Marquel Blackwell (born July 29, 1979) is a former American football

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and the current running backs coach for the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

High school and college career

After playing for Lakewood High School and Dixie Hollins High School in

Pinellas County, Florida Pinellas County (, ) is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107. The county is part of the Tampa– St. Petersburg– Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistic ...

, Blackwell was the quarterback at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

for four seasons. Blackwell became a starter three games into his redshirt freshman season and led South Florida to a 30–12 mark during the Bulls' move from Division I-AA to I-A in 2001. During his college career from 1999 to 2002, he threw for 9,108 yards and 57 touchdowns, and had 1,235 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. He set most of the school's individual passing records during his time as quarterback; as of 2009, he is also the Bulls' No. 6 career rusher and No. 3 in rushing touchdowns.

Professional career

New York Jets

Blackwell entered the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

but was not drafted. He signed with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

as a rookie free agent but only saw playing time in 1 preseason game in the preseason finale against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. Blackwell threw for two

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s and 111 yards in the first half. He was the Jets' No. 2 QB in week one of the regular season (The Jets released backup Jamie Martin so the club did not have to pay his entire season salary if he was not on the roster Week 1), only to be cut again after week 1 when Martin returned.

Tampa Bay Storm

Blackwell had a brief stint, but did not appear, in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

(AFL) with the

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

In 2004, Blackwell signed with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

Montreal Alouettes

In 2005, Blackwell signed with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL).

Alabama Steeldogs

In 2006, Blackwell signed with the

Alabama Steeldogs The Alabama Steeldogs, originally known as the Birmingham Steeldogs, were incorporated in 2000 as one of the charter teams in the AF2, the developmental league of the Arena Football League. Entering their eighth season as of 2007, they were the l ...

of the

Arena Football 2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

(af2), where former Dixie and USF teammate Glenn Davis served as assistant coach. Blackwell was inducted into the USF Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013.

Coaching career

Early Coaching Career

Following his playing career Blackwell spent two years as the head coach of Freedom High School's football team after one as the offensive coordinator. In 2009 became a program assistant at the University of South Florida where he spent three years. In 2012 he was the running backs coach for Western Kentucky.

Toledo

In 2016 and 2017 Blackwell worked as the running backs coach for Toledo.

West Virginia

On February 15, 2018, Blackwell was named the running backs coach at West Virginia University.

Houston

Blackwell joined

Dana Holgorsen Dana Carl Holgorsen (born June 21, 1971) is the head football coach at the University of Houston. He was the head coach at West Virginia University from 2011 to 2018. During his coaching career he has served under coaches such as Hal Mumme, Mike ...

at the University of Houston on January 11, 2019 as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Following the 2019 season, Blackwell was demoted to running backs coach after Houston was 78th in yards per game on offense in 2019. He remained as the running backs coach until after the 2021 season.

Ole Miss

On January 13, 2022 it was announced that Blackwell was to become the new running backs coach at Ole Miss replacing

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film ''Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell, Marquel 1979 births Living people American football quarterbacks South Florida Bulls football players New York Jets players High school football coaches in Florida South Florida Bulls football coaches Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football coaches Florida Gators football coaches Toledo Rockets football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches Houston Cougars football coaches Ole Miss Rebels football coaches Dixie Hollins High School alumni