Senior Feature -- Jeff Marriott
9/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 21, 1999
Columbia, Mo. - by Meredith Hoenes MU Sports Information
It?s a time of change. The leaves are turning colors to make room for the fall season, playgrounds are empty because kids are back in school, and the defense for the Missouri Tigers is on the mind of every opposing offense.
The preseason college football magazines, interviews and analysis from anyone who knows football all say the same thing ? the Missouri defense is one of the best, and senior defensive lineman Jeff Marriott knows the pressure is there. ?There is a kind of lime light,? he said. ?They?re expecting us to do bigger and better things this year than what we have in the past years. We have a lot of talent, especially the front seven. But we still have to go out and perform,? he said.
Like every kid, playing catch is common and that?s where it started for this Chillicothe, Mo., native. He eventually left the front yard for a football field and found his place on the team as a defensive end. Missouri recruited him as an end, but once he found Mizzou?s weight room, his 6-foot-5, 230 lb.-frame turned into a 300 lb.-frame in three years time. With the weight he was putting on during his redshirt freshman year, coaches moved him to nose tackle and that?s where he stayed.
With the extra seventy pounds of intimidation, Marriott hits the field with an edge, he loves the competition of the game, the way he can go one on one with a guy and find the upper hand in their battle. But he couldn?t do it without his fellow players. ?It?s a team game. You have an assignment to do and you do the assignment,? he said.
In fact, his team members represent a bond he never imagined being able to have. ?We all come from different backgrounds, different races. There?s one thing that we really have in common and that?s football and it?s special to have a big group of people like that whose lives are so different, their backgrounds so different, but we still get along.?
The 1998 season was a big one for Marriott. He notched a career-high 38 tackles, more than double his previous best of 15. Perhaps his biggest moment came during the Insight.com Bowl, where he made five tackles ? three for eleven yards in losses including a quarterback sack. He also blocked a field goal that Carlos Posey returned for a 70-yard touchdown which put Missouri up 7-0. It was the Insight.com Bowl game the made him a third-team all-conference selection and the defensive MVP of the game, an honor and a surprise for Marriott. ?That was a real big honor for me. I was very surprised that they would give it to an interior defensive lineman. That?s not a real place to get a lot of glory.?
It?s been a change for Marriott to be a part of the Missouri Tiger team. He arrived when their record was only 3-8. ?The will to win just wasn?t there and Coach Smith has really brought us up on that. He?s taught us how to win and how to give ourselves permission to win.? Now the record has improved, but that doesn?t give the players any reason to slack off, ?Every single game we have to improve, we can?t stay at the same level or we?ll never win any games. I don?t how the year?s going to turn out, I hope we never lose, but you never know what could go wrong.?
Although it?s a team down on the field working together on winning the game Marriott says the crowd plays a big part. When they?re quiet you can hear it, ?we notice it when the crowd?s not into the game. When they are in the game, fired up and yelling, getting excited it makes the stadium loud.?
While noseguard isn?t the most visible position, Marriott does have his fans. ?When I came out of the locker room this last game (UAB), there were two little boys wanting my autograph, from my face they didn?t know who I was, but when I told them my name, I guess their parents had grown up from Chillicothe and they followed me. It was real exciting to see that there were little kids waiting for me, they were waiting to meet me. It was exciting and it?s pretty fun to have that influence on them.?
Although football is his first love and he doesn?t mind the attention, Marriott likes to get away from the crowds and the people. His retreat? To the outdoors, the woods where he can hunt and fish, enjoying a crisp autumn day ? thinking about the next opponent that he?ll crush on the football field.
