Marcus Dupree Marcus L . Dupree ( born May 22 , 1964 ) is a former American football player . He played high school football at Philadelphia High School . He was a highly touted and sought after college football recruit and ultimately went on to play at Oklahoma , where he was named Football News Freshman of the Year , second team All - American and Big Eight Conference Newcomer of the Year , before leaving in the middle of his sophomore season and briefly attending the University of Southern Mississippi without playing a single game there . He joined the United States Football League the following season and signed with the New Orleans Breakers in 1984 . He played for the Breakers for two seasons , before a knee injury forced him to leave the game . He returned to professional football five years later in 1990 , joining the Los Angeles Rams , where he played in 15 games over two seasons , before he was waived prior to the 1992 season . The college recruiting of Dupree was the subject of a book by Willie Morris titled " The Courting of Marcus Dupree " . An ESPN documentary on Dupree , titled " " The Best That Never Was " " and directed by Jonathan Hock , premiered on November 9 , 2010 as part of the " 30 for 30 " series of 30 films celebrating ESPN ' s 30th anniversary . High school career . Dupree played high school football for the Philadelphia High School Tornadoes from 1978 to 1981 . As a freshman in 1978 , he ran a 4 . 4 - second 40 - yard dash , scored five touchdown s as wide receiver and seven more as a kickoff and punt returner , including a 75 - yard kickoff return touchdown on his first play in high school . As a sophomore in 1979 , he was switched to running back and rushed for 1 , 850 yards and scored 28 touchdowns . He also played on Philadelphia High ' s basketball team , which finished the year with a 33 - 4 record and reached the semifinals of the Mississippi state basketball tournament , and played first base and catcher for the baseball team , hitting for a . 481 average . As a junior in 1980 , he rushed for 2 , 550 yards and scored 34 touchdowns ( 25 rushing , 9 by kick return ) . As a senior year in 1981 , he rushed for 2 , 955 yards and scored 36 touchdowns . He finished his high school career with 7 , 355 rushing yards with an 8 . 3 - yards - per - carry average . Dupree scored 87 touchdowns total during his playing time in high school , breaking the national high school record ( set by Herschel Walker ) by one . In 1981 , Marcus ' final high school football game was played on the Choctaw Indian Reservation ' s tribal high school ' s Warriors Stadium . Author Willie Morris described the audience at Dupree ' s final high school game as " the most distinctive crowds I had ever seen . . . four thousand or so people seemed almost an equal of mix of whites , blacks , and Indians . . . After Marcus scored his touchdown , Sid Salter saw Cecil Price , Sr . ( who was linked with the murders of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia , Miss . ) who was . . . ' jumping up and down and cheering as hard as anyone . . . ain ' t that a kick in the pants ? ' " Dupree was heavily recruited by the major college football programs , and during the final month of the recruiting period , his high school coach , Joe Wood , answered more than 100 phone calls a day from colleges . Oklahoma assistant coach Lucious Selmon spent six weeks in the Downtown Motor Inn in Philadelphia , and head coach Barry Switzer sent former Oklahoma Sooner and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims to the town by private plane to appeal to Dupree . On February 12 , 1982 , Dupree announced he would attend Oklahoma instead of the other finalists , Texas , UCLA and Southern Miss . College career . When Dupree arrived at the University of Oklahoma in 1982 , head coach Barry Switzer said , " He was the best player on the field . Earl Campbell was the only other guy I ever saw who was like that — physically ready , as a true freshman , to be the best player on a great college team . Maybe even ready for the NFL at that age . " After the first three games of the season , Dupree had just twelve carries for 20 yards and the Sooners ' record was 1 - 2 . For the fourth game Switzer abandoned his favored wishbone offense and made Dupree the tailback in the I formation to take advantage of his skills . Dupree scored his first college touchdown against Texas on a 63 - yard fake reverse . On October 16 , 1982 , he ran for 158 yards against Kansas , including a 75 - yard touchdown run . As a result , he was given the starting tailback position over Stanley Wilson and was named Big Eight Offensive Player of the Week . He made his first start against Oklahoma State and scored two touchdowns . Among all his other great runs , he also had a 77 - yard punt return against Colorado , an 80 - yard run against Kansas State , a 70 - yard run against Missouri and an 86 - yard