Meet Marcus Wimberly, whose life is devoted to the gridiron and the gospel
Among other things, the state of Arkansas is known for its relatively rich supply of diamonds; in fact, it’s home to the only active diamond mine in the United States.
And in the town of Bauxite, a community of a few hundred people about 20 miles from Little Rock, there’s a well-hidden diamond of particular interest to several Power 5 football programs.
Defensive back Marcus Wimberly is a two-time all-state honoree who’s picked up numerous FBS scholarship offers. Oklahoma, Tennessee, Michigan and Ole Miss are among the involved parties for the supremely athletic 2025 prospect. He's yet to receive an initial ranking from Rivals, but his film is suggestive of blue-chip talent, and the ever-expanding offer sheet only underscores that reality.
But Wimberly doesn’t find his identity in his athletic abilities.
That’s not to say he treats those wondrous abilities with a cavalier attitude. Every single day, he spends hours lifting, training and drilling, and he supplements his workout regimen by consuming roughly six thousand calories before his head hits the pillow. Wimberly packs 200 pounds on a chiseled 6-foot-1 frame, and he can run the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds flat. He’s got a choice set of options as to where he’ll play college football, and that list of options is ever-expanding.
Even so, Wimberly sees it all for what it is: finite. As he perceives it, his own plans for his future are secondary to the plans God has set in place for him. And in many ways, his own life is a testament to that belief. His parents were still in high school when Marcus was born, and his unexpected entrance into the world demanded a re-assignment of priorities for his father Tommy, who was a prep football star with collegiate interest at the time.
“Was it scary? Yes,” Tommy acknowledged, “but it was the greatest thing that ever happened.”
Seventeen years later, Marcus is living out a dream as an athlete, as he’ll sign a letter of intent to play college football this winter. As to where he signs, that’s yet to be determined. He was briefly committed to the in-state Razorbacks, but backed off that pledge in December due to the tenuous situation in Fayetteville. But he’s not sweating his eventual destination. Regardless of where football takes him, Marcus believes he’s called to something far greater.
“Not a lot of people understand that football and your job field only last a certain period of time on this earth,” he observed in his down-home Southern drawl. “But there’s so much more through eternity, after this earth and our time here.”
Wimberly’s vibrant faith in Christ permeates every aspect of his life, and he’s unashamed to wear that faith on his sleeve. Beyond his dreams of playing in the NFL, he has a twofold set of professional aspirations — and together, they provide a quintessential glimpse into his true passion.
“[I want to] either be a youth pastor, or coach at the college level,” he explained. “I know those two things don’t really go hand in hand. Those are kind of two polar opposites. But I just want to be able to make an impact in the lives of young men.”
And even though he’s still a teenager, those around Wimberly already feel his impact.
“A few weeks ago, one of his teammates testified how Marcus helped lead him to the Lord,” Tommy recalled. “Marcus has a very high aptitude for music. He plays piano, guitar and drums. During his free time at home, he is always playing and singing worship songs.”
Tommy says that by age seven, it was evident that his eldest son had the qualities that would eventually make him into the successful athlete, musician and budding evangelist that he is today. Marcus’ work ethic is a cut above the rest, even amongst the ranks of future Power 5 players. For tangible proof of that diligence, look no further than his weight management. Marcus entered his junior season at 180 pounds, but by season’s end, the constant physical exertion of playing both sides of the ball had slimmed him all the way down to 160 pounds. Three months later, he’s not only put those 20 pounds back on his frame, but he’s added 20 more to boot.
One thing about Wimberly that never fluctuates, however, is his rock-solid character on and off the field.
“As a player, he is passionate, encourages others and is a great teammate,” said Tommy. “As a person, he is a very talented, smart and respectful human being. People tell me all the time how impressed they are with him, in regards to him being respectful and polite.”
In essence, the dynamic safety is team captain material — the type of player that’s going to provide an invaluable influence on the locker room. And unsurprisingly, as he evaluates the programs in contention for his commitment, Wimberly is searching for a school that shares his very DNA.
