2017 NFL Draft interview: South Florida RB Marlon Mack
By Matt Conner
How are your workouts going so far?
I do one workout a day, all in the morning. I do my lifting, running, conditioning… I get it out of the way in the morning and then I’m done for the day.
How are you spending the rest of your days? Is it hard to wait on the draft?
Yeah, it’s hard man. It’s difficult just waiting to see where you land, to see where you go.
Before we get to the draft, I laughed out loud reading Coach Taggart’s review of your breakout day of 275 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns. He said everyone enjoyed a delicious victory meal with steaks, mac and cheese, baked potatoes and more. He was quite excited about you, the meal and everything. Do you remember that?
Oh man, I definitely do. It was real good. It’s definitely one of the most memorable games for me because it was my first ever game and it was all new to me, playing at a different speed in college football. It was definitely a top moment for me.
How surprised were you that you ended up with those numbers?
I was shocked, man. I knew I could do it because I believe in myself but I was still definitely shocked. I wasn’t expecting to have those types of numbers for my first game. I was definitely not looking to do that.
You had some incredible games in your career. What other moments make you most proud?
Actually this past year in our bowl game, we were able to beat South Carolina. That’s another game I’m proud of, because not too many people believed in South Florida, but we came out and showed that we can play with an SEC team. We came out with a win in ovetime.
In your three years, you saw a complete change in the level of success and the winning culture.
Yeah, it was definitely great to see the changes in the program. Every single year we got better and better.
How much have you thought about your college career being over? Have you had the chance to process that shift?
Definitely, because when I go back and talk to my old teammates, it’s all different. They’re telling me about school and I’m not there going to practices and classes and tutoring sessions. It’s definitely different now.
At what point did you know you were leaving early?
I really didn’t know. I just sat down at one point and made the decision. I sat down with coach before school was about to start and made my decision.
Was it hard to not go back in some ways?
No, not really. I had my list of pros and cons and I just went with it.