The Process: Part 2 – Marques Hicks’ Journey to Kent State

Part 2 of the interview focuses on Marques’ visit to Kent State and why he decided to commit to the Golden Flash! <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>PRZ: So I guess you enjoyed taking the pictures with the cars and all. What was that like?<img class="size-medium wp-image-378597 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2022/07/MarquesbrandonCar1-scaled-e1657194113769-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></strong></span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Marques:</strong></span> It was an amazing experience. They really rolled out the red carpet. Pulled out all the stops. I’ve never even been near a car that expensive! It was cool that I got to take pictures with my little brother, Brandon too. <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">PRZ: What did you think about the campus?</span></strong> <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Marques:</span> </strong>I like the size of the campus. There are athletic facilities on campus and the football stadium is about a mile away. It has a big feel to it and there are over thrity thousand students on campus. We checked out the dorms and they have 3 dining facilities on campus which is cool too. They put a lot of emphasis on the weight room and the indoor facility. Those were really nice. I can definitely see myself improving my game there. <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">PRZ: So you met with Head Coach Sean Lewis, What did you guys talk about?<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2022/07/KSUindoor-scaled-crop-2049x1345-1657159352.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-378606 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2022/07/KSUindoor-scaled-crop-2049x1345-1657159352-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a></span></strong> <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Marques:</span> </strong>First, I was surprised at how young he was. He’s only 35. We had a meeting with the head coach at the stadium in the box. That was really nice. We talked about how his offensive philosophy and how they attacks defenses. Also we talked about who he is as a person and what he wants for the program. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>PRZ: What sticks out to you about our recruitment from Kent State?</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Marques:</strong> </span>They showed a lot of love to me, and I don’t mean like when people post edits on their twitter talking about “thanks for showing love”. I mean like they drove 8 hours to come see me at my school multiple times, constant phone calls, an amazing visit, getting to meet with the head coach and talk about football, things like that. In my recruiting process I’ve always gone by the saying “love who loves you” and they’ve shown that time and time again. A Lot of teams will say things like “your our top Running back on our list” but their actions don’t really show it. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>PRZ: You sat down with the RB Coach Matt Johnson and talked shop as well. How does your game fit their scheme?</strong></span> <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Marques</span>:</strong> My game is very similar to the RB they have now (Marquez Cooper). We’re both shorter running backs with a lot of speed that can make people miss in space and create home run plays. They had really good <span style="font-size: 14pt;">pullers</span> last year on the offensive line, so they could run about anything you can think of. Inside zone, outside zone, traps. They even pull their center sometimes. I like their pace of play and emphasis on the run and how they get their running backs involved in the pass game. They were the number five offense in the country last year, that makes me excited to see what I can do in that offense. &nbsp;