“I’m gonna say the number one thing is culture,” he said. “I want to go somewhere that I’m not only going to grow as a football player and an athlete, but I want to go somewhere that I’m going to grow as a human being to where I can be a great father, a great husband — and maybe one day, since God kind of called me to it, a great youth pastor. And second of all, do they recruit well? Are they going to take care of their guys? Do they truly want me as a player, or am I just another guy on their recruiting board that has an offer? I’d probably say those are the two biggest things. Distance, that’s probably a really, really small factor to me. I just want to play at the highest level that I can, and the level that’s going to give me the best chances to make it to the NFL.”
Throughout the month of February, Wimberly is fielding phone calls from suitors galore, and he’s in the process of lining up a series of visits in the month of March. As spring practices kick off, he’ll begin the search for his collegiate home in earnest.
“March 9th, I’ll be at SMU,” he declared. “March 18th, we’ll be in Knoxville at Tennessee, and then we’ll either stay the night there and drive down to Memphis the next morning, or just drive to Memphis that night and stay in Memphis and be at Memphis’ practice on the 19th. I’ve got a visit at Bama on the 23rd, and then I’m back at Oklahoma on April 9th.”
Wimberly’s April trip down to Norman will mark his second visit with the Sooners, as OU safeties coach Brandon Hall has made the Natural State a recent priority. He’s turned up the heat on both Wimberly and Little Rock native Omarion Robinson, each of whom have been on campus with Oklahoma in the last three weeks. But on Wimberly’s first excursion to the Palace on the Prairie in early February, he was the lone safety recruit present for the day’s festivities. And throughout the afternoon, he relished the opportunity to taste every aspect of the Oklahoma experience.
“So they had a total of 14 recruits, I think they said,” he explained. “And I was the only safety there, so it was really personalized and it was pretty much just me and Coach Hall rocking it all day together. And I was able to kind of continue to build that relationship with him, but also to build a relationship with Coach Venables and learn a lot about the plays. Probably my two favorite things were the fact that they allowed us to go watch practice — and take notes, take videos, anything we wanted to do — and also getting to spend time with Coach Venables and Coach Hall. Hearing that Coach Venables is a great guy all the time, then you see it firsthand — you’re like, ‘This isn’t all talk, what people are saying. This dude really is the real deal.’ He’s truly rooted in what he believes, in his faith. He knows ball and he knows ballers.”
And though Venables left a remarkable first impression on Wimberly, the young defender’s strongest relationship at Oklahoma is his bond with Hall. In the span of mere weeks, he’s forged a strong connection with the Sooners’ veteran assistant coach.
“He came by probably around one of the first weeks of January,” Wimberly said of Hall. “And I thought, wow. This is the coolest thing ever. Oklahoma’s coming by. And he came by, went back, and then he came back again with an offer. And man, it was such a blessing. Then he came back again, so he came to our school three times within the span of about two weeks. He’ll just randomly call me; I may be eating dinner, I may be doing drills, I may be playing a video game. And I’ll get a call from Coach Hall. A lot of people, they look at my film and they see, ‘Oh, man. This kid can ball.’ And then they look at me as a person, and they’re like, ‘Well, I don’t know what I think about this kid.’ Just kind of saying some things that I can’t really say. But yeah, he’s a true recruiter, he knows ball when he sees it and he’s one of those that believes in me.”
Do the things that Wimberly "can't really say" indicate a spirit of dismissiveness from college coaches who don't share his religious convictions? Draw your own conclusions in that regard. But beyond the obvious Hall factor, it's not hard to figure what drives Wimberly's interest in the Sooners. As a program, Oklahoma has a strong evangelical foundation that starts at the top, as Venables has never been shy to acknowledge his faith in public. And moreover, he’s surrounded himself with assistants that share the faith. In fact, Oklahoma defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis may be the only coach in the Power 5 who's actually lived Wimberly's dream of being a youth pastor and a college football coach; Chavis spent several years in youth ministry before joining a Clemson defensive staff that operated at Venables' direction.
Between the Sooners’ collective alignment with Wimberly’s values, the defensive staff’s developmental acumen and the second campus visit already on the books, there’s adequate reason to believe Wimberly could one day wear the crimson and cream.
But as to whether that ultimately comes to fruition, only God knows.