Marcus L. Demps (born August 19, 1983) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

who played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

. He is the younger brother of safety

Will Demps William Henry Demps Jr. (born November 7, 1979) is a former American football safety who was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2002. He played college football at San Diego State. He is also the close cousin of top pro ...

Early life

Demps attended Highland High School in

Palmdale, California Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the Antelope Valley of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On August 24, 1962 ...

. He was a two-year starter at

strong safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free sa ...

. Demps was also a two-time all-Golden League selection. He was also named to the ''

Antelope Valley Press The ''Antelope Valley Press'', colloquially referred to as the ''Valley Press'' or ''AV Press'' by its staff and Antelope Valley residents, is the largest-circulation daily newspaper in Palmdale, California, United States. Coverage area The ''V ...

'' second-team as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

and first-team as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

, despite missing three games with a foot injury. Demps was also selected to the all-Valley team by the ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California, after the unrelated ''Los Angeles Times'', and the flagship newspaper of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado ...

''. He earned a pair of varsity letters in track.

College career

Demps attended San Diego State, where he majored in criminal justice.

Freshman (2001)

As a freshman in 2001, Demps was in the contention for playing time in the secondary before suffering a broken

finger A finger is a prominent digit (anatomy), digit on the forelimbs of most tetrapod vertebrate animals, especially those with prehensile extremities (i.e. hands) such as humans and other primates. Most tetrapods have five digits (dactyly, pentadact ...

that required surgery early in the season. He ended up redshirting that season.

Red-shirt Freshman (2002)

In 2002, Demps played in nine games, primarily on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their position. Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

and at safety. He ended the season with 24 tackles, including a career-high 12 at

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

when he had his first game his first career start against the Air Force. He had six tackles against

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. It was founded in 1870 as Colorado Agr ...

and two tackles against

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Red-shirt Sophomore (2003)

In 2003, Demps started the season as a backup, but was promoted to the

starting lineup In sports, a starting lineup is an official list of the set of players who will participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as ''starters'', whereas the others are substitutes or b ...

when

mononucleosis Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease produces few or no symptoms. In young adu ...

sidelined then starter Josh Dean. He however, returned to the sidelines due to an

ankle The ankle, the talocrural region or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joint. The ...

injury that caused him to miss three games. For the season Demps was in the starting lineup in five games. Demps had a 13-tackle game at

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas Syste ...

and eight tackles at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. Despite missing three games, Demps finished fifth on the team with 39 tackles, (24 solo). He had a

sack A sack usually refers to a rectangular-shaped bag. Sack may also refer to: Bags * Flour sack * Gunny sack * Hacky sack, sport * Money sack * Paper sack * Sleeping bag * Stuff sack * Knapsack Other uses * Bed, a slang term * Sack (band), ...

against Air Force and another tackle for a loss against UCLA. He recovered a fumble against UTEP. He was credited with a blocked punt against

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the H ...

Red-shirt Junior (2004)

In 2004, after two years at safety, Demps became a starting

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

as a junior. He finished eighth on the team with 35 tackles. He broke up eight passes, caused a pair of fumbles ( Idaho State and Utah) ranking him second on the team in that category. He had an interception and a pass broken up against #17

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Demps broke up three passes against

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. He had a season-high six tackles against Nevada and #9 Utah. Against Utah, Demps, also recorded a forced fumble. He finished 10th among

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Janu ...

secondary players with nine passes defended. Thirty of his tackles were solo. However, he was slowed late in the year by a sprained

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

but did not miss a game.

Red-shirt Senior (2005)

In 2005, Demps finished the season with 72 tackles, two sacks, four interceptions and one touchdown. Demps opened the season with five tackles against UCLA, (three solo). The next game at Air Force, he recorded eight tackles (two solo, one for loss) and one forced fumble. During the third game of the season in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

against

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

, Demps recorded nine tackles. In the next game, home against

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

he recorded two tackles (two solo, one for loss), his first interception of the season, and two passes defensed. Against BYU, Demps recorded two tackles (two solo, one for loss) and his second interceptions on the season. The next week at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

, he recorded six tackles (two solo, one for loss). During the next game at Utah, Demps recorded 10 tackles (four solo). The next week against

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, Demps recorded a season-high of 12 tackles (10 solo). Against

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

, he recorded seven tackles (four solo, one for loss). In the game at Colorado State, Demps recorded seven tackles (three solo), one interception, and one passed defensed. In the game against

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, he recorded one tackle (one solo, one for loss), one interception, and one punt return. In the season, and his college finale, against

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, Demps recorded five tackles (two solo) and one pass defensed.

Professional career

Demps went unselected in the

2006 NFL draft The 2006 NFL draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offe ...

, however he was signed by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

as an undrafted free agent on May 8, 2006,New York Times Transactions
/ref> after participating in the rookie mini-camp as a tryout player. He was released on September 2, 2006, and then signed to the Lions

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

the next day.Detroit Lions Transactions for 2006
/ref> However, he was placed on the reserved/injury list on September 21, 2006, with a knee injury.

Personal life

Demps is the son of Kye and William Demps and the younger brother of free agent safety

Notes

External links

Detroit Lions bio

ESPN.com bio

Profile
at NCAA.org
San Diego State Aztecs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Demps, Marcus 1983 births American football safeties American sportspeople of Korean descent Detroit Lions players San Diego State Aztecs football players Living people Sportspeople from Minot, North Dakota Players of American football from Palmdale, California Players of American football from North Dakota Highland High School (Palmdale, California) alumni Asian American players of American football