PREP KICKOFF 2020: Dees, Catholic set to face Pike Road
Marcus Dees leads a solid defense for Catholic this season. The senior has several college offers but first wants to lead the Knights to another title. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Marcus Dees understands the role he plays as a Catholic senior and three-year starter.
His teammates look up to him, evident by the fact he was voted a team captain as a junior in 2019 and by the Leadership Award he received after playing baseball this past season.
Dees sets the bar high and insists his teammates do the same.
“Every game, I have some kind of set goal – at least five tackles a game, two sacks, try to force a turnover because on defense that’s our main thing – turnover, turnover, turnover,” he said. “Then I talk to my teammates and try to get them to have the same mindset that I have.”
If they all have the same mindset as Marcus Dees, there’s no telling how many games Catholic will win this season. The Knights will be retooling on offense, but the defense will be one of the strongest in the area, led by a guy who has been leading by example almost from the day he stepped on the field for the first time in 2018.
Last season, Dees was first among defensive linemen with 87 tackles and 19 tackles for loss and led the Knights with eight sacks. In 2018, as a sophomore, he had 67 tackles (fourth on the team), 13 tackles for loss, eight sacks, four fumbles caused and two fumble recoveries.
“The respect that he holds from his teammates is pretty incredible, more than any I’ve seen,” Catholic coach Aubrey Blackwell said. “To be voted team captain in multiple sports as a junior is incredible, really unheard of. It’s the first time we’ve had it at Catholic. It says a lot about the kind of person Marcus is and the kind of leadership that he draws both in the weight room and on the field.”
The weight room is where it all starts for teams as they prepare for the upcoming season and Dees has established a standard for others, breaking the school’s bench press record (405 pounds) and nearing some records in other categories he may set at season’s end.
A successful season, he maintains, is achieved by “understanding what goes on in the weight room and then transferring it to the field. When you get to that time in the playoffs, that’s where you see that push and see who’s really putting in that work. Understanding that what you do will always transfer to the field.”
He interrupted his work in the weight room briefly to play baseball, where Blackwell has served as the head coach for the past two seasons and talked Dees into participating. He responded by batting .340 and receiving the Knights’ Leadership Award for his play at first base.
“I started playing baseball like in T-ball, so I’ve always like this love for it,” he said. “It was something to do after football season, something to go to.”
There’s nothing like football, however. Dees committed to play for Wofford College in mid-July, a Football Championship Subdivision team that plays in the Southern Conference. First, however, he’d like to help the Knights improve on last year’s 12-1 season that ended in the 4A quarterfinals with a loss at UMS-Wright.
“We have to be focused all the way through,” he said. “I started to notice that sometimes when it’s getting close to the end of the season, some players are ready to go. We have to keep the mentality that we are the best and we have to keep winning and we have to strive to get a ring.”
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