Former Pine Forest defensive coordinator Kadetrix Marcus knows talent when he sees it.
A former Division I defensive back at the University of South Carolina, Marcus has already coached the likes of Martin Emerson and Devon Witherspoon, both Eagle alums who are now in the NFL.
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Those two played defensive back for Pine Forest together, with Emerson graduating in 2017 followed by Witherspoon in 2018.
Now Mac McWilliams, another Pine Forest alum who was just a year or two behind those now NFL stars, is hoping to hear his name called at the 2025 NFL Draft to make it a “hat trick” for Marcus.
“He didn’t have to watch them, because he was playing right next to them. He didn’t miss a beat,” Marcus said of McWilliams. “The things I put those guys through to help them succeed at a high level, prepared them to be collegiate players. Now, I just stay around them and motivate them – and they all are, or are going to be, professional athletes. They didn’t really watch each other, other than modeling each other’s techniques and coaching each other because they were playing at the same time. That was probably the best secondary I’ve been able to coach, between Martin, Devon and Mac at the same time.”
McWilliams, when he started at Pine Forest as a sophomore, was initially a wide receiver and Wildcat hybrid role. With the Eagles needing some more players in the secondary, former Pine Forest assistant coach Demarcus Blount, who died in 2024, and Marcus pulled McWilliams to the defensive side of the ball.
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McWilliams had played defense while growing up. Right away, McWilliams fit in with the guys like Witherspoon and Emerson with his “athleticism and willingness to compete,” Marcus added.
“He just made a great defensive back,” Marcus said.
In two seasons starting at defensive back for Pine Forest, McWilliams recorded 121 tackles and 11 interceptions, including a standout three-interception game against West Florida in his senior year. Five of those interceptions his senior year were pick-6’s.
He was also valuable on special teams with 325 yards on kickoff returns as a senior, and 129 punt return yards. He returned one each for a touchdown.
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But that wasn’t the only spot that McWilliams stood out.
“He had some great moments in games. If you’ve been around sports in awhile, you know that people make the best plays in practice. Just watching him, we’ll do one-on-ones and he’d guard guys three times in a row where I wouldn’t let the DBs rotate. He competed in practice all the time,” Marcus said. “But the way he practiced, that’s what stood out to me to know that he was going to be an elite player. It’s easy to turn it on in a game. But if you’re doing that every day in practice and translate it to games, while enjoying the process of it, those are the guys who are going to become elite players.”
McWilliams spent the first few years of college at UAB, playing alongside his older brother, Fish McWilliams, before entering the transfer portal and signing with UCF for the 2024-25 season. That’s where McWilliams was coached by Addison Williams – who also coached Marcus at South Carolina – and immediately fit in “with NFL-caliber players,” Marcus added.
Pensacola native Mac McWilliams (27), who played high school football at Pine Forest and eventually college football at UCF, competes in drills at a Senior Bowl practice on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Mobile, Alabama, at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
“When Mac was in the transfer portal and was committed to UCF, I told him that Addison would be a great guy to latch onto because of his knowledge of the game and his ability to coach,” Marcus said. “It wasn’t a shock to me to see his stock rise.”
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McWilliams competed at both the Reese’s Senior Bowl among some of the best college football players, and showed off his skills the NFL Combine leading up to the draft. At the combine, he was in the top 10 for his 40-yard dash (4.41 seconds).
McWilliams is currently projected to be a third-day selection in the NFL Draft on April 26, floating between the fifth and sixth rounds. If McWilliams does hear his name called, he’d be the third Pine Forest alum in the last few years to be drafted.
That’s on top of a couple other Pensacola-area alums, such as Alex Leatherwood in 2021 and Kalia Davis in 2022.
“It was just me being a hard-nosed coach. At the time, a lot of people didn’t understand what I was doing. A lot of people didn’t know. They didn’t understand what it really took to be at a high level,” said Marcus, talking about having the success of those three defensive backs. “When Martin went first (in 2022), it was then a conversation with Devon, ‘OK, now it’s your turn.’ When Devon went, Mac said, ‘OK, now it’s my time.’ Now players like Pooda Walker, who’s at Memphis, he feels like it’s his turn. Those guys, playing against each other, we say, ‘Birds of a feather flock together.’ When you see your peers do something that you want, it makes it easier as far as the dream being attainable. …
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“We’re praying for how things fall and that he gets drafted higher. It doesn’t matter where he goes. All that matters is getting to the NFL and lasting. A lot of guys make it, but don’t last. The goal is to last long enough where the NFL doesn’t say, ‘It’s time to be done,’ but you can say, ‘I want to walk away from football.’ I’m happy for Mac. … I know he will be on someone’s team after this week.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Mac McWilliams looking to be latest Pine Forest defensive back drafted
