From Woody To Iron Man

STARKVILLE – They call Jo'quavious Marks "Woody".

As a child, the Mississippi State running back's favorite movie was Disney's "Toy Story". He took his nickname from one of the flick's main characters. These days, considering his bulked up physique, Marks might need to consider a rebrand.

"Now, I ask him if his new favorite movie is "Iron Man" since he's got the suit on, wearing an extra 10 or 15 pounds of armor there," MSU running backs coach Eric Mele said.

One glance at Marks this preseason is all you need to see this isn't the same 195-pound freshman you watched a year ago. In sports, it's often talked about how athletes seek to get bigger, faster and stronger. In the case of Marks, it's not talk. He put in the work to get there.

The result? A reshaped body that seems primed to take a big step in his second year in head coach Mike Leach's Air Raid offense.

Here's how it happened.

In the Kitchen

Pamela Bartz has served as Mississippi State's Director of Sports Nutrition since December of 2018. It's her job to give the Bulldogs the fuel they need year-round.

For Marks to achieve his weight gaining goals in the summer months, he had to make sure he was putting the right things in his body. Bartz was there for Marks, as she is for all of MSU's student-athletes, helping them however she can based upon their individual needs.

"A lot of the times when the guys go home, they like to make sure they stay at the level of performance or recovery they have here [on campus]," Bartz said. "They want to make sure they're taking care of their bodies on that end. So the guys ask a lot for recipes."

One of the most popular requests from State players, including Marks this past offseason, are Bartz's shake recipes. The Bulldogs get shakes after weightlifting sessions, conditioning workouts or practice. They often want to know what's in their particular shake flavor so they can replicate Bartz's creations.

"They know it tastes good and it's what their bodies need to recover," Bartz said. "So when they go home and they're on their own schedule, they like to figure that out and be independent and try to duplicate what we do."

It's a communication process, Bartz said. For Marks, there was constant contact between he and Bartz's staff to make sure he was getting his nutritional needs met.

The shakes certainly served their purpose for Marks, however it was the chicken fajitas he learned how to cook that became became a go-to item.

"Get a little rice to go with it," Marks said. "Get some potatoes. Get you some good juice."

Marks speaks like a man incredibly proud of his culinary skills. Bartz of course aided in helping Marks become Chef Woody.

"I'm always talking to the guys about [cooking foods] with five ingredients, taking less than 15 minutes; things that are simple so they don't have to cook every single night," Bartz said. "We give them very, very simple ingredients, but it helps them not have to go out and eat all the time. We talk about being cost effective and how can we make sure we can be budget friendly but give them what their bodies need, and be quick. It's all about convenience."

Marks listened. He learned. He ate.

"I was just eating," Marks said. "I started cooking at the house and started eating a lot of food and drinking a lot of water. Then I stepped on the scale one day and I was like 208 or 209. I was like, 'Sheesh'."

With results, and apparently good taste to boot, you'd think Marks would be ready to share his newfound cooking talent with his teammates and coaches. Not so fast.

"I asked him what his favorite restaurant in town was," Mele said. "He said, 'I don't go out too much. I've been cooking Coach.' I said, 'Well alright, let me come over and try this stuff out.' He's like, 'Well I don't know if it's like that yet.'"

Mele and the rest continue to wait for a taste test. They don't have to wait for the improved version of Marks. He's already flashing much promise during training camp.

But the nutrition component is just one half of the equation that pushed Marks towards his offseason goal. Head strength coach Tyson Brown had to take the fuel provided by Bartz and turn it into the right kind of weight gain.

"It's a big collaboration," Bartz said.

In the Weight Room

If you talk to pretty much anyone about Marks, it becomes obvious he has an advantage in workouts.

"He doesn't talk much, but his work ethic is fantastic," MSU's Dillon Johnson said of his fellow running back. "He's going to get out there and give you 110 percent. He's always going to give you that extra 10 percent."

This isn't some new development. Shortly after arriving at MSU in early 2020, Marks went through his first Midnight Maneuvers. It's an offseason competition between players with various workout stations. Marks immediately made his mark.

Long story short, the hardest workers and winners earn a black shirt at the end of the night. There are eight different nights to do so. There are eight different opportunities to impress. Incredibly, Marks went a perfect eight for eight.

"For a freshman to walk in and get eight of those, I haven't seen that with Coach Leach in the 10 years I've been with him," Mele said.

When a player puts in that kind of effort day in and day out, it's almost a blank canvas to paint on for Brown and the strength staff. They knew Marks wouldn't stop until he hit his goals.

"He's going to do whatever you ask him to do," Brown said of Marks. "So we kept the plan simple with him. We wanted to add size, but we wanted to continue to hold onto what makes him good at football, which is his movement and ability both in space and in a straight line. So we tried to balance adding lean mass, which Pam and nutrition did a really good job with as she tracked body fat and body weight, so we knew we were adding good weight to Woody. Then all his movement times were coming down. So we knew what we were doing in the weight room was only helping his moving ability."

It's a delicate balance adding weight while maintaining or increasing speed and agility. Yet Marks, with the help of Brown and company, walked that fine line to perfection.

"Anything we do in the weight room has to show up on the field," Brown said. "We're not trying to make better weightlifters or bodybuilders or anything like that. Whatever we do in the weight room has to make the guys move better or bend or be faster in a straight line or changing directions. [Marks] is relentless as far as his stuff goes. You don't have to hold his hand or lead him through anything. He's going to attack and do the extra work. The credit goes to him. He kept his head down and took the plan we gave him and executed it a million miles an hour."

On the Field

All of Marks' cooking and training wouldn't mean much without it translating to success on the field. It's obvious in the early stages of camp he's reaping the reward for his labor.

He's absolutely gotten bigger without sacrificing speed.

"It hasn't slowed him down a bit," Mele said. "In fact, he might even be a little quicker and more explosive with the extra poundage. And he's plenty big to block people and run through tackles."

Marks says he feels different on the gridiron, but different in a good way.

"I feel there's a little more power from being in the weight room, doing power lifts with our strength and conditioning coaches," Marks said. "I feel like my lower and upper bodies have a little more push to it."

Adds Johnson: "[Marks] was already fast and quick and elusive. Now he's added that power to him. That makes him an all-around back. He can catch. He can run. He can block. He can do it all."

Call him "Woody". Call him "Iron Man". Call Marks whatever you'd like. The Bulldogs just hope that when the lights come on this fall, everyone will be calling him "Playmaker". He's certainly done his part to earn that.

"I think he's having a good camp," Leach said of Marks. "I think he put on good weight, so he's a bigger, more solid guy. He's probably even faster. I think he had a very productive offseason."

Players Mentioned

Dillon Johnson

Jo'Quavious Marks

Mississippi State University Athletics