Marckel Supplies Marketing Magic to Hunter's Heisman-Winning Campaign
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
July 29, 2025
When he was hired at the University of Toledo in 2016 as assistant director of creative services, Derek Marckel thought he had found his dream job only a few months after graduating from college.
Then he became Colorado University’s graphic designer for football in 2019 and thought he had finally landed the job he’s always wanted.
After stops at the Michigan State University to work with former football coach Mel Tucker, and University of Southern California to work with Lincoln Riley, Marckel, 32, is back in Colorado and certain he’s living the dream.
“This was the stuff I thought about doing when I was a kid,” said Marckel, who graduated from Ottawa Lake Whiteford High School in 2011. “I used to sit and draw pictures of all of my favorite University of Toledo football players, and then I’d take them and give them to the players or have them sign them. This is definitely what I’ve dreamed of doing someday.”
Last winter, Marckel was in New York City when his favorite subject – Colorado football player Travis Hunter – won the Heisman Trophy. It was a surreal moment for Marckel, who led a team of creative content makers who spent months last fall promoting Hunter for the biggest prize in all of college football.
“Going into the season, we knew he was going to have a pretty good chance,” Marckel said. “Once the games started playing out, we knew he had a legitimate shot.”
As senior art director at Colorado, Marckel led the Hunter-for-Heisman campaign. He was on the sidelines of every game, home and away, documenting Hunter and the rest of the Buffaloes. He designed billboards that were strategically placed around Denver and one in Times Square in New York City. Marckel’s team met weekly to plan a regular dose of social media posts and content promoting Hunter’s candidacy.
Heisman Trophy candidates emerge based on their on-field performances. But, behind the scenes, winning the trophy has long taken some pushing by colleges and universities.
“There’s a lot that goes into a campaign,” Marckel said. “You have to work with sponsors and donors who helped fund all of that. It’s a lengthy operation.”
As the season drew to a close, Colorado published a packet of information that Marckel designed and sent it to Heisman Trophy voters and the media. ESPN showcased his work.
“Almost everything we were doing was going viral,” Marckel said.
When it became clear Hunter was going to be a finalist for the award, Marckel was called upon to document the entire process. He and a member of his team went to New York City two days ahead of Hunter to be prepared when he landed in the city. Next were Heisman Trophy promotional appearances, photoshoots and the Heisman ceremony itself, and Marckel was there for all of it.
“It was Travis from sun-up to sun-down,” Marckel said. “We’d have little breaks during the day. I designed the billboard for him in Times Square. We had a photo shoot there.”
Helpfully, Hunter was a wonderful participant.
“We put a lot of work into it,” Marckel said. “Obviously it was his award, and he earned it, but it was very rewarding to us, too, to see our hard work pay off. I’ve been around thousands of athletes, and he’s probably my favorite one. He doesn’t necessarily love doing all of the media stuff, but he was comfortable around us.”
Marckel was born in Toledo but grew up in southeast Michigan. He was football team captain for the Bobcats as a senior and began his interest in design, art and photography during his time at Whiteford.
“I knew from a young age that I wanted to work professionally in sports,” Marckel said. “During my time at Whiteford, I spent a lot of my high school career around the football program. I was lucky to have my first two years of varsity with Coach (Jack) Luettke and my senior year with Coach (Matt) Garno, who had a background in graphic design. This ended up being a great foundation for me to combine my passion for football and graphic design as I was heading into the real world.”
Marckel graduated from Bowling Green State University in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in technology & visual communication technology. He landed an internship with the University of Toledo where he started designing team schedule posters, pocket schedules and souvenir tickets. That’s when social media started revolutionizing the industry, especially college football.
“Social media was kind of secondary to everything else when I started there,” he said. “It started to shift. I got in at the perfect time. Things were really starting to pick up. That’s when I knew sports was going to be what I wanted to do.”
After getting a full-time job at Toledo, his work caught the eye of someone at Colorado, and Marckel went west to become a graphic designer with the Buffaloes. When Tucker left Colorado for Michigan State, Marckel followed him to East Lansing.
At first, he missed Colorado.
“Even on the drive to East Lansing, I was thinking, ‘Why am I leaving Colorado?’” Marckel said.
He stayed two years, then landed the role as director of creative media at USC, working sun-up to sun-down in Los Angeles. When the opportunity came to return to Boulder, he jumped at it, becoming senior art director.
The Buffaloes went 1-11 his first season back at Colorado. The entire football coaching staff was let go.
That’s when Marckel’s world took another big turn.
“The rumors started flying about Coach Prime,” Marckel said, referring to Deion Sanders. “There are always these theoretical situations about who the coach is going to be. We found out about 8 p.m. that it was Coach Prime. We had to be on the tarmac at 1:30 a.m. I don’t get starstruck anymore just because of what I’ve been able to do and who I’ve been able to be around, but as soon as he stepped off the plane, I realized I was getting myself into something huge.”
