Marcus Dodson

Notes: Dodson earned all-Western Valley district honors at tight end as a sophomore and all-district honors at defensive end as a junior. As a junior last season, he accounted for 58 tackles including 17 solo efforts and 4.5 sacks.

Coach Dan Newell: “I think his number one strength is that he’s a system guy. He plays within the system. He understands the scheme and what his role is and you can always count on him being in the right place at the right time. He knows where he’s supposed to be and he cuts those angles down. He takes good angles. He’s very disciplined in his approach. Overall I’d say he’s much more disciplined than the other kids I’ve been around. He’s intelligent in terms of making adjustments and helping us see things that are happening on the football field if the other team is running a certain scheme or a blocking technique and who the best players are on the other side. You need feedback from kids on the field telling you what’s going on, and he’s able to do that for you because he’s very confident in his understanding.

“Other than him being a disciplined player and in terms of his actual skill level, he’s a very technique oriented kid - which, at this level, can sometimes make him look like he’s not making big plays. But when he does things right and the people around him do their job he ends up making the big, big play. He can make the tackle for the loss, he can make the sack, he can strip the ball or he can get down the line from the backside and make plays. And effort is something that he’s improved on greatly. He became a much better player last year with less to have to worry about. I feel like this year he’s really going to be able to take it to another level.”