Former two-sport star Marvin Bracy talks decision to leave FSU
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Warchant.com caught up with former football/track athlete Marvin Bracy to discuss his decision to abruptly leave FSU, what went into the decision and his plans for the future.
Q: How do you feel right now?
Bracy: I feel pretty good with everything going on. I made the decision for me and my family. I feel really good.
Q: Have you signed any endorsement deals or have an agent?
Bracy: I have signed with an agent, but I don't have to go out and run a fast time to get stuff like endorsements.
Q: Who have you signed with?
Bracy: I can't tell you that.
Q: What really happened with your decision and what led you to the decision?
Bracy: Well, I just had to analyze, I kept getting hurt, I got hurt in football, I got hurt again in track. It all started the first time I hurt my hamstring, first day of camp, two weeks I sat out. Two weeks, I sat out, that's not really enough for a hamstring, he conversed (with) me that there is no one to play it, so I got back out there. I didn't really heal correctly. I didn't give myself the proper amount of time to actually heal and get to 100 percent and do what I do. So I got hurt again. It got better throughout the season, it got better. Track came along, getting all excited, (I was) trying to make a name for myself, do something big, have a special indoor season. So I'm ready for outdoor to kick in, (run) the 100, (then) I couldn't survive my first 100. My hamstring just couldn't take it. So I just did some reanalyzing, sat down with myself and talked through it (thinking) if I ever wanted to get healthy I need the ample amount of time and this is kind of my outlet for that.
Q: How tough was it leaving? Were you planning to play football?
Bracy: I was going to do both, (play) football and (run) track for as long as I could, even if it carried to my pro career. But it didn't work out that way. It was really hard to walk away from football, but that is just the way the world works. You can't always have things your way.
Q: How tough was it to leave the guys you got close to?
Bracy: It was really tough. I made a lot of good friends, but they understand my situation.
Q: Talk about your discussion with Coach Fisher and Coach Braman about this decision.
Bracy: I told them. I believe I talked to Coach Fisher first and told him what was going on and know all that was going on and (he) started telling me to take some time off. I didn't play spring, so he was like take some time off, maybe two months, two or three months, take some time off and get back right and go from there.
It sounded really good, there he is later, football starts that day you have to report back tomorrow, Monday. I was never going to get the time to heal correctly. It was going to be the same thing over and over, it was going to be the same scenario. I wasn't going to be having that. I mean I appreciate his attempt, but I couldn't do it.
Braman, he talked to me, I told him, I'm outta here this (that) and (the) other. He was like 'You could get more money if you stayed, you got healthy and ran faster.' I was just like, I'm good coach, because that is the risk I'll have to take. What if I come back out, what if I stayed and continue to hurt myself?
Q: When did those discussions happen?
Bracy: It was actually two or three weeks before I left.
Q: When you actually left, did you tell them right before you left?
Bracy: Coach Fisher was out at the draft and Coach Braman, I don't know. But I had told Coach Braman way before that and we had no further communication. And I told Fisher spring to fall evaluation. I told him again, we had started to talk about it again. I told him I had made up my mind that I would be leaving.
Q: So they were aware that you were leaving?
Bracy: They were definitely aware.
Q: What did Coach Fisher say?
Bracy: He was telling me all the things I could do - you know and the plans they pretty much had for me. I had a choice to make.
Q: Tell me where you are at with your injuries right now.
Bracy: I'm so much better. I've been out there training for about two weeks and put in some good work. My hamstring is feeling a lot better. I may be ready by the end of next month, if not, I'll go to Europe, do a little bit of touring. Maybe hopefully I'll go back to school.
Q: Will you still get your degree at FSU?
Bracy: No. I'll be attending a community college in Orlando, either Valencia or Lake Sumter.
Q: What is next for you?
Bracy: I may be ready by trials, maybe not. That would probably be my first race. We're in no rush for me to get on the track.
Q: Was it hard to make the decision?
Bracy: My mind was just taking me back in circles, I had a reoccurring dream of I can go out and maybe I would chance it, maybe I would get healthy at FSU if I give it proper time to get healthy. Football and track intertwined, you really don't have time to take a breather. My mind was just taking me in circles. I could come out and run, do better, then go back into football healthy, have a good season and go from there. And then again, I could try it out, get hurt then there is no more pro, there's no more sports right now because I'm hurt and there is only one thing to get back healthy. So it just kept happening like that. Is that a risk I was willing to take? I figured and came to the conclusion it's not. I can always go back to football.
Q: You ran the fastest time in the country earlier this year. Did it help your decision?
Bracy: Yes, but at the same time I went against guys like Xavier Rhodes every day. I know what I could do with football. They knew I was good. I knew I was good. They knew what I was doing. I knew what I was doing. At the end of the day it was my ultimate decision.
Q: Were you worried that it was more than tightness in your hamstring at the Florida Relays?
Bracy: It wasn't that I thought it was something worse, it was something in there that's not right. I've been doing all the treatment I could. But it's not right. I came to the conclusion, do I give up sports, will I give myself time to sit down? I wasn't giving myself adequate amount of rest to actually have my hamstring heal. Do treatment, go outside. Come in the next day, do treatment and start all over again. Then the meet was a little too much. It was a lot more strenuous on it at the meet versus practice.
Q: You are competitive - you wanted to run track, you want to play football. Obviously, something had to be sacrificed?
Bracy: Most decisions in life is a sacrifice. But this is a really big one. I am proud of my decision. This is the one I went with.
Q: Being away from the players now, what do you think are you going to miss the most?
Bracy: Probably my man Ronald Darby. He's my best friend, my brother on the team, my roommate. I have a pretty good relationship with him. I'm still a Florida State Seminole fan. I definitely will attend a few games this year - away and at home.
