Johnnie Jones studied the field during pregame warmups. The former Booker (Florida) High School coach was trying to figure out what his players were doing and how they were preparing for kickoff.

He always noticed the same thing from his two-way playmaker. Marlon Mack would scan the stands, looking for a family member to link up with.

“Once he made that eye contact, that connection,” Jones said, “he just went into a zone.”

Mack is naturally quiet and reserved, a shy person who didn’t typically converse with people outside of his inner circle. But those people are the ones who’ve helped him overcome his obstacles — exposure, his commitment process and his college adjustment — and become who he is today.

Today, he’s a record-setting running back for the University of South Florida (2-0). Last year he torched Syracuse (1-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) to the tune of 184 yards and two touchdowns. After missing last week with concussion, he figures to be the focal point of the Bulls offense when the two teams meet again Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

Marlo Mack, Marlon’s father, said Marlon didn’t really start playing at an elite level until his junior year, which led to him not getting scholarship offers until his senior year. Even then, those offers came to play safety, where he was named the Sarasota Herald-Tribune defensive player of the year his senior year.

But he was so good as a runner at times, Jones said, that sometimes he’d have to remind himself that he was the coach of the whole team and not just a fan watching as Marlon would knife through defenses, leaving behind defenders.

“He just had that ‘it’ factor at running back,” Jones said. “We knew it all along. I used to tell recruiters coming in, he’s a program changer.”

Marlo said his son was disappointed at not getting offers. When Marlon turned to him for advice, Marlo told him to put in the extra work and the time to focus on his craft. Marlon listened.

His big breakthrough came after UCLA offered him a scholarship to play running back. Without even visiting the school, Mack committed. When the Bruins put him on their radar, other schools did too, and he started getting more offers. Mack decommitted and debated taking a Louisville offer before deciding to stay close to home and enrolling at USF.

Courtesy of USF Athletics

Still, for Mack, the roughly 60-mile difference between his hometown of Sarasota and USF’s campus in Tampa proved to be a problem. For someone so shy and reliant on things and people that were familiar, the new experience was hard for him.

“Actually finding something to do, stay focused and keep my head straight. That was probably my toughest challenge,” he said.

His struggles affected his academic performance, prompting Mack to once again turn to his parents, who had a talk with him.

Marlo said he tried to get his son to focus on what was in front of him, and not to worry about other situations back home. They made faux contracts at these talks; Marlo told his son that he would take care of everything he needed to do for the family, and in return Marlon would focus on his studies and football.

“It was about his life and about the future,” Marlo said. “At the end of the day, we can talk all we want … all I explained to him was, ‘Do your part.’”

It largely worked for Marlon, as his grades improved and he started settling into his new life.

He forged relationships with his new teammates as well. Fellow running back D’Ernest Johnson noted that Mack initially kept to himself, but he started coming out of his shell. Mack replicated his on-field intensity in heated NBA 2K battles with Johnson when the two would hang out together.

He created a new core group with his USF teammates. Although Marlon was the one setting Bulls rushing records, Marlo would hear him describe the other Bulls running backs as his “brothers in the pack.” Head coach Willie Taggart called him the team’s best player, but he refers to the backs as the “three-headed monster.”

Since the first talk with his parents, he’s had the occasional slip-up. Mack received his first ever “D” in college after his parents bought him a car, and Marlo thinks the two events were directly related. It led to another talk, another “contract” and an updated path forward for Marlon.

For Mack, it’s always been about his inner circles. His family helped place him in this successful role. His teammates helped him adjust after his tough college transition.

On Saturday, Mack will look up into the stands and find his parents — who’ve attended all his games at high school and at USF — along with his aunt and uncle, in the Carrier Dome. He’ll congregate with his running backs before the game. And with the support of both, he’ll get ready to try and put on a blistering performance of his own.

Published on September 16, 2016 at 1:21 am

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer