Marcus Monk

Marcus Monk (born April 26, 1986 in Lepanto, Arkansas) is a former professional American football wide receiver and a former professional basketball player. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Arkansas. Monk has also been a member of the New York Giants. Between 2010 and 2012, he played professional basketball in Germany. He is the older brother of basketball player Malik Monk.[1]

Marcus Monk
Monk with the Razorbacks in 2006
No. 19
Position:Wide receiver
Personal information
Born: (1986-04-26) April 26, 1986
Lepanto, Arkansas
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:212 lb (96 kg)
Career information
High school:Lepanto (AR) East Poinsett Co.
College:Arkansas
NFL Draft:2008 / Round: 7 / Pick: 248
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com

Early years

Monk attended East Poinsett County High School and was a 4.0 student and a letterman in football and basketball. 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'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 touchdowns.

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, 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.

Monk was sidelined for most of the season due to an injury in the offseason that required two surgeries. Of the six games he played, Monk caught 16 balls for 144 yards and three touchdowns, tying him for seventh in the SEC for career touchdowns.

Statistics
Receiving
Year G Rec Yards YPC TD Lg
2004 11 37 569 15.4 6 38
2005 11 35 476 13.6 7 55
2006 14 50 962 19.2 11 56
2007 7 16 144 9 3 23
Totals 43 138 2151 15.6 27 56

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 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. 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 was signed.

Carolina Panthers

Monk was signed by the Carolina Panthers 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 reported that Monk was possibly coming back for his last semester to play college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks. 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, ranked fourth in that week's Associated Press Poll.[2] Monk scored 12 points and added six rebounds and one steal while holding his ground defensively against the Sooners' star player, Blake Griffin,[3] 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.[4]

Professional

Monk signed with Hertener Löwen of the German ProB 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,[5] while being named to the Eurobasket.com All-Pro B First Team and being recognized as the Eurobasket.com All-ProB Defensive Player of the Year.[6]

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.[7]

Life after sports

After playing professional basketball in Germany for two years, Monk began the MBA program at the University of Arkansas. He graduated in 2014.[8]

References
  1. "Marcus Monk, Malik's Brother: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  2. "NCAA Basketball Rankings - The Associated Press Top 25 Poll - SI.com". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. April 30, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 4, 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Monk will not return to competition - ArkansasRazorbacks.com - Official Site of Arkansas Razorback Athletics". ArkansasRazorbacks.com. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  5. "Marcus Monk Basketball Player Profile, BiG Oettinger Rockets Gotha, Arkansas, News, ProA stats, Career, Games Logs, Best, Awards - eurobasket.com". www.eurobasket.com. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  6. "PROB_2010-2011 Basketball League GERMANY - eurobasket.com". www.eurobasket.com. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  7. "PROB_2011-2012 Basketball League GERMANY - eurobasket.com". www.eurobasket.com. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  8. "A Winner On and Off the Field". Archived from the original on August 28, 2014.
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