Kansas State on Saturday in Boulder. "He has been terrific. I thought he was going to be a great player, but he's going to be a wonderful player."

Houston, who plans to study international business, scoffs at recent scuttlebutt that he might be second-guessing his decision in the wake of the team's slow start.

"I loved this university from Day One," Houston says. "There are a lot of things that go into a university decision other than football, and this experience is what I've looked forward to my whole life. I know I'd like to have gotten off to a better start with the football because I hate to lose. Everybody out there knows we're 0-3. But this will build character and teach us how to fight through adversity."

Houston's father, Herman, was a football and track star at Washington. His brother, Lovell, began his career at UCLA but has suffered a shoulder injury and is transferring to CU to join Marcus. Chances are, Marcus will recruit his brother to take part in Marcus' expanding Just Say Know Foundation--because Lovell was the inspiration.

"It started my junior year of high school," Houston says. "I noticed that a lot of the ninth-graders were looking up to me, the way I had looked up to Lovell. I know it was mainly because of what I did on the football field, but I wanted to formulate a way to make that translate to the classroom."

Especially bothered when 12 members of the ninth-grade football team were ruled academically ineligible, Houston raised money by shoveling snow off sidewalks, then sponsored an essay contest for the TJHS freshman class with a $50 first prize. When more than 75 percent of the class submitted essays, he threw a pizza party.