Pro football hall of famers regularly makes stops at Colorado practices. Warren Sapp joined the Colorado staff. Terrell Owens stops by regularly. A steady wave of Sanders’ former teammates from the Dallas Cowboys attended practices as well.
Marckel documents it all, through his camera – a skill he’s honed along the way.
“When I started at Toledo, I would shoot all of those games, but I wasn’t a great photographer,” he said. “As time has gone on, it’s become such an emphasis. I’ve really had to refine everything I do to become the best at it.”
Initially he had to win the trust of Sanders, who brought some of his own content creators with him to Colorado.
“It took a little while to get us into a groove,” Marckel said. “Now we work side by side every day. It’s a smooth operation now. We bounce ideas off of each other.”
Day to day, Marckel works on social media, marketing, photoshoots of recruits and documents workouts and practices for Colorado social media channels.
He works with the football team exclusively, sometimes long hours during the season.
“You get kind of get burned out by end-of-season, but it's worth it,” Marckel said. “You are on the field every day with Heisman Trophy winners, hall of famers and first-round picks. It’s a cool job when you step back and look at it. This is most fun I’ve had working in college football in 10 years.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Whiteford's Derek Marckel takes the field as a senior in 2010. At right, Marckel poses for a photo this year in front of the Times Square display he designed to promote Colorado's Travis Hunter. (Middle) Marckel stands for a photo with Hunter during the Heisman Trophy ceremony. (Photos courtesy of Derek Marckel.)
1st & Goal: 2025 Week 6 Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 3, 2025
League title time has arrived as this Michigan high school football season rumbles into October.
We've already celebrated one champion this season, and that crowd should grow substantially this weekend as several leagues move into the final games of their schedules and leaders begin guaranteeing they'll finish with at least a share of the conference crown.
All of our games featured below will have league title implications either this week or over the next few. Watch for scores for every game across the state this weekend as they are reported on the MHSAA Scores page, and tune into several on the NFHS Network, including those with “WATCH” linked below.
Bay & Thumb
Ithaca (5-0) at Saginaw Valley Lutheran (5-0)
Tonight’s winner claims a share of the Tri-Valley Conference Blue championship with one more league game to play. Ithaca has won every matchup with Valley Lutheran since they joined the TVC together in 2006, but the Chargers over the last three seasons also are enjoying their best run of success in more than a decade. Both have played comparably close games against Michigan Lutheran Seminary this fall – Ithaca winning by two points in Week 3 and Valley Lutheran by 10 last week.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Armada (4-1) at Almont (5-0) WATCH, Mount Pleasant (5-0) at Bay City Western (3-2) WATCH, Bay City John Glenn (4-1) at Frankenmuth (4-1) WATCH, Ogemaw Heights (4-1) at Midland Bullock Creek (3-2) WATCH.
Greater Detroit
Macomb Dakota (5-0) at Romeo (3-2) WATCH
Reigning co-champ Dakota can clinch a share of its third Macomb Area Conference Red title over the last four seasons, while Romeo would clinch a share of its first since 2021. A Romeo victory also would be its first in the series since that Bulldogs’ title-winning run. They’ve put together a nice string of victories heading into this matchup, starting with a 34-28 win over the other reigning Red co-champ Utica Eisenhower in Week 3. Dakota’s only single-digit game was a 14-10 season-opening win over Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, although Romeo and then Eisenhower should make the start of October their toughest challenge to date.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY South Lyon (5-0) at Waterford Mott (3-2) WATCH, Hazel Park (4-1) at Madison Heights Madison (4-1), West Bloomfield (5-0) at Oxford (3-2) WATCH, Rochester Adams (3-2) at Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (4-1) WATCH.
Mid-Michigan
Williamston (5-0) at Haslett (4-1)
The winner earns a share of the Capital Area Activities Conference Red title – Williamston potentially continuing its rebound from last year’s 3-7 season, and Haslett after just missing out on last year’s championship due to an overtime loss to eventual Red winner Mason. While the focus tonight may be on offense – Williamston with it’s high-powered passing game and Haslett with its college recruit-loaded running attack – defense may be the decider. The Hornets haven’t allowed a point since Week 2. Haslett – after holding DeWitt to a season-low 21 points in their opener – hasn’t given up more than 14 in a game.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Lansing Everett (4-1) at Grand Ledge (5-0) WATCH, DeWitt (5-0) at Holt (3-2) WATCH, Goodrich (5-0) at Owosso (4-1) WATCH, Howell (4-1) at Hartland (3-2) WATCH.
