The Punisher

On film he’s the nimble surfer who always escapes the six-story tidal wave collapsing behind him; he’s the motorcycle being chased by the police who beats an oncoming locomotive to the tracks after the gate’s already down and the lights are blinking; he’s the rabbit the stampede can’t catch.

Marquis Maze, a 5-8 running back from Alabama with 4.37 speed, committed to Michigan with absolutely no warning from the 100 dollar-a-year recruiting services. He almost defies angles on tape. As soon as he reaches the linebackers the safeties run for the sideline to cut him off – seven or eight yards ahead of him, running to the same spot he’s running to. It’s almost like spotting a guy a three second head start in a race and beating him anyway. The defense gets close, but never close enough to get more than maybe the scent of whatever deodorant he rolled on before the game. He swings his arms and runs fast enough that you’d expect that kind of thing to happen. Five foot eight guys aren’t supposed to be feature backs, but Mike Hart’s supposed to be on defense, and I don’t suppose Darren Sproles and Quentin Griffin were going to be college gemstones when they were in high school either.

As a junior running back, Maze rushed for 1,109 yards and 19 touchdowns (11.6 yards per carry) for Tarrant high school. He also ran for three touchdowns on returns. Tarrant finished with an 8-4 record overall; 5-2 in conference. They play in Section 4A, Region 5.

In an early-August preseason poll Tarrant was ranked 24^th in Class 4A, a conference whose school enrollments would be embarrassing graduation totals in some of the southern talent warehouses. Here are the enrollments of each school in Tarrant’s conference:

Tarrant: 433

Corner: 1013

Dora: 491

Fairview: 462

Locust Fork: 646

Midfield: 373

Oneonta: 570

St. Clair County: 462

This year and last year included, UAB two-star quarterback recruit, Seth Harkness, was the only player in the Scout database from any of the schools either in Maze’s conference or on his schedule. Someone will probably tell you on a message board that his statistics are meaningless considering the competition he’s playing against, but it’s hardly as if he doesn’t have that same caliber of player blocking for him as well. This is a quote from a message board poster on the Alabama Live website, who I assume has seen him play.

“520. Marquis Maze

by wtthrill, 1/12/06 9:38 ET

This kid is amazing. Should be a Super senior in the birmingham news when it publishes its high school predictions this fall. he averages 50 yards a catch! runs like the wind, jukes like reggie bush, no bullsh#*! the kid can catch anything no matter how many defenders are around just ask chelsea and deshler.”

Some other stuff:

-Rivals' 19th best prospect in the state; called “a big-play threat with the ball in his hands.”

-Named Class 4A All-State honorable mention.

-Against Corner (who, it should be noted, went 0-10 last year; 42 points per-game), he ran eight times for 221 yards and four touchdowns (22, 44, 4 and 68 yards) and also returned a punt 70 yards for another score in a 59-20 win.

-In a 27-0 win over Montevallo (5-5, 23.3 points allowed per-game), he scored on a 67 yard touchdown.

-In a 13-12 win over Sansom (an 8-3 team which allowed just 178 points all season, the fewest in its conference) he ran for a 40 yard and 9 yard touchdown.

-In a 24-20 win over Dora (7-4, 21.9 points allowed per-game) he rushed for 58 yards, intercepted two passes, and caught a 32 yard touchdown