In her opening monologue from “The Blind Side,” Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) orates on the swift ferocity of football: “From the snap of the ball to the snap of the first bone is closer to four seconds than five.” She’s right, assuming that both the offense and defense both execute perfectly. But when a receiver catches a ball in the open field or a running back breaks a tackle, the offense gets a few extra seconds. What the defense does in those brief moments determines the difference between a stop and paydirt for the bad guys. That’s when coaches need an athlete like Quincy Marting, Washington University senior cornerback and team captain.
Nancy Yang | Student LifeSenior defensive back Quincy Marting walks down the field. Marting, Bears team captain, had five tackles during Saturday’s game against Birmingham-Southern, which Wash. U. won 41-13.
Harken back to the Bears’ season opener against University Athletic Association rival Carnegie Mellon University. What ended up being a comfortable 45-24 victory was nearly thrown in jeopardy with just over 10 seconds left to go in the half.
With the Bears up 31-17, the Tartans were in third and one on their own 38. It was an obvious passing situation. The defense dropped back into coverage and the Carnegie Mellon quarterback laced a pass to an open receiver. Marting had vacated his man.
Beat over the top and a good five yards between him and the receiver, it became a footrace to the end zone. Those extra few seconds were all that Marting needed—he came from behind and tackled the ball carrier at the Wash. U. 7-yard line as time expired.
“The average person, if they took 1/2 a second off or a 1/4 second off of the play, they might not have been able to get them,” sophomore defensive back Nick Doctors said.
Had the Tartans scored, it would have been a one-score game heading into the third quarter with all the momentum in Carnegie Mellon’s favor. Instead, it galvanized the Bears into securing a 21-point victory.
After 27 seasons at Wash. U., head coach Larry Kindbom has developed a few mantras. One of those is the idea of a “six-second play.”
“Basically, those are plays where guys are going above and beyond and finishing a play from the very beginning to the very end,” Doctors said.
Even though Marting initially allowed the catch-and-run, Kindbom could only rave about the effort to finish off the play.
“You’re going to get beat in football,” Kindbom said. “Quincy has the ability to do that, he has the ability to run that kid down…That kid was fast. How he ran him down is still beyond us a little bit.”
Each week, Kindbom gives away stickers to players who exemplified his snap-to-whistle mentality. Marting received two stickers for the game against Carnegie Mellon. One for the tackle and another for his 88-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the game out of reach for Carnegie Mellon. Marting would finish the game with an impressive stat line: 10 tackles, two interceptions, two pass breakups and a forced fumble.
Even during his career game, Marting displayed a level of maturity rare among eager college athletes, taking himself out of defensive plays when he was winded.
“It was really hot that day; I was getting a lot of reps,” Marting said. “It got to a point where I think the next guy in line fresh would do better than I would tired.”
Carnegie ran a whopping 97 offensive plays on a sunny, hot and humid day with the temperature hovering around 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Not many guys would take themselves off the field,” Kindbom said of Marting. “That’s a true captain.”
Although Marting possesses much of the skill set and maturity to lead a football team, it was unclear if he would be chosen as captain during spring election.
Marting spent last semester studying engineering at the University of Cape Town. As a result, he not only missed elections, but crucial time to improve and bond with the team during workouts. On top of that, head sports performance coach Terry O’Neill laid out a new off-season plan for the players.
“We all had this question in our mind,” Doctors said. “‘Is he going to do the workouts? Is he going to make sure that he is in shape coming into camp?’”
Marting helped assuage fears when he sent emails to the players on the team.
“I checked in with them and let them know that I was putting in the work while abroad, even though I wasn’t there with them at the time,” Marting said.
The respect that Marting had built up amongst the players seemed to be enough, and he was elected as one of the four team captains for the 2015 season.
“If there was a guy who could pull it off, it was [Marting], and I think he has answered all that when he came back—not only [was he] in great shape, but he’s playing the best football he’s ever played,” Kindbom said.
Already this season, Marting has repaid his teammates good faith. In addition to his leadership qualities, which have been echoed by coach and player alike, he leads the team in tackles (30) and pass breakups (six). Marting has collected a Southern Athletic Association-leading three of the team’s interceptions. He has also been a force on special teams, participating in punt coverage and even reeling in a pass for 25 yards on a fake punt against Carnegie Mellon. These plays rarely last longer than a few moments, but it is the six seconds of energy Marting brings to the field that has helped lift the Bears to a 2-1 start as they head into this week’s matchup against SAA opponent Berry College.
“If we see this guy giving his 100 percent, it’s also going to put that fire in us,” Doctors said.