run against Nebraska . Despite not starting until the seventh game of the season , Dupree finished with 1 , 144 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns . He was named second team All - American , first team all - Big Eight Conference and Big Eight Newcomer of the Year . On January 1 , 1983 , Dupree ' s freshman season ended with a 32 - 21 Fiesta Bowl loss against Arizona State , in which he rushed for an Oklahoma and Fiesta Bowl record 249 yards , but was criticized by Switzer for not practicing hard and for being overweight . Switzer told Dupree , " If you ' d have been in shape , you ' d have rushed for 400 yards , and we ' d have won the game . " Dupree ' s much - anticipated sophomore season did not turn out as planned . Hampered by injuries , Dupree gained 369 yards on 61 carries with three touchdowns in the first four games of the season . After suffering a concussion in a loss against Texas , he vanished for a week . When he resurfaced in Mississippi , he announced he was leaving OU and transferred to University of Southern Mississippi . Told that because of NCAA rules , he would have to sit out the 1984 season , he left after three months . USFL . Dupree was signed by the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League in 1984 . He scored a touchdown on his first professional possession . Throughout the year , he was injured and often was on the bench watching Buford Jordan take his carries . He gained 684 yards on 145 carries with nine touchdowns for a 4 . 7 yards per carry average . He had two 100 - yard rushing games . The Breakers moved to Portland , Oregon for the 1985 season . Dupree was late arriving at Breakers ' training camp in San Dimas , California that season , but performed well enough to earn a starting position for the season opener at Sun Devil Stadium against the Arizona Outlaws . While carrying the ball early in the second half , his left knee was severely injured and he was taken from the field on a stretcher . In the game , he had 69 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown , but the injury ended his USFL career . He had surgery on the knee and recuperated in Portland , celebrating his 21st birthday with friends and teammates . NFL . Walter Payton met Dupree on some business ventures and urged him to get back into shape to try out for the NFL again in 1990 . Dupree agreed and began working out , losing 100 pounds in just over three months and going back to running a 4 . 3 40 - yard dash . In October 1990 , Dupree signed with the Los Angeles Rams , who had drafted him in 1986 in case he became healthy again , after a 5 - and - a - half - year absence from the football field . In April that year , he asked his former USFL coach , Dick Coury , then the quarterbacks coach for the Rams , if he could work out for the team if he got into shape , and impressed Coury and head coach John Robinson enough to earn a contract . Dupree was placed on injured reserve , meaning he would have to sit out for four weeks before he could play for the Rams . On week nine of the 1990 season , Dupree made his first appearance and rushed for 22 yards on four carries , wearing number 34 in honor of Payton instead of his usual 22 . He started his first game in week 16 and rushed for 42 yards on 13 carries . He finished his first NFL season with 72 yards on 19 carries , in three games played . In 1991 , Dupree missed the first seven games due to a toe injury suffered in practice . Returning in week 8 , he played more often and scored his only NFL touchdown that year . He finished the season with 179 yards on 49 carries with one touchdown , in eight games played . The San Francisco 49ers brought Dupree into training camp in 1992 to play Fullback , a position he had never played . Before the 1992 season , Dupree led the Rams in rushing in the preseason , which included a 100 - yard game in the final preseason game against the Los Angeles Raiders , but was one of the 14 players cut by coach Chuck Knox to trim the team down to the 47 player regular season roster , and retired shortly afterward . Knox , who had replaced John Robinson earlier that year , had told Dupree and the press that Dupree was not versatile enough for his one - back offense . He said he preferred running backs who " were a little more well - rounded , could catch the ball coming out of the backfield and could do some of the other things besides run with the football . " He finished his career with 251 yards on 68 carries during regular season play , for a 3 . 7 yards - per - carry average , rushing for one touchdown . After NFL . After he was released by the Rams , he performed as a professional wrestler for the USWA in 1995 , ran a sports bar and worked as a casino greeter . As of February 2011 he is running a pro wrestling promotion , Mid South Wrestling . Personal . Dupree has three sons , Marquez , Landon and Rashad . He also has a grandson .