Saying Hello!

[DMARSH31]

Hello everyone here on lionbackers, this is your short side cornerback Dant'e Marsh! I just wanted to stop by and say hey to all the great fans that love the CFL and more importantly the B.C LIONS. I know it seems like the off season just drags on and on without any fresh news other than free agent signings and the Canadian Draft. However the season is approaching us very quickly and I know me personally I cant wait. Just to let everyone know I will periodically post on this great forum from time to time throughout the season to give you the fans insight on my off-season training, training camp, practice and any questions you might have for me thank you. Signing out D.Marsh31!

[Bosco]

Welcome to lionbackers.com Dante! It's great to have you aboard.

[Rammer]

Great to have you offer that up for us Dante, we look forward to the addition of your perspective and hope you don't mind answering a few questions as well.

First one, at what age did you narrow your aspirations to one or two sports and what time did you realize that you could make a career out of football realistically?

[David]

Welcome to Lionbackers, Dante. It's always great to have players post. It means a lot to us fans. I have always admired you as a football player, but also as a thoughtful and intelligent person.

Best of luck for the upcoming season. Believe me, we can't wait either!

DH 8)

P.S. I hope your knee is now 100%!

[DMARSH31]

I started as a point guard on my little league hoop team, then I was a pretty good short stop for my little league baseball team. I played flag football until I was about nine years old. All my friends kept telling me to come out for Pop Warner football, you know with pads and helmets and stuff. So once I went out for sign ups for th Berkeley Cougars I didnt want to do anything else. I would say at ten years old I pretty much gave up baseball and basketball to concentrate soley on football. I told my dad when I was five years old that I was going to play pro football while we were watching a Chicago Bear game. As I saw the late great Walter Payton do his thing I was in awe and wanted to be like him. Realistically in the eleventh grade I started getting a lot of recruiting letters from a whole bunch of division one programs and thought hey I can actually do something with this.

[DMARSH31]

My knee is great! I didnt have any issues with it when I came back for the last five games and playoffs last year if you remember. Actually I was more explosive and quick after I hurt my knee, so I guess all the rehab and hard work I did to come back ahead of schedule was great. I am having a great off season down here in Atlanta working out with my dogs on the short side Korey Banks and Otis Floyd and we are working hard to get another ring. We are all excited to get back to Vancouver and kick off the 2008 season!

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

Welcome Dante, feel free to post whenever

[Rammer]

I started as a point guard on my little league hoop team, then I was a pretty good short stop for my little league baseball team. I played flag football until I was about nine years old. All my friends kept telling me to come out for Pop Warner football, you know with pads and helmets and stuff. So once I went out for sign ups for th Berkeley Cougars I didnt want to do anything else. I would say at ten years old I pretty much gave up baseball and basketball to concentrate soley on football. I told my dad when I was five years old that I was going to play pro football while we were watching a Chicago Bear game. As I saw the late great Walter Payton do his thing I was in awe and wanted to be like him. Realistically in the eleventh grade I started getting a lot of recruiting letters from a whole bunch of division one programs and thought hey I can actually do something with this.

I didn't expect that window to get narrowed down so early on in your life. Basketball has to be one of the sports that would help a CB and I would have thought that you would have played both for as long as you could, as they tend to compliment one another, thanks for sharing.

[Sir Purrcival]

To echo what others have said. Great to have you aboard and look forward to hearing what you have to say!

It really is a treat for us "Old Timers" to get a chance to get to know the person underneath the jersey a little better. Thanks for doing it and give our regards to your "dogs" as well. Tell them to hurry up and get back. We are all hungry for the season to start.

[cromartie]

I'm glad I have the chance to pay you this compliment in person.

I see, probably 75 football games across both leagues and US college per year.

I can count, on one hand, the number of Cornerbacks that take tackling as seriously and are as fundamentally sound, as you are.

You earn my eternal gratitude and admiration for taking what has become a lost art amongst other players at your position as seriously and effectively as you do. The Lions are a better defence for it.

Looking forward to seeing you on the field this summer and fall.

[DMARSH31]

Thank you guys so much for the compliments, I really appreciate that. I didn't give up basketball totally. I still played on some AAU teams up until the eleventh grade, I just loved football so much that I didn't really pursue the other sports as much once I got to high school. As far as tackling it's not that difficult its more about heart and desire. I played running back all my life, I didn't start playing cornerback until the eleventh grade so I kind of know what ball carriers are thinking. You couldn't play at my high school or college if you were not physical, to me there was only one "cover corner" that ever played the game he also happens to be my favorite player ever. That's Prime Time Deion Sanders. If you can't or don't like to tackle you have no business playing defense! I take pride in calling myself a "good football player" which means I not only can cover I can hit, tackle, return kicks and do a lot of things pretty well. To be a great defense like coach Ritchie would say you have to be able to run, hit and be nasty plain and simple. Playing defense is heart, drive and desire!

[DMARSH31]

Thank you orangeshoes99 will do!

[DMARSH31]

We are just as excited for the season to kick off as you the best fans in the CFL are. Myself, Korey Banks and Otis Floyd are extremely excited about getting back to work so we can start preparing for a great run all the way to the GREY CUP! Last season was a failed season in my mind, we didn't do what we were suppose to do as far as winning the CUP. Now don't get me wrong there were some great things that happened last season like the club record 14 wins which were achieved despite so many injuries, the emergence of Cam "THE FREAK" Wake, Jairious Jackson stepping in and showing the league he is for real and one of my favorites, one of my comrads in the secondary Ryan Phillips who had one of the best seasons I have ever witnessed by a defensive back with 12 interceptions. So even though there were some great things accomplished we didn't go to and win the CUP. Im not trying to be arrogant but we have the team to compete for a championship every year in my opinion. So we are anxious to to say the least to get started on the 08' season.

[Hambone]

I can count, on one hand, the number of Cornerbacks that take tackling as seriously and are as fundamentally sound, as you are.

You earn my eternal gratitude and admiration for taking what has become a lost art amongst other players at your position as seriously and effectively as you do. The Lions are a better defence for it.

Kudos to that Cromartie. The one on one open field tackle is indeed a lost art in football. I still remember being in Commonwealth very early in Dante's rookie season and witnessing a couple of 'ahem' blown coverages obviously from a combination of rookie mistakes and communication errors. It had me thinking hoo boy looks like #31 won't be long for this league. However from that game I also recall some classic textbook open field tackles from that same #31 that had me thinking this guy is a player and hopefully will learn from the other mistakes. Obviously Wally saw the talent and coachability and knew the mistakes would disappear. For Buono's patience I'm grateful!

[DMARSH31]

Im glad to see that there are some knowledgeable fans. The CFL is a little tougher than one might expect, you have to get use to the larger field, the motion and understanding that there are only 3 downs as well. A lot of technique that you learn your whole life down here in the states can put you in a bind sometimes in the CFL. So it's not like I took a magic pill after the 04' season, it was more or less getting acclimated to the subtle differences of the CFL. Because in all honesty it is still football once you know what you are doing. And I think WB understood that, thats why im still here!