University of Georgia Athletics
Marcus Washington, The Family Man
June 18, 2009 | Football
by Marian Mozingo
“So what’s up between me and you.”
That was the line that started it all.
Marcus Washington, fifth-year senior linebacker at the University of Georgia, has a different story to tell than most football players on the team. He has a wife, Selecia, and two children, MJ (Marcus Junior) and Mimi.
When the Washington family comes to the Butts-Mehre building MJ is recognized as the cute little kid that tries to ride the workout bike in the weight room. He is no more than four feet tall, and he huffs and puffs trying to reach the pedals. Everybody knows him. As they walked outside to take the family picture, a group of players were lined up to run some sprints during their workouts. MJ didn’t hesitate and lined up right beside them.
After running sprints, the players started walking towards the track to run stairs, and as they passed they all said, “Hey MJ! Hey Mimi!”
MJ always replies, “Hey uncle (insert name)” when he says “hey” back.
“Coming here is like a treat for him,” Selecia said.
After they took their family picture, Marcus handed MJ the football, took his shoes off, and let MJ have a big time playing around on the practice fields. Mimi, their seven month old daughter, didn’t make a peep the entire afternoon. “She only cries when she gets hungry,” Selecia said.
Even though Marcus describes himself has a “fierce competitor” that likes to “hit hard” and “get a little violent at times,” on the field, he was very sweet and caring towards his family.
Marcus and his wife Selecia have been friends since fifth grade, but it wasn’t until 10th grade that Marcus finally made his move. Selecia said that Marcus would always flirt with her by taking his hair out so she could braid it back (she still braids his hair), but it was during a group project that Marcus finally asked her, “So, what’s up with me and you.”
Selecia started laughing and said, “Uh, nothing.”
Marcus told her to think about it, and to give him a call that night. She did. And they’ve pretty much been together ever since.
Marcus grew up in Keysville, Ga., a town he describes as “a dot on the map.” Selecia, who was a star basketball player on the Burke County basketball team, made it clear that she did not grow up in Keysville, but in Shellbluff - another small town in Burke county - just south of Augusta.
Georgia started looking at Marcus his junior year of high school. Burke County made the state playoffs and Georgia coaches went to the game to watch a different prospect, but ended up seeing Marcus. Brian Van Gorder, the defensive coordinator at the time, told Marcus that he really liked [his] explosiveness, size, and tenacity on the field.
The whole idea of college was new to Marcus.
“A lot of guys from my county didn’t go to college. They played football and did whatever and then just found jobs. That was kind where I was - graduate high school, and get a job. But then I started getting letters and offers from schools, and I was like, well maybe I can go to college and better myself.’”
Van Gorder later offered him a scholarship. Marcus said that he told Van Gorder, “Yeah, let me go home and talk to my parents,” but really, he was already thinking. “I want to go!”
In the fall of 2004, Marcus junior was born. Soon after, the time came for Marcus to move to Athens to start school and football at UGA. Marcus and Selecia had already figured out the logistics for visits on the weekends, but that freshman year proved to be much harder than they had imagined.
“My little man, he would get used to having me around,” said Marcus.
“And when Marcus would leave, MJ would start crying and then all of us would cry,” Selicia said, “When MJ would cry, it would make Marcus cry.”
That’s when they decided that Selecia and MJ needed to move to Athens. She started taking classes at Athens Tech and is working towards her Associates degree. Marcus took on a part time job as a floor technician at St. Mary’s Hospital to ensure his ability to provide for his family.
Then seven months ago, the second Washington child came along, Samira- Mimi for short.
During football season, Marcus’s schedule is a whirlwind. He has to be at St. Mary’s at 7 a.m. He works until 11 am, then has class at 11:15 until 2 p.m. He has football meetings at 2:45, then practice until 6:30 or 7, tutors until 9 and then goes home to do it all over again.
But during these hectic and crazy hours, both Marcus and Selecia give praises to texting and cell phones. “Communication is what helps keeps our marriage together. We text constantly throughout the day.”
His linebackers coach, John Jancek, knows that Marcus is a great father. Jancek said that he had Marcus and his wife over for dinner and he knows he is “involved with his kids. He is very caring and actually, very opposite of what he’s like on the football field.”
Even though Marcus does not live the typical college football player life, he wouldn’t change anything. “I just enjoy seeing my family taken care of. Make sure they have food to eat, a roof over their head and clothes on their back.”
By the end of the conversation, MJ was no where to be found on the practice fields. They walked back inside the weight room, and there was MJ, on the workout bike.
