Colton Marks | QB | Class of 2033 | Sunset Heights School | Peoria, Arizona
The tryout was optional. Colton Marks went anyway.
Stepping outside his comfort zone to try out for the Phoenix All-Stars is the decision the fifth-grader points to first when asked about his most memorable moment in football — not the championship that followed it. He made the roster, represented Arizona at Nationals in Florida, and came home with a first-place finish and a national title.
“That moment meant a lot to me because it showed me what can happen when you believe in yourself and take on new challenges,” Marks said.
The Class of 2033 quarterback has been playing since he was six, starting in flag before moving to tackle. The switch was not smooth, and he does not pretend it was.
“At first it was intimidating because the game was faster and more physical,” he said. He worked, stayed confident, and listened to his coaches until the speed stopped being a problem. He credits that stretch with making him tougher and better prepared for what came next.
What he loves about the position has stayed consistent since flag: the decision-making. Marks talks about leading the offense, reading defenses, and connecting with his receivers for touchdowns, but the word he returns to most is team.
“Playing quarterback is my favorite because I get to lead the offense, make decisions, and help my teammates succeed,” he said. “There’s nothing better than being on the field with my team and working together toward the same goal.”
His model at the next level is Josh Allen. Marks admires the Buffalo quarterback’s toughness, his refusal to quit on a play, and the way he lifts the players around him — leadership traits more than arm traits, which tracks with how Marks describes the job. Asked what separates a great quarterback, he lists leadership, confidence, and staying calm under pressure, then adds the ability to learn from mistakes.
The development work runs through Coach Dan Manucci, who has trained Marks for three years and reshaped his throwing mechanics, fundamentals, and confidence. Marks has also worked Elev8 QB Camps with Coach Gio and You Are Athlete camps, and most recently took MVP honors at the QB ERA Camp.
Ask him to name the coach who has meant the most and he refuses to pick one.
“It’s hard to name just one coach because all of my coaches have made a lasting impression on me,” Marks said, crediting Manucci alongside his Liberty Lions and Phoenix All-Stars staffs. “They’ve taught me about leadership, discipline, teamwork, and believing in myself.”
The next six months are about accuracy, footwork, and reading defenses, plus building chemistry with his teammates and growing into a stronger leader. Over the next year he wants to get stronger, faster, and smarter, and earn more chances to compete in big games and camps.
But the advice he offers other players is simpler than any of it, and it explains the rest.
“Make sure to be coachable,” Marks said. “No matter how well you’re playing, there’s always something you can get better at.”
Building the Résumé: Why a QB Magazine Membership Matters
Somebody drove him to the tryout.
Somebody sat in the Florida heat at Nationals. Somebody has been getting him to Coach Manucci for three years running, and to Elev8, and to the QB ERA Camp where he walked off with MVP. None of that shows up in a stat line. Most of it happens with nobody watching but the people who love him.
That is what a profile is for. Not a highlight reel — a record. Proof that a ten-year-old showed up, over and over, before anyone had a reason to care.
Colton is Class of 2033. Nobody is recruiting him yet, and that is precisely the point. The players who arrive at their junior year with a story already written did not start writing it at sixteen. They started when it was just a kid, a coach, and a Saturday. By the time it matters, the work is either documented or it is gone — and no one remembers a fifth-grade national championship on your behalf.
A membership means somebody is paying attention on purpose. It means his words get published while he is still the kid who says “be coachable” and means it, before he learns to say what he thinks people want to hear. It means when he does something worth seeing, it gets seen — by other players, by other coaches, by the kid three towns over who is also deciding whether to go to the tryout.
And it means that one day he can scroll back and find himself at ten, telling the truth about being scared of tackle football and going anyway.
He said the thing that got him a national title was being willing to try out. Same idea here. You cannot get picked if nobody knows you are there.
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