Featured Future is a summer series where the Observer will highlight local student athletes who are preparing to continue their athletic and educational careers at the college level, or those who have already began that journey.
Marcus Miguele began his football career at Durant as a wide receiver, moving over to quarterback as a junior as the offense began to transform with him under center.
“I had Marcus in two facets,” head coach Claybo Varnum said. “I had him on the football field for four years but I also had him in the classroom for three. He’s really a funny kid. He’s good-natured, he’s always laughing, he’s always smiling, he doesn’t take himself too seriously and he’s very creative. For football, he was a dude that showed up and got his stuff done. He was never a complainer, never a whiner, a bit of a quiet leader. We put him in a bunch of situations and he moved positions a couple of times but he was always a guy that we knew would show up and play hard. He was always super reliable from that aspect.”
In 2019, Durant threw for just three passing touchdowns as a team en route to a 4-6 season. When Miguele moved to quarterback full time as a junior in 2021, he threw for seven touchdowns and seven interceptions and the Cougars improved to 5-5. As a senior in 2021, Durant’s first season under Varnum, Miguele had become a focal part of the offense as he threw for 1,087 passing yards, tossed 15 passing touchdowns and finished second on the team with 674 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns, leading the Cougars to an 8-3 record, their highest single-season win total since 2016.
“As a sophomore he played receiver and the athleticism for him has always been there,” Varnum said. “He’s always been a freak athlete. Watching them go out and just throw the football around, he’s the guy that’s going up with one hand and making a crazy catch. That part we always knew was there and to be honest, that opened a lot of doors for him throwing the football. When we would run play action, all he’d have to do is take a step forward and he’d suck defenders in. I think we had four or five passes this year of 75 yards or more where he was just such a running threat that he could throw it. And he throws a great deep ball. He laid some passes in there this year that were just unbelievable. So the arm talent was there and the legs were there, all we had to do was get him in a position where he could be successful and a lot of times we leaned on him.”
With interest from several DII and DIII schools, Miguele ultimately committed to Mount Union, a DIII powerhouse in Alliance, Ohio that boasts a record 13 DIII National Championships, 32 DIII playoff appearances, 21 DIII National Championship appearances and has been named Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) champions nearly every year since 1992, with the lone exception coming in 2016.
Mount Union finished the 2021 season with a 13-1 record, advancing to the national semifinals before falling 26-13 to Illinois’ North Central College.
In quite a small world moment, Miguele will actually join two other Plant City natives at Mount Union, one in tight end Chase Lawson — a graduate of Lakeland Christian High School — and another in starting quarterback Braxton Plunk, a graduate of Plant City High School, winner of the 2021 OAC Bob Packard Offensive Back of the Year and a semifinalist for the 2021 Gagliardi Trophy, awarded annually to the most outstanding player in DIII football.
“A lot of schools were after him and liked the athleticism,” Varnum said. “But I think at the end of the day Mount Union won him over because of the prestige that came with their program. They win a bunch of games. You’re going to go to that place and it’s one of the most electric DIII schools in the country. It’s more electric, in reality, than a lot of FCS schools around the country. There’s a lot of prestige there, a lot of history and I think that Marcus wanted to go be a winner somewhere. They’re a big-time program. They know how to do it, they know how to recruit, they know how to stay connected with these kids.”
And while Miguele was recruited to Mount Union as a wide receiver, Varnum argues that with his speed, his toughness and his strength, he wouldn’t be surprised to see him succeed at any position on the offense.
“I think the sky’s the limit for him,” Varnum said. “He’s got the legs, he’s a legitimate 6-foot-1, we saw his strength running it. It’s a bit hard to gauge how good he can be at receiver specifically because we haven’t seen him in that situation since he was a sophomore but you can watch guys, even when they’re messing around, and see him elevate, see him climb, he’s got the power, he’s got the speed. He’s also a guy that might get there and they’ll realize that they have to put him at quarterback because the arm talent and all that’s there. I think that if he locks in, he’s got the potential offensively to do whatever he wants up there. I know they’ve got Plunk playing quarterback, he’s tough and doing a great job for them, so there’s probably a need at receiver, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him fight for it and maybe even win it when a quarterback spot opens up. But no matter where Marcus plays on offense, he’s going to be successful.”
