Marcus Strong: CB · Washington State · #4.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Marcus Strong
Gets targeted often and tackles in space. Fourth year in the Washington State secondary. On tape: 9 tackles and 1 sack against Arizona State, Week 7, 2019.
Play style
Targeted often and asked to tackle in space on the perimeter.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
66 tackles. 5 passes defended. 2 interceptions. 3 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
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| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Washington State | 66 | 46 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 5 | 2 | -- |
| 2018 | Washington State | 30 | 24 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5 | 3 | -- |
| 2017 | Washington State | 19 | 13 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 2016 | Washington State | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 118 | 86 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 15 | 6 | 1 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2019 season · 13 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 58-7vs New Mexico State | 8 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 59-17vs Northern Colorado | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 31-24vs Houston | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 63-67vs UCLA | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 13-38@ No. 19 Utah | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 34-38@ No. 18 Arizona State | 9 | 6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 9 tackles |
| Wk 8 | W 41-10vs Colorado | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 35-37@ No. 11 Oregon | 7 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 20-33@ California | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 49-22vs Stanford | 5 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 13 | W 54-53vs Oregon State | 5 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 3 | |
| Wk 14 | L 13-31@ Washington | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 21-31vs No. 24 Air Force | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 66 | 46 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 2 | 5 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
8%5 pass breakupsInterceptions
2interceptionsTackle volume
66tackles this season66 tackles · 3 for loss · 1 sack · 5 pass breakups · 2 interceptions.
4 seasons under Mike Leach — 34-18 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2019 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 4.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
| Road5g | 6.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 5.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 5.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mike Leach
Pass share
77.7%
708 pass / 203 run
Plays / game
70.1
13 games
Team sack rate
2.8%
746 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Pass-heavy.
Player standing · 2019
66 tackles in 13 games, about as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive back who plays every week.
How it ended
Four seasons at Washington State, 118 tackles — the college career is complete.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
Coaching lineage · 2016–2020
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Mike Leach → Nick Rolovich. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
