Marcus spent his first year looking for a place to live. He needed to navigate through the details of the new opportunity in Year 2. He was able to prove it was real by his third year. It was ready to bloom during the spring of this year.
In Costa Mesa, Calif., a 5,000- square-foot gym has earned praise from NFL players.
His career in the National Football League is also included.
He was on the roster edge as a sixth-round pick and waiver wire acquisition. He started five games in his second year with the Eagles. In his third season, he became a trusted contributor in the secondary and was penciled in as a starter by the team. He is a leader in Year 4.
After leading the Eagles with 10 tackles in the season opener, Epps smiled at the suggestion of parallel tracks. He nodded his head and confirmed that the comparison was correct.
When the Eagles host the Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field on Monday night, Epps will be in the starting lineup. He can wake up and check out the business he opened with his partner.
Three years ago, this type of career heft was not available. It is what Epps had in mind.
I can see that from the outside. I know it may sound crazy, but I never doubted that I would be where I am. I expected it to come sooner.
When he was a teenager, he went to the gym to train with his friend. He wore a backpack with his thumbs through the loops and had a look in his eyes. It was similar to Apollo Creed’s explanation of the eye of the tiger in the movie.
I’ll never forget the first day we met.
They went to different gyms for a long time. There were gym facilities at high schools. There were places that reminded him of dungeons. They were working out on the beach when they were told it was time. They needed to find their own place to live in.
The man had a plan for how he wanted it to look and what he wanted to do.
It took more than two years for the gym to be found and opened. Rejection was part of it. It took a lot of time. The entry was similar to that of Epps. Epps had a vision when they found the perfect spot. Trainers rent out space in the gym to train their clients. 40 yards of turf, a sandpit, and a sports court are included in the facility. The sand is a tribute to the beach workouts that the man would do.
It needs to be a one-stop shop.
The teammates went to the gym to work out. The defensive backs were invited by Epps. He visited. Goedert did the same. Supporting a teammate was the first draw. Interviews with a few of the visitors showed that it was still a place where they would train.
The gym is a really good one. It was nice when I got there after seeing the pictures. Every piece of equipment you can have in a weight room is what they have. If you would like to work out on turf, they have it. If you would like to work out on the sand, it’s here. There is a basketball court There is a person in this picture It is a five-star rating. I went there a couple of times. He invited me to attend the opening. Before we returned to camp.
They wouldn’t have left online reviews if they had given a favorable rating. McPhearson described it as a garage type gym that has a beach vibe. Slay wants his children to train there.
The business is paying close attention to the man. This is more than just a passion project. He is focused on the Eagles when he is in Philadelphia for football. He hires a team to make sure the gym runs smoothly. The balance sheet is something he is aware of. Expenditures will be pushed back a month if necessary. He sent a message at 4 a.m. when the equipment was moved.
If there were two cents, it would be like, ‘We’re like two cents short or something.'”
There are other players who have businesses on the side. Epps has made a gym his own.
Mc Phearson said that Marcus eats weight for breakfast. Lifting weights is the only thing he does. It makes sense to him.
He loves to work out if you don’t know him. “He thinks he’s swimming and all that.”
The gym is where he trains and is also a customer. They try to make the family environment better. Every trainer is expected to say hello to anyone who walks in, even if it is an older quarterback.
You are a part of the circle and the gym circle. We are all family and there will be football guys. They aren’t acting like they’re too good.
There is no hiding the fact that he is a player in the NFL. In life, there are those who make excuses and those who get it done, and that is what the walls are about. We only have one life. It’s time to get it done.
After the Eagles lost to the Buccaneers in the playoffs, the safeties sat on a bench. The Eagles needed to improve safety because Anthony Harris and Rodney McLeod were going to be free agents. He didn’t return to California with the expectation of being the third safety again. The Eagles weren’t able to find an upgrade because they were confident that Epps would be a starter in 2022,
They told me that I would have the chance to compete.
Marcus Williams signed with Baltimore after the Eagles pursued him. They re-signed Harris. From the outside, it was thought that the Eagles would sign Harris to start and that he would need to compete for the other starting job. The best safety on the team was identified during training camp.
