Marquel Blackwell

Marquel Blackwell (born July 29, 1979) is a former American football quarterback. After playing for Lakewood and Dixie Hollins High Schools in Pinellas County Florida, Blackwell was the quarterback at the University of South Florida for four seasons.^[1] From 1999 to 2002, he threw for 9,108 yards and 57 touchdowns, and had 1,235 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns during his career. He set most of the school's individual passing records during his time as quarterback; as of 2009, he is also the Bulls' No. 6 career rusher and No. 3 in rushing touchdowns.^[1][2] Blackwell became a starter three games into his redshirt freshman season and led South Florida to a 30-12 mark during the Bulls' move from Division I-AA to I-A in 2001.

Blackwell entered the 2003 NFL Draft but was not drafted. He signed with the New York Jets as a rookie free agent but only saw playing time in 1 preseason game. Blackwell started the preseason finale against the Philadelphia Eagles. Blackwell threw for two touchdowns and 111 yards in the first half. He was the Jets' No. 2 qb in Week 1 of the regular season (The Jets released backup Jamie Martin so the club did not have to pay his entire season salary if he was not on the roster Week 1), only to be cut again after week 1 when Martin returned.^[2] Blackwell had brief stints, but did not appear, in the Arena Football League with the Tampa Bay Storm, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL and the CFL. He did start one game in Arena Football 2, where former Dixie and USF teammate Glenn Davis served as assistant coach. Blackwell spent two years as the head coach of Freedom High School's football team following his playing career, and in 2009 became a program assistant at the University of South Florida.^[3]

Coaching

In 2006 Marquel Blackwell decided to accept the position of offensive coordinator for Freedom High School in New Tampa. He had been brought onto the team by inaugural head coach for Freedom High School who noticed him on the school staff as a substitute teacher. Shortly after joining the team as the Quarterback Coach he received the opportunity to elevate his position when that same head coach was fired due to some off the field issues. An interim head coach was selected to guide the team and he then selected Blackwell as his choice for Offensive Coordinator. While the team had achieved two wins at this time, the offense was struggling with less than 246 passing yards in the first three games. The decision to turn the offense over to Blackwell was a logical response given his expertise in the passing game and his resume of success while at USF. Blackwell brought with him a tremendous passing offense that he was part of creating while he was playing in college. The quarterback he inherited at the time was a first year, left handed player named Andrew Carr. Blackwell took him under his wing and taught him as much as he could in that one year they had together. He helped him to understand the offense very easily and as a result of that Freedom High School had one of its best years in the programs history going 7 and 5 and being the first team in school history to make it to the playoffs.

Once the 2007 team left Blackwell got promoted to head coach where he took the kids to another playoff appearance. Blackwell stayed with the team for an additional two years then left for a better opportunity. That opportunity was several coaching jobs around the country until he was called back to the University of South Florida.

In 2015, Blackwell joined the Florida Gators as a quality control specialist.

References