On the scene: At 21, Owls rook marks another new beginning

If you asked Marquise Liverpool in early 2004 where he thought he would be in three years, the Temple football practice facility at 11th and Diamond Streets wouldn't have even been a blip on the radar.

If the multi-sport athlete out of Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., was going to grace any gridiron in the near future, big-time Boston College - with whom he signed a letter of intent - would have been the destination.

But on June 8, 2004, the second day of the MLB Draft, a scout read off the 993rd name of the past two days.

"Seattle selects Player 2,566. Liverpool, Marquise."

Now, though, with three years of minor-league ball under his belt, Player 2,566 is working as a wideout with the Owls first-team offense as a 21-year-old freshman ex-ballplayer. And he may be the best recruit to come through Temple in recent years.

After hitting .277 with 28 stolen bases in his two years on the Mariners' rookie ball team in the Arizona League, Liverpool saw sparse time at Double-A and Triple-A.

He played in just two games for the AA San Antonio Missions, and got just one at-bat for the AAA Tacoma Rainiers before being sent down to the low-A Everett AquaSox for the 2007 season.

But after being released by the Mariners at the end of June, Liverpool - who is no longer eligible to play college baseball - was forced back into the other sport he loves.

"I decided that it was time to try something different," he said, "and go with a football career."

Going through drills on the tucked-away football field in North Philly for a second-rate program may seem like a fall from grace for a draftee, but the life of a minor leaguer is quite bereft of glory.

Nonetheless, bussing around anonymously from city to city was something Liverpool actually found some comfort in.

"I enjoy traveling," he said. "I like seeing different things, going different places. I've always been a person that likes to move around a lot for some reason."

But it looks like he has carved out his niche for the next four years with the Owls.

While he only has five catches on the year, his game-long 48-yard reception on Saturday led to a field goal in Temple's first victory of the season, a 16-15 squeaker over Northern Illiniois.

And as the Owls' leading punt returner, Liverpool seems to have staked his claim to be a contributor on special teams.

"I'm making the adjustment pretty well," he said. "Overall I'm enjoying it, just taking it all in and taking each day as it comes."

For a guy who's been to the working world and back already, his easy acclimation to college athletics and college life comes as no surprise.

Over the past three years, the valuable things Liverpool has learned couldn't be found on a scouting report.

It was the experience of being thrust into the world at 18, and dealing with the scrutiny that came with it.

"I was just learning a lot of new things about myself just as a young kid, a young teenager growing into adult on my own," he said. "You learn how to be an adult quicker and you mature quicker being out there on your own."

Now, he's getting his chance to be a kid again.

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