I knew it was my time in the spring.
Three weeks before the season, the Eagles coach said there was good competition in the safety group, led by Marcus, and that he had some good pieces to work with. He was described as the top safety in the league for the first time in his career. The Eagles traded for C.J.Gardner- Johnson. They took Harris.
Epps was identified as a player poised for a big year by his teammates. Those who watched him every day since he came to Philadelphia were waiting for this breakthrough, even though he never played more than half the defensive snaps in a season.
Maddox said that it would always be the case. Since the beginning of the year
Epps has always been smart, physical, fast, and has the range. He was behind Harris and McLeod as a freshman, then Harris and Mills as a sophomore, and then Harris and McLeod as a junior. Wallace was drafted by the Eagles in the fourth round, but he wasn’t the only one who proved he should play.
He was told to run away when the time came.
This is a concept that has been around for a long time. He did not go to USC or UCLA. The University of Wyoming is where he went. He couldn’t get a scholarship out of high school.
He said he knew the NFL was his future when he was younger. When told how far-fetched it was for a walk-on at Wyoming to say he would play in the NFL, he understood.
The way I see it is that I will always bet on me regardless of the situation. You have to get what you want in life. You control what you do when you wake up even if the odds are against you.
He was a three-time team captain at Wyoming. The Vikings drafted him in the sixth round even though he wasn’t invited to the combine. He was a member of the team for the first eight games.
When Sendejo was cut by the Eagles, the Vikings signed him and tried to get him onto the practice squad. He was claimed by the Eagles in a Sendejo-for-Epps deal. He was the third safety. In 2020 there were spot starts and a lot of relief work. The Eagles tanked in the 17th week against Washington. He was an under-the-radar star in the game. He didn’t see those starts as validation. He saw a player who was thinking too much on the field and wasn’t playing in the moment. He promised to be a better person in the year 2021.
The year was last year. I made the bigger jump because I didn’t worry about messing up or what people will say if I mess up or what they will do if I mess up.
There were many reasons why he should be on the field. There was a safety rotation for the Eagles. He played high-leverage snaps even if he wasn’t a starter.
Dependability is the first thing Jonathan Gannon looks for in a safety. I think he has a unique skill set that you need to play safety in the NFL today. When I joined the league in 2007, the safety position looked similar to it does now. You have to be able to cover, you have to be able to tackle, and you have to have ball skills. That is a thought position. There are all those tools that he has.
The 6-foot, 198-pound player in the season opener was confirmed by watching. Forget that he was a walk-on at Wyoming, that the Eagles claimed him on waivers, and that he was a backup and special teams player. One of the bright spots for the defense would be if one knew that context and only knew 60 minutes. It was one game and there are still 17 more weeks to go, but this has been what Epps had in mind when he was a teenager.
I’m not surprised that he’s in the league, I’m not surprised that he started for the Philadelphia Eagles, I’m not surprised by what happened on Sunday I don’t think that shocks me. I thought that would happen. From the day I met him, I knew this was coming.
During the spring, the ribbon cutting and emergence atop the depth chart came, but Epps warned against a suggestion that the visit from teammates implies he has grown up on the team.
“I don’t think I’m one of the most-known guys in the league.”
He thought he would be here, but he hasn’t lost his sense of humor. In college, it starts. It gets drafted. Making a team. He was going to prove his worth in the National Football League. Being a starter is when you become a starter. There is a goal post. There will be a second contract to be signed.
They didn’t want me to go to high school. Went on and proved everyone wrong. I was not thought to be where I am today. Epps said that they proved them wrong. I have been on that journey for my entire life. Constantly trying to improve, looking at what’s next.
What are you going to do next? There is a tug of war between not looking ahead and not limiting his ambitions. He tries to focus on the moment while acknowledging that he can see a time in five years when it is the premier gym in Southern California.
His career will last five years. He won’t get ahead of himself but football and the gym have grown. He projected the same growth for how he plays the game.
It is a perfect way to say it.
The top photo was taken by Scott Taetsch.