Before the 2020 season, College Park's Marcus Scott II was off the grid.
Like off the grid.
"When I got on varsity, I wasn't 'the guy'," Scott said. "I was blessed with good height (6-foot-2), but I had to turn myself into 'the guy'. I was fast but needed to become more fluid and athletic, and I worked really hard on it."
Heck, College Park was off the grid, having never won their district and only beating their rival The Woodlands once in its 15-year school history.
Since the arrival of coach Lonnie Madison, who coincidently played at The Woodlands and Texas A&M, he has turned the Cavalier program around in four short years.
In that time, he's also produced lineman Joshua Bankhead, who is on the two-deep at Texas A&M, and 2021 grad Dylan Hazen, who is headed to Wake Forest.
Scott is now 'the guy' after having a breakout junior season, but he didn't have any recruiting stars. He recently committed to LSU. So, what gives?
"My mom is my Social Media advisor," Scott laughed. "We basically kept it simple. I put a highlight video from my season and tagged every school I wanted to go to and their assistant coaches."
LSU DB coach Corey Raymond responded.
"Coach Raymond said he was just chilling and looking through his notifications and found my highlight and the info in my bio," he said. "He reached out and we started a relationship. They offered me and I committed. He said he looked for players he wanted – he doesn't look at what stars they have.
"I did my research and LSU is the real 'Defensive Back University'. No other college is really close. Just watching all the players come through there and how they play with tenacity and aggression – it was something I wanted to be a part of."
Seems simple, right?
So, what's the rest of the story?
Scott's father, Marcus Scott, played DB at Oklahoma and his sister Reagan plays soccer at Prairie View A&M. His grandmother was a track star and his aunt is Brittney Scott – who was a first-team Conference USA basketball star at the University of Houston.
Did we mention that his cousin is NFL vet Earl Thomas?
Scott is also a track star, running the 200 and 400-meters.
"Marcus deserves everything he receives," coach Lonnie Madison said. "He's smart, he works hard and he's a leader. He put the work in to get where he wanted to. He's only going to get better and that's scary as a 6-foot-2, 170-pound DB with track speed."
He's on the grid now.