AMHERST – Marcus Bradley epitomizes Isaac Newton’s law of universal gravity: the larger an object – or in this case a human – the greater its gravitational force.
The UMass football redshirt freshman stands 6-foot-3 and weights 275 pounds. That’s a lot of mass. Only his smile spreads wider than his arms.
Bradley arrived in Amherst in January after a year at Vanderbilt. He’s established himself as not only one of the team’s best defensive linemen but one of the defense’s leaders – both with words and actions.
“Leadership is all about influence, and you can see people gravitate towards him. They follow him because he has great natural leadership skills, not only on the football field, but off the field as well,” UMass defensive line coach Ben Albert said. “Guys know that they can depend on him. He’s the kind of guy that’s going to make sure everybody gets home safely at the end of the night.”
Albert met Bradley when he was 16 years old and recruited him at Duke. He didn’t bring the Gaithersburg, Md. native to the Blue Devils, as Bradley committed to Maryland in May 2020 over the likes of LSU, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M and USC. That lasted six months before the four-star prospect flipped to Vanderbilt. He was rated a top-200 recruit by both ESPN and 247sports.
Bradley only appeared in two games as a Commodore, registering two tackles (one for loss). Reports out of Nashville indicated he was held out of games due to disciplinary issues.
“Marcus is a talented person and player that doesn’t quite have the behaviors and habits yet to be an active part of the program,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said Oct. 26, 2021.
Bradley entered the transfer portal Nov. 1 and committed to UMass two months later. He heard from the school right when he entered the portal but thought it was the previous coaching staff.
“When I got a call from (UMass head) Coach (Don) Brown it was an easy one for me knowing coach Albert was coming over,” Bradley said
He stood out during spring practice with his physicality and understanding of the game.
“I’ve had the privilege and honor to be able to coach, you know, quite a few guys who have signed NFL contracts and I’ll say that guy Marcus is just pure athletic ability,” Albert said. “He is the biggest, most athletic guy that I’ve had the opportunity to coach, so he has the ability to be a special player. We just have to cultivate it and get into that point.”
Bradley isn’t satisfied being a star unto himself. The galaxy of the defense rotates around him. He encourages fellow defenders when they impact drills and offers constructive criticism when they don’t.
“I’m just trying to win. That’s it, you know? So for everybody who’s trying to win, and that’s everybody for the most part since I’ve been here, it’s, you see something, you correct it and you try to get better trying to push guys forward,” Bradley said. “I’ll criticism myself. That’s something I always hang my hat on.”
The defensive line needs to be in synch to work in Don Brown’s scheme. Albert calls them “intelligent cavemen.”
“We want to be smart about our approach. As a defensive front, you’re hunting the most intelligent species on the football field, the quarterback,” Albert said. “You can’t do it alone. We have to hunt in packs. We have to be intelligent about our approach.”
It’s a fresh approach and a fresh start for Bradley. He’s as prepared as anyone for the Minutemen’s Sept. 3 opener against Tulane in New Orleans.
“I’ve been so locked in just because it should be my first time getting a lot of significant time since I’ve been in college. I’m going to be getting a lot of time the first time coming out for game one, so I’m real anxious about it,” Bradley said. “Things just didn’t fall my way at the last place I was at, so being able to come here and be with a great coach in Coach Brown and the staff has been a blessing just to be here. I love my teammates, I love being here. It’s a great place.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.