Northern Lower Peninsula
Boyne City (4-1) at Traverse City St. Francis (5-0)
St. Francis can finish its Northern Michigan Football Conference Legends slate undefeated after getting past Kingsley by a point a week ago. Kingsley owns a Week 4 win over Boyne City – setting up an identical scenario as last year when Boyne City also fell to the Stags but then defeated the Gladiators 23-20 to create a three-way shared title. And it doesn’t easier from here for either team; Boyne’s last two opponents this regular season are both still undefeated, and St. Francis takes on reigning Division 5 champion Pontiac Notre Dame Prep and 2024 Division 6 winner Lumen Christi over the next two weeks.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Mancelona (3-2) at East Jordan (3-2) WATCH, Maple City Glen Lake (3-1) at Kalkaska (5-0) WATCH, Cadillac (2-3) at Petoskey (2-3) WATCH, Midland Dow (4-1) at Traverse City West (3-2).
Southeast & Border
Chelsea (4-1) at Ypsilanti Community (3-2)
Although Chelsea would still need one more win after this weekend to clinch a share of another Southeastern Conference White title, a victory tonight would be a nice rebound off last week’s 42-28 loss to Dexter and extend the Bulldogs’ league winning streak to 14 over the last three seasons. Ypsilanti hasn’t downed Chelsea since 2015, but needs just one more win this fall to guarantee its best finish since 2020 after defeating Pinckney last week to avenge a 2024 defeat.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Tecumseh (3-2) at Adrian (4-1) WATCH, Saline (5-0) at Ann Arbor Huron (3-2) WATCH, Adrian Madison (3-2) at Ida (4-1) WATCH, Stockbridge (2-3) at Springport (5-0) WATCH.
Southwest Corridor
Schoolcraft (4-1) at Lawton (4-1) WATCH
Recent history sends this matchup to the front of a strong slate of games in the southwest this week. After matching up from different divisions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference in a 2019 District Final – won by Schoolcraft – these two have played together in the SAC Valley and determined that league’s champion four of the last five seasons. Schoolcraft broke Lawton’s three-year hold on the Valley title with a 17-3 win in last year’s regular-season meeting, and also claimed a Division 7 District Final rematch 38-0.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Kalamazoo United (3-2) at Constantine (4-1), Berrien Springs (3-1) at Dowagiac (4-1), Three Rivers (4-1) at Niles (5-0) WATCH, St. Joseph (3-2) at Portage Northern (4-1) WATCH.
Upper Peninsula
Marquette (3-2) at Escanaba (5-0) WATCH
This annual rivalry showdown assures Escanaba won't look ahead to a potential Big North Conference-deciding Week 7 matchup against Gaylord. Escanaba is one win away from guaranteeing its best finish since 2019 and seeking its first victory over Marquette since 2017, after the Sentinels won last year’s meeting 28-7. Marquette fell to undefeated Gaylord by just a point in Week 3 and will be Escanaba’s biggest fan if it can get a win tonight and revive its BNC title hopes.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Houghton (2-3) at Calumet (3-2) WATCH, Bark River-Harris (3-1) at L’Anse (4-1) WATCH, Gladstone (2-3) at Menominee (5-0) WATCH.
West Michigan
Hudsonville (5-0) at Rockford (4-1) WATCH
The Ottawa-Kent Conference Red, top to bottom, may be as strong as it’s ever been – and these two are again the frontrunners. Hudsonville broke through last season for its first win over the Rams since 2016 and went on to finish the season at Ford Field as the Division 1 runner-up. The Eagles faced arguably their toughest challenge this season last week and shut out Jenison 42-0, while Rockford also is coming off a 28-0 shutout of a solid Grandville team.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Grand Rapids Christian (3-2) at Grand Rapids West Catholic (4-1), Belding (4-1) at Fruitport (3-2), Muskegon (3-2) at Muskegon Mona Shores (3-2), Hudsonville Unity Christian (5-0) at Zeeland West (4-1).
8-Player
Lake Linden-Hubbell (4-1) at Power North Central (4-1) WATCH
This is only the second week of the Great Lakes Eight Conference West schedule, but this game almost assuredly will impact the league championship picture with these two and undefeated Bessemer the anticipated contenders. North Central’s Week 2 loss to Norway looks better by the week as the undefeated Knights lead the GLEC East, and the same can be said of LL-H’s season-opening defeat to still-unbeaten Felch North Dickinson from the GLEC Central. The Jets have won six of their last eight against the Lakes, including 60-8 a year ago but after LL-H swept regular-season and playoff matchups in 2023.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Peck (4-1) at Kinde North Huron (3-1) WATCH, Concord (3-2) at Pittsford (4-1) WATCH, Indian River Inland Lakes (5-0) at Rogers City (4-1), Central Lake (3-2) at Onekama (5-0) WATCH.
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PHOTO A Muskegon ball carrier outruns Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern's pursuing defenders during the Big Reds' 40-21 win last week. (Photo by Tim Reilly.)