Background and career
Marcus Deon Vick (born March 20, 1984) is an American former football quarterback. He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies, earning first-team All-ACC honors in 2005, but was dismissed after the season due to several legal infractions and unsportsmanlike play. Marcus joined the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL) in 2006 as an undrafted free agent, appearing in only one game before he was released. Since the end of his playing career, he has continued to face various legal troubles.
Marcus Deon Vick was born to Brenda Vick and Michael Boddie on March 20, 1984, in Newport News, Virginia. His parents married approximately two years later, by which time they had four children, Christina (Marcus' older sister), Michael (Marcus' older brother), Courtney, and Marcus. Although their parents had wed, the children decided to continue using their mother's surname. Vick grew up in Ridley Circle, a public housing project in the crime-ridden East End neighborhood of Newport News. During his younger years, his father traveled for work a lot and his mother worked relatively low wage service jobs, including driving a school bus and working at K-Mart. Vick attended Warwick High School. At Warwick, he was coached by Tommy Reamon, a former collegiate and professional football player who had been instrumental in the development of future NFL quarterbacks Aaron Brooks (his older cousin) and Marcus' brother, Michael.
Heading into his senior year of high school, Vick was one of the country's top quarterback prospects. Although his brother had taken Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia within one game of a national championship and despite Michael's close relationship with Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, Marcus did not seem sold on attending Tech. North Carolina State, Virginia, Tennessee, and Miami all had scholarship offers on the table. Marcus was seriously considering NC State and Virginia Tech. By September, it was clear that Marcus was considering several schools, mostly because of concerns about the Hokies' scheme and its ability to prepare him for the NFL.
While Vick arrived at Tech with great fanfare, he did not play as a true freshman. Beamer redshirted him, and he was a member of the dress squad for every game. Vick threw five touchdown (TD) passes during spring scrimmages and added another in the Maroon-White game. He was 6-for-7 passing for 95 yards and one touchdown during one scrimmage, and turned in a 57-yard run in another scrimmage. He hit 10-of-15 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown in the Maroon-White game. For performances such as these, he was awarded the Paul Torgersen Award for the top offensive newcomer. In 2003, Vick played in seven games, splitting time with Bryan Randall. The highlight of his season came during a 31–7 upset win over #2 Miami. Despite completing only one pass, Vick's exceptional running ability and the outstanding play of Tech's defense contributed to one of the biggest wins in the history of Virginia Tech football. In Virginia Tech's loss in the Insight Bowl to the California Golden Bears, Vick racked up 82 receiving yards, including one touchdown reception.
Prior to the 2004 collegiate season, Vick had several run-ins with the law which resulted in misdemeanor convictions. According to an article in The Washington Post, the convictions triggered a review by Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver under the school's Comprehensive Action Plan, which was put in place in 1997 after 22 arrests involving 19 football players during a 15-month period. Following an incident which occurred on January 27, 2004, he was arrested and accused of having sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl. The age of consent in Virginia is 18. With the others, he was also charged with unlawfully providing alcohol to three underage girls who "claimed" to be college students. An eight-hour-long trial was held in Montgomery County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. According to a report in the Washington Post, "one of the girls wept as she recounted how she and two friends met the players at a Tech women's basketball game Jan. 27 and, after sneaking out of a house during a slumber party, went in Vick's sport utility vehicle to the apartment Vick and Hill share." The newspaper also reported "another girl testified that she told the players she was 18, three years older than her actual age." Although Vick had confessed to police that he had consensual sex with one of the girls that night, during the hearing, the girl refused to answer questions from defense lawyers, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Juvenile and Domestic Judge Robert C. Viar Jr. dismissed the sex charge against Vick. However, he was convicted of all three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $2,150. On the same day, two of Vick's teammates also were convicted of three counts each of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Hokies tailback Mike Imoh, 19, was sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $750. Wide receiver Brenden Hill, 19, was sentenced to 20 days in jail and fined $1,500. Vick appealed the lower court decision to Montgomery County Circuit Court. However, on September 13, he entered into a plea agreement which was accepted by the circuit court. The terms were a "no contest" plea to a single misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a suspended 30-day jail sentence, a fine of $100, and he was ordered to perform 24 hours of community service. Montgomery County Circuit Judge Robert Turk also prohibited Vick from contacting the teenage girls who were at the party. (After planning to appeal, Hill also settled on a similar plea agreement that erased two of the three misdemeanor counts. He pleaded "no contest" to the same charge and received the same penalty as Vick). In the summer of 2004, Vick was charged with reckless driving and possession of marijuana in New Kent County, Virginia. As part of a plea agreement in that case, Vick was placed in a drug offender program that required him to perform 24 hours of community service, undergo drug counseling and random drug tests, and give up his Virginia driver's license for six months. In July, as a result of the incidents, Weaver suspended Vick from the team indefinitely; he had already been suspended for the first three games of the 2004 season. A month later, Virginia Tech suspended him from school for the entire 2004 fall semester. School officials also said that he would lose that year of eligibility. Marcus Vick was reinstated to the school and the football team under specific guidelines that warranted immediate dismissal from the team for further transgressions.
Beamer initially announced that Vick would enter the 2005 season as the team's third-string quarterback, but he quickly won the starting role after impressive spring practices and scrimmages. 2005 was Vick's most successful season, which saw the Hokies contending for a national championship and culminating in an 11–2 record, an ACC Coastal Division title, an appearance in the inaugural ACC Championship Game, and a win in the 2006 Gator Bowl. The 2005 season, however, saw more controversy surrounding Vick. On October 1, 2005, Vick angered fans in Morgantown, West Virginia with a display of his middle finger to the crowd during the game at West Virginia University. Vick later apologized. During the 2006 Gator Bowl on January 2, he stomped on the leg of Louisville Cardinals defensive end Elvis Dumervil. Dumervil was in a defenseless position trying to get back up after a play. Vick claimed the incident was accidental and asserted he apologized to Dumervil after the game; Dumervil said that no apology was made. Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver issued a statement from the university on the incident:
