JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Growing up in a family of athletes, life wasn’t always easy on new Jaguars linebacker Cassius Marsh. But his journey has led him back to the place where his father started his NFL career.
Cassius was just three years old when his father Curtis first played for the Jaguars, so his memories are hazy at best.
“Most of my memories are from the memorabilia,” Marsh said. “The helmets that he brought home and watching film. But it was dope to be able to have that type of connection, to go back to where my dad started his career. That's where his dream came true to join the NFL so it's definitely a cool connection and I know it means a lot to my dad.”
Still, when I mentioned to him that he was the first father-son combination in Jaguars’ history, you could tell it meant something to him.
“I know my dad was the part of the first draft class ever for the Jaguars, so that's actually pretty cool man,” Marsh said. “A couple of milestones for the family.”
Marsh wasn’t always a shoe in to play in the NFL. As a boy, he had anger issues, so his mom decided that he would benefit from martial arts.
“When I was a kid, I was a pretty troubled, angry little boy,” Marsh said. “My mom put me in Taekwondo and it really helped me find discipline and it really helped me with athleticism.”
Marsh also wasn’t the typical athlete—he found his interest swaying into other realms, like the fantasy card game, Magic the Gathering.
“Magic has been with me for a long time. I started when I was 11 years old,” Marsh said. “It gave me a place to go and be myself. As a kid who was born into an athletic family, there wasn’t a whole lot of nerdy stuff going on. I was into Pokemon and Yugio and all the cartoons and amines and stuff like that. I didn’t have anybody to relate to me with that, but I stumbled across the game of magic and the guys that play that game – they’re not always the coolest, but they’re some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. It taught me to accept people from all types of backgrounds. What they look like doesn’t matter and all that kind of stuff. I feel like that’s humbled me throughout.”
While his mother wouldn’t let him get a tattoo as a kid, as soon as he could, Marsh started putting the ink on.
“I started the day I turned 18 because mom was not having it before then,” Marsh said. “I just love it. I had a vision for what I wanted and the artwork on my body. I love it. I wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s a part of me, and it’s kind of like I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve, literally.”
Marsh is versatile and with the Jaguars likely to implement a lot more of a 3-4 look in the defense this year, his experience as both a defensive end and outside linebacker should be valuable, especially if he can replicate his 2018 season when he had 5.5 sacks for San Francisco. CP C4TLS.