Marcus Monk (born April 26, 1986) is a former professional

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

wide receiver and a former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

. Monk has also been a member of the New York Giants. Between 2010 and 2012, he played professional basketball in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He is the older brother of basketball player

Malik Monk Malik Ahmad Monk (born February 4, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one season of college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats, earning consensus ...

Early years

Monk attended,

East Poinsett County High School East Poinsett County High School (EPC) is a nationally recognized and accredited comprehensive public high school serving students in grades six through twelve in Lepanto, Arkansas, United States located in eastern Poinsett County. Academics ...

and was a 4.0 student and a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

in football and

. Also, he was the Valedictorian of his graduating class. He was an All-State honoree in both sports, 2004 Mr. Basketball of Arkansas as a senior, and was named the

National Football Foundation The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a non-profit organization to promote and develop amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and "developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the dr ...

's Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Football career

College

Monk led all SEC freshmen in receiving in 2004 and set a school record for receptions by a freshman with 37 catches, breaking Richard Smith's school record of 33. He garnered Freshman All-SEC honors for catching 37 balls for 569 yards and six

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 Amer ...

s. Monk continued to improve in his sophomore season by catching 35 passes for a team-high 476 yards and seven touchdowns. In his junior season of 2006, Monk had his best statistical season with 50 catches for a career-high 962 yards. Monk broke a school record with 11 touchdown passes caught and averaged 19.2 yards per catch. He helped Arkansas win the SEC West Division championship that year. Monk was sidelined for most of his senior season due to an injury in the offseason that required two surgeries. Of the seven games he did play in, Monk only caught 16 passes for 144 yards and three touchdowns, tying him for seventh in the SEC for career touchdowns. Monk still holds the Arkansas school record for career touchdown receptions, with 27.

Statistics

Professional

Chicago Bears

Monk was selected in the seventh round (248th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. Monk signed a four-year

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

deal with the Bears on May 31, 2008. He was waived on August 24.

New York Giants

On August 26, 2008, Monk was claimed off waivers by the New York Giants after the team waived/injured wide receiver

Craphonso Thorpe Craphonso Ja'won "Cro" Thorpe (born June 27, 1983) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State. Thorpe has also b ...

. However, he was waived by the team four days later during final cuts. On August 31, he was re-signed to the team's practice squad. He was released from the practice squad on September 8 after wide receiver

Taye Biddle RaTavious Anton "Taye" Biddle (born February 27, 1983) is an American football wide receiver. He was previously with the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League. He was signed by the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent ...

was signed.

Carolina Panthers

Monk was signed by the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

on April 28, 2009, after impressing scouts at Arkansas's pro day.

Basketball career

College

As a college freshman, Monk also played 10 games with the Razorbacks basketball team after completing the football season. On November 18, 2008, KARK 4 News in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

reported that Monk was possibly coming back for his last semester to play college basketball for the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

. Monk was allowed to play as he had basketball eligibility remaining and was never a professional athlete in that sport. Monk's breakout game would come on December 30, 2008, when Arkansas hosted the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Ru ...

, ranked fourth in that week's

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

Poll. Monk scored 12 points and added six rebounds and one steal while holding his ground defensively against the Sooners' star player,

Blake Griffin Blake Austin Griffin (born March 16, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners, when he was named the consen ...

, in only his third game with the Razorbacks of the 2008-2009 season. Monk was officially removed from the roster on February 13, 2009, by the University of Arkansas after several weeks of not dressing out for the team, for a suspected undisclosed NCAA rules infraction.

Professional

Monk signed with Hertener Löwen of the German

ProB The ProB is the third-tier level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 24 teams, separated into a Northern and a Southern Division. Officially, the ProB is part of the '' 2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which con ...

league in 2010. Appearing in 25 games for the team during the 2010-11 season, he averaged 22.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.1 steals, 2.2 assists and 1.2 blocks a contest, while being named to the

Eurobasket.com Eurobasket.com also commonly referred to as "Eurobasket News", is a basketball-centered website that provide coverages of every professional and semi-professional leagues around the world. Although primarily focusing on European basketball, th ...

All-Pro B First-team and being recognized as the Eurobasket.com All-ProB Defensive Player of the Year. In 2011-12, Monk was instrumental in helping the Gotha Rockets win the ProB title and received Eurobasket.com All-ProB Player of the Year honors, after tallying 15.3 points as well as 7.9 boards a game.

Life after sports

After playing professional basketball in Germany for two years, Monk began the

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

program at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. He graduated in 2014.

References

External links

Arkansas Razorbacks bioCarolina Panthers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monk, Marcus 1986 births Living people Players of American football from Arkansas American football wide receivers Arkansas Razorbacks football players Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball players Chicago Bears players New York Giants players Carolina Panthers players People from Lepanto, Arkansas Basketball players from Arkansas American men's basketball players