Record-setting senior Thigpen shines as 2-sport athlete

On the gridiron, he has to dodge tacklers and endure vicious hits. On the track, he laces up his spikes and sets his feet in the starting blocks and sprints full-speed-ahead without anyone touching him.\nHe is senior Marcus Thigpen, a star of both the football and track-and-field teams.\nIn his sophomore season of football, he was one of the best kick returners in the nation, being named a first team All-American by Rivals.com, \nScout.com and SI.com. He won the 100-meter dash state crown at Mumford High School in Michigan and in 2003 finished fifth in the event at the Junior Olympics with a time of 10.37 seconds. \nSimilar to how Thigpen helped the football team make its first bowl game since 1993, the senior will have the chance next week to end another long drought for the Hoosiers. He and his teammates are closing in on a long untouched record in the 4-by-100 meter relay of 39.62 seconds.\nThigpen is already in the track-and-field record books as part of a relay team that ran the third best time in school history, 40.13 seconds, at last year’s Mideast Regional, but said he would be happy to be part of both a football and track team that made such significant accomplishments.\n“History repeats itself,” he said. “I will be proud to be a part of making history.”\nFootball coach Bill Lynch acknowledged the big impact Thigpen had on the football team and also his success in track and field.\n“He made so many plays to help us achieve our goal of ‘Playing 13,’ and he has had a great spring season with track,” Lynch said in an e-mail.\nIn Detroit, Mich., Thigpen grew up as the oldest of five children with three brothers and one sister, and remembers playing outside a lot. \n“That’s all we did, went out and played football and catch, and ran around with our friends outside,” he said. \nInitially his mother wouldn’t let him play football competitively because she thought he was too small, but when he finally did play at age 9, he showed his lightning quick speed.\nHis mom’s instructions were simple. During his first game, she stood at the end zone and told her son to run to her when he got the handoff as the team’s running back.\n“She told me to run to her and I ran to her as fast as I could,” he said. “I outran everybody; that’s when I found out I was pretty fast.”\nThigpen said his talent escalated over the years, and he got a lot bigger, too. \n“Growing up I was always the smallest, shortest and skinniest dude on the team,” he said. “I’m still that way now; not the smallest, but I grew a lot.”\nFormer IU coach Gerald Brown, who is now with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, recruited Thigpen and is the main reason he became a Hoosier.\nAlthough Thigpen came to IU primarily to play football, the senior said track will always be special to him. \n“I’ll always have track in my heart,” he said. “That’s my second-favorite sport; track is always going to be there.” \nIn addition to having fun competing on the track, Thigpen said he also thinks being on the team has helped with his explosiveness and speed. \nAs a student-athlete in multiple sports, Thigpen said he has also learned the skill of time management, as well as how to be a leader. \n“My coaches always tell me to step up and be a leader ‘cause I’m not that much of an outspoken person,” he said. “I like to lead by example.”\nBoth the football and track coaches have been impressed with Thigpen’s dedication to success and his ability to lead others.\nIn his first year at IU, associate head coach Jeff Huntoon had only one word to describe his first impression of one of his star track athletes: “Wow.”\nHuntoon, who previously coached at West Virginia, said he has had other football players on his track teams, but few had a genuine interest for the sport. \n“Marcus is 100 percent out for track because he truly loves track and field,” he said. \nHuntoon also said he thinks Thigpen is blessed with great talent and wishes he could have two more years with him, because he has the potential to become a national contender individually in track and field. \nJunior Will Glover is one of Thigpen’s teammates and fellow members of the X-Squad, a name for the group of six of the short sprinters. Glover said that in addition to running with him at practice, he also attends many football games and considers him a brother.\n“You get mad when he doesn’t get the plays you want him to, you get mad when you don’t think he gets the touches he deserves,” Glover said. “It’s like seeing your family member out there on the field.” \nAnother member of the X-squad, senior Jacob Moylan, said Thigpen is a dedicated athlete and true friend. \n“Marcus is one of my best friends here,” Moylan said. “You couldn’t ask for a better teammate or friend.”