Former Washington State University cornerback Marcellus Pippins.
With the XFL starting up again, hundreds of former collegiate athletes from across the country are coming together. The Seattle XFL team, coached by former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Jim Zorn, recently held a summer showcase at the Seattle Memorial Stadium. This was one of eight showcases held around the country.
As music played and drills raged on former Washington State University (WSU) and Canadian Football League (CFL) cornerback Marcellus Pippins stood on the sidelines dancing. According to Pippins’ Twitter, “Having fun is the best part.”
Pippins’ personality has not gone unnoticed by former teammates. “As long as we’ve been teammates, I’ve never seen him get tired,” former WSU and CFL teammate Paris Taylor said. “Every TV time out you can catch him dancing on the field.” “[Pippins] needs his own TV show or YouTube channel.” Both Taylor and another former teammate, Robert Lewis, used “energetic” as a way to describe Pippins. Lewis’ favorite memory of Pippins is when he came out of a store and saw the spirited football player dancing in front of it.
Early years Pippins attended El Cerrito Highschool just outside of Richmond, California. While Pippins said he is proud to be from Richmond, it was not always to the best area to live in. In his early years, Pippins said he stayed away from parties to focus on school and sports. “Richmond, California is the city of pride and prejudice,” Pippins said. “That’s exactly how I carry myself in life and my decisions.”
Pippins scored ten touchdowns and seven interceptions as a junior in high school. During his senior year, Pippins was a three-star recruit and ranked 75th in the country in his position. In both his junior and senior year, he received All-East Bay first-team honors.
While Derik Calhoun, Pippins’ high school coach said physical talents came second to none, he was more impressed with the other facets of his game. “The best part about coaching him was simple: he was a coachable kid that understood the game from a mental perspective,” Calhoun said.
Understanding the game from a mental perspective was something that Pippins said he learned from coach Calhoun. Calhoun instilled in Pippins the popular saying, “The game is 80% mental, 20% physical.”
For awhile, Pippins said he didn’t know what that saying meant. “But playing at the highest level and living life,” Pippins said. “It all goes hand in hand.”
Collegiate and professional career
After his high school career, Pippins played football at WSU. According to wsucougars.com, Pippins was a four-year letter winner playing in 42 games over his four years and starting in 31 of them. Pippins recorded 104 tackles (6.5 for loss), one sack, five picks, 14 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and three recoveries. Pippins said his most memorable collegiate play came on his brother’s birthday when he picked off NFL pro-bowler Jared Goff.
In the spring of 2018, Pippins graduated from WSU with a humanities degree and immediately moved into the CFL. Pippins was on the practice squad for the Montreal Alouettes in 2018 and record two interceptions and a touchdown in the 2019 preseason before getting cut in week two.
Off the field
Off the field, just about everyone in his family described Pippins as absurdly competitive. His brothers, grandma and mother all talk about how Pippins is always competitive at family game nights, especially when “Uno” is involved.
“Don’t play any board games with [Pippins], you will no longer like him,” Trache Darwin, Pippins’ sister said.
XFL future
Pippins said he’s currently working on sharpening his technique and staying in shape for the XFL draft in October. Players for XFL teams will be selected from a pool of players who are signed by the league. Even though Pippins attended the Seattle XFL showcase, this has no relevance on where he could end up.
“The main thing that excited me about the XFL is I can have my folks watch me in the states,” said Pippins. “Not everyone can get a passport and travel to Canada.” There is an XFL franchise located in Los Angeles which is less than ten hours from his home town in California. “I want to be noticed and be given a fair chance to excel and show people that I am as good as I seem on film,” Pippins said.
Pippins does have some goals while in the XFL. Pippins said he wants to become a “no brainer shutdown nickel/corner” for a team and be an all-star as well.
“I want to shoutout my family, Coug Nation and my dog Saint,” Pippins said. “I could not have gotten here without them.”
