SANTA CLARA — Marcelino McCrary-Ball kept talking. Each sentence was packed with passion, with meaning. On and on he shared why he, an undrafted linebacker, made it to the 49ers, and why he is here to stay.
“I know I talk a lot, guys,” McCrary-Ball said. “I hope you don’t have that much to go back over and listen to, but I’m real appreciative to be here. Real deal.”
His introductory press conference covered 16 1/2 minutes and nearly 2,000 words, eventually concluding with: “I want to do whatever I have to do to, one, stay here, but also be a part of a Super Bowl-bound team, which is the 49ers. Real deal. Yep, yep.”
McCrary-Ball has real potential. He introduced himself to 49ers’ fans and the NFL at large in Friday night’s preseason opener. Not only did he make an interception at the 49ers’ 4-yard line, but his speed and determination fueled a 57-yard return. He rambled on and on past Green Bay Packers.
“I was happy to see Marcelino make a play there intercepting a ball,” defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans said. “When it comes to playing that linebacker spot, there is a ton of improvement that’s needed with the techniques, the details of assignments, and all those things. He has continued to improve there.”
His path to the 49ers? The past six — yes, six! — seasons were spent at Indiana University, although the Hoosiers’ captain didn’t play in 2020 because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in camp.
He is a 23-year-old, 6-foot plugger from Roswell, Ga., where he played safety alongside Xavier McKinney, now a New York Giants’ starter.
McCrary-Ball also is the proud father of a 3-year-old daughter, Brooklyn Rose, who sat with him in his car at a Florida beach in late April when 49ers general manager John Lynch called to offer him a job.
McCrary-Ball already had a job — at Home Depot. Now he is among three undrafted rookies trying to make arguably the NFL’s best linebacker unit, led by veteran starters Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw, and Azeez Al-Shaair.
Training camps across the NFL are filled with inspiring stories of underdogs, only a few of whom will beat the odds and survive final cuts at the end of the month.
McCrary-Ball is determined to be one of those success stories. Let him tell you why, in these Sunday soundbites:
On what led him to the 49ers (rather than vice versa):
“Real spiel: Just the opportunity to be part of the greatest players and organization in the world. I was undrafted so I got to pick where I wanted to start my NFL path. Above all else, I want to go to the best place. I want to learn something. I want to learn how to be consistent. I want to learn how to be great.
“Where else is better than here, with Fred Warner and Azeez and Greenlaw and Flannigan, and now you’ve got Oren Burks? Some OGs in there. They’re so consistent. I have so much respect for those boys.
“I’ve only known them for maybe three months but I look up to them. I’m that guy that if you’re about it and say it in a positive way and can teach me something, I’m going to cling on to you and be like you’re little brother. But I’m going to let you know I can stand here, too, with you. I bring my own weight when it’s time to. Watching those guys every day and be so intentional, I’ve got to take that from them.
“It’s not just in that room. I take lessons from (Jimmie) Ward. Or even B.A. The stuff he’s doing this year, it’s crazy. This is a second-year guy? I rant, but all these guys, I try to learn from all them. Anybody can learn something but if you’re not doing it out there you’re wasting time. What I’m trying to learn I’m also trying to do.”
On Friday’s interception of a tipped Jordan Love pass:
“We were backed up in the red zone. We had our call. They were empty so we knew it was going to be a pass. I’m running where he’s throwing it to, I see the ball in the air, like for 30 seconds, and I was all, ‘This is not real.’ My mindset whenever I get the ball, two things: I’m always trying to get into the end zone by any means, and the first guy is not tackling me. That’s always been my mindset. Growing up I had guys in high school that were relentless with the ball, like Xavier McKinney; he plays for the Giants, we were side-by-side safeties growing up. I’d watch him go to the end zone and never go down, and I had to take that (mindset) from him. (On the interception return), I saw my guys create a barrier, and when Huf hit the quarterback, I cut off him then I had to freestyle after that. It stinks I didn’t get in the end zone. I would have been so hyped.
“I’m appreciative just to be on that field for the first time as an NFL player. I know I’m going on a rant but, man, it’s a big deal for me. To be accepted by the guys on the team, the defensive room, linebacker room … from the coaches to the guys in the cafeteria that make our food, I’m really appreciative of everybody that plays a part in my growing stage every day with this organization.”
On his chances of making the 53-man roster:
“I’ve had confidence the day Coach Lynch, um, John Lynch called me. I was in the car with my daughter at the beach. He called me and I decided I was coming here.
“From that day, I’m making the team. I have dedication. I have belief. You know what I’m saying? There’s no doubt I’m making the team, wherever it looks – left guard, on punt, left tackle, guard on kick return. If I’m on the field, I’ll be able to produce.”
(Sidebar: When jokingly reminded that Trent Williams has the left tackle job locked up, McCrary-Ball replied: “I was saying left tackle on punt (unit). I’m not saying … No, he’s got that.”)
On how he spent draft weekend (or undrafted weekend):
“I went to my grandparents in Boynton Beach, in south Florida … with me and my daughter. ‘Hey whatever happens, happens. Might as spend some good time with it.’ I was working at Home Depot. I was trying to work, clock in, get to work. If I get drafted while I was working, cool. I wanted to make sure I had some money stacking up and doing something productive, or working out.
“Ask anybody. People have to really get me to rest and take a break. We went down to Florida and it was the best decision to relax and get away from anything.
“We didn’t have the TV on or anything. We’d spend time playing cards. They have an indoor pool and my daughter was in it eight hours straight, and I was in there with her having fun.
“During the draft, on he third day (of the draft), I was thinking maybe. But I was on the (golf) links with my dad hitting a few balls. Later, I went to Hollywood or some beach to see my brother because he has a 6-month-old so I went to see him and my daughter was able to spend time with her cousin.
“The beach is my sanctuary. That’s where I get peace. It’s good, I was calm. Everything happens for a reason. I would have loved to gotten drafted, just to prove to people who didn’t think I could get here on my own, that goes for elementary teachers, school resource officers, high school teachers, kids I was in school when I was trash early in high school. That’s the only reason I wanted my name to be called, whether it was the last pick. The 49ers had the last pick, and I didn’t care, I wanted them to hear my name. Yeah I did it. You didn’t think that. But you heard that and you want to be my fake cousin or my fake friend, and say, ‘Oh man,you did it.’ “
“Regardless, I still made it here and I’m still doing things those same people didn’t think I’d be doing. I don’t forget about that, and that’s what keeps me going.”
On his 2020 ACL tear and recovery:
“It’s so crazy, that time I tore my ACL, it’s easy to say what I’m about to say, because you didn’t get to see it. I was about … to … blow … up. Ask anybody in that Indiana University building, my players and coaches: I almost blew up that year.
“You have to take lessons from the bad situation or you’ll always be in a dark cloud or always have a grudge about something.
“Lessons I took from that, and the moments I cherish, are that I got to spend so much time with my daughter. And during my rehab, I was able to see the other side of not being on the field.
“I knew I’d be able to make it because of the way I was attacking my rehab. The beginning was not easy. During that month of recovering, I was, ‘I can play. I don’t need surgery.’ You can ask Jacob Laterman. Put me in zone and I’m good. Man to man, I probably can’t do. I was attacking my rehab like crazy. That made me know that I still got it.
“We came back the following year to continue what we just came off of and things weren’t the best. Indiana’s going to good this year. But I knew I still had what it takes.
“It took six years to get here. But, like, yeah, yeah, I’m still going.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com