Marcus J. Thornton

Not to be confused with Marcus Thornton.

Marcus Thornton
College	Georgia
Conference	SEC
Sport	Basketball
Position	Small forward
Jersey #	2
Class	Freshman
Height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Nationality	American
Born	August 12, 1992 (1992-08-12) (age 19) Atlanta, Georgia
High school	Westlake

Marcus Thornton (born August 12, 1992 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American college basketball player. He is a 6' 8" small/power forward. Thornton is considered one of the top high school seniors in the class of 2010, earning both Parade Magazine All-American^[1] and ESPN RISE All-American honors,^[2] along with being named Mr. Georgia Basketball from both the Atlanta TipOff Club^[3] and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.^[4]

High school

Thornton ended his senior season averaging 24 points, 12 rebounds, 3.5 blocked shots, 3 assists & 1.5 steals per game while still maintaining a 3.8 GPA in the Math-Science Magnet Program at Westlake. In his high school career, Marcus grabbed over 1,000 rebounds and scored over 1,500 points. His team made it to the Georgia state championship “final four” (or better) for three consecutive years.

Thornton was also selected to play in the prestigious “Capital Classic” All-Star^[5] game in Washington, D.C., as well as the Georgia North-South All-Star game. Unfortunately he was not able to participate due to an injury. Thornton's season included many other awards such as the 2009 Chick-Fil-A Classic Christmas Tournament MVP, Georgia Division AAAAA All State First Team and Region 4-AAAAA Player of the Year.

College

Thornton committed to Clemson in November 2009, which he chose over Maryland, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Xavier, Virginia Commonwealth University and Dayton. After Oliver Purnell resigned from Clemson in April 2010 to become DePaul's new head coach Thornton requested and received his unconditional release from the Tigers.

Recruiting for Thornton resumed and while Clemson remained high on the list, other schools who sought the Parade/ESPN All-American included Georgia Tech, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Alabama, Butler, North Carolina, Tennessee, UCLA, West Virginia, Texas and DePaul. On May 19, 2010 at noon in the Westlake Gymnasium, Marcus announced to a full house that he had chosen to be a Bulldog under head coach Mark Fox.

References

1. ^ 2010 Parade All-Americans
2. ^ ESPN RISE All American Team
3. ^ Atlanta TipOff Club Names Marcus Thornton 2010 Mr. Georgia Basketball
4. ^ Marcus Thornton AJC 2010 Mr. Georgia Basketball
5. ^ 2010 Capital Classic Roster

External links

Persondata
Name	Thornton, Marcus J
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 12, 1992
Place of birth	Atlanta, Georgia
Date of death
Place of death