Sole focus is on season, not college recruiting, for Marion’s Alex Mota, Cedar Rapids Washington’s Watts McBride

CEDAR RAPIDS — In the decades and decades of history between their schools, Marion and Cedar Rapids Washington High Schools had never played a varsity football game against each other.

Until Thursday night. The Warriors and Wolves met at Kingston Stadium in a non-district affair between Class 4A teams. It’s believed to be the first time Marion has been at Kingston since the early 1990s.

The game will feature a couple of juniors, one from each school, that probably saw their phones begin to blow up Wednesday, the first day college coaches could directly contact recruits in their class. That’s Alex Mota of Marion and Watts McBride of Cedar Rapids Washington.

“I’ve already had a lot of them get a hold of me on Twitter,” Mota said. “It can be overwhelming, but it’s nothing too much for me, to be honest.”

Mota holds five FBS offers: Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Nebraska and Wisconsin. He plays quarterback and defensive back for the Wolves, but he’s being recruited as an “athlete,” with his position determined once he gets to a college.

Ultimately it could be DB or as a slot receiver. Who knows?

“It just depends on the day,” said first-year Marion Coach Michael Joyner. “Some days I think he wants to be a slot receiver, some days he wants to be a good cornerback. He has really good ball skills, is just a really good athlete. That’s why I think some college coaches are really stumped. They just know that they want him because he has so many raw abilities.

“I can see him as a slot receiver, I can see him as a strong safety or a cornerback more than a free safety at the college level. I think he’s good enough to help a college team at multiple positions.”

Mota’s story is an inspiring one.

His father, Alfonso, originally was from the Dominican Republic and played professional baseball in the Angels farm system, including for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Alfonso and his wife, Lynn, Alex’s mom, died within a year and a half of each other, leaving Alex parentless at the age of 7.

A pair of aunts and uncles have raised him. That this kid could persevere and become an eventual college football player is incredible.

“I’m always thinking about our team first,” the soft-spoken Mota said. “I try not to put my recruitment on the team or anything like that. I just want to play football and help our team the best I can.”

McBride finished third in Class 4A in tackles last season as a safety. That’s what he’s being recruited at, with an official offer from Nebraska already in the fold.

Iowa, Iowa State, Northwestern, Illinois and Wisconsin also have shown interest.

“He’s a box safety,” said Washington Coach Mo Blue. “He can play the run, he does a nice job against the pass. We’re working on the deeper stuff, we’ve got him doing more middle-of-the-field stuff than we did last year. I mean, last year, we just let him go. It was see ball, get ball. He did do a good job within the scheme, but God knows we played a lot of defense last year, so he got a lot of reps. That’s why he got so many tackles, because we were on the field so dang much.”

Blue said McBride is an “old school” type of player who loves to hit and continually grinds to get better. He said McBride has the ability to absorb instruction immediately, something he has in common with other former Washington players (Blue mentioned Iowa State’s O’Rien Vance, specifically) who have moved on to major college football.

“I think I have versatility, for one,” McBride said. “Coming up from my freshman year to my sophomore year, I wasn’t sure if I was playing free safety or invert. So I felt like I could move around a lot. I think I bring decent size and physicality. Then I think I can play the ball well, too.”

Like Mota, a college choice is not in the immediate offing. Washington is ranked third in 4A by The Gazette, and that is McBride’s sole focus.

By the way, he has three older siblings: all of whom attend the University of Iowa. He would not admit openly to being a longtime Hawkeye fan or anything, however.

“I grew up loving college football, loving the game,” he said. “I think whoever likes me now, I like them. When the time comes, I think I’ll know where home is at.”

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