Marcus Malone out of McIntosh high school had one of the best games in Week 9 playing against Drew high school. The senior totaled 5 touchdowns on the game while rushing for 160 yards on just 12 carries and also catching 5 passes for 130 yards.
He crossed the goaline with regularity last week, but one of those five scores was quite irregular. The senior lined up on special teams with Drew set to kick a field goal. The ball was kicked low and immediately went smashing into the back of a Drew offensive lineman’s helmet then popped 15-20 feet into the air. The ball landed off to the left where the adept Malone caught it off the bounce then made a quick cut back to break a tackle and was off to the races scoring across the entire field for a kick-six.
“We were confused about what happened; we were waiting on the ref’s whistle to blow too, but it never did, and I just took it,” Malone said about the play.
The play was quite bizarre but displayed Malone’s recognition and aggressive nature to capitalize. He ended up making the top plays of the week on Sunday night and 24 hours later was voted the #1 play on the website.
McIntosh has been scoring well this year averaging right under 30 ppg. Malone has been a huge part of their offensive uptick with 1215 total yards on the season and 17 total touchdowns too.
“The season is going pretty great. We got a good coach, somebody who trusts us to do different things instead of being inside that box that we used to be in.”
The offensive attack is a lot more open, in fact, the senior QB Tate Morris has been putting up some of the best passing numbers of any quarterback not just in Georgia but the entire country. The revitalization of McIntosh into a competitor with a 4-4 record has been one of the most noteworthy stories in 5A. Malone feels that their new head coach Derek Smith has made a huge impact.
“I feel I’ve become more of a team player trusting everyone around more instead of trying to do it all on my own, and that comes with coach Smith engraving in our heads that losing is not an option. I know that he and the guys to the left and right of me are doing that saying, trusting the process,” the senior said.
On the recruiting front, Malone has offers from a few D3 to go along with NAIA programs like Reinhardt and Millsap College. The senior believes that he can bring a competitive edge to the table for a college program.
“What I can bring to a college program is a guy who will compete for everything. I hate losing and I want to be the best. I have great vision and speed to complement it. But I promise a coach will never have to tell me that I’m not competing hard enough.”
The 5’11” 175 lbs. running back prospect garnered a good bit of attention this week getting headlines in the Fayette County Sports to go along with Georgia High School Football Daily top performers of Week 9. Malone has been making explosive plays all season long for McIntosh where his long-running stride eats up yardage quickly.
Finishing off the season, Malone has kept his goals rather concise.
“My goals for the rest of the year is to win out and keep fighting for my brothers beside me,” he said.
McIntosh is 1-1 in Region 3 5A, and is in a good place to make the state playoffs. That will provide at least 3 more games for the Chiefs and Malone to prove what they can do on the field.
We feel that the senior should attract additional college interest during that span of time considering his production and quality film, so be sure to follow @RecruitGeorgia on Twitter to hear the latest on the senior and players everywhere in Georgia.
