After suffering a devastating knee injury last October, tearing his meniscus, fractured his tibia and sprained his MCL and Patellar tendons. CWU junior point guard Marc Rodgers now returns to the court healthier than ever.

Rodgers and the team are gearing up for another tough GNAC season.

During his high school years at Cathedral High School in Los Angeles, Rodgers helped lead his team to two regional championships and broke the single season assist record in his senior year.

As the starting point guard his sophomore season, Rodgers scored 110 points with 76 assists, and helped lead the team to the GNAC quarterfinals in 2015.

“His knowledge and passion of the game make him able to portray what he sees on the court to his teammates,” Head Associate Coach Drew Harris said.

Rodgers spends anywhere from seven to 10 hours a week studying basketball and learning how to be a better teammate and player.

“I watch film of anyone from myself to other collegiate point guards and point guards in the NBA,” Rodgers said. “I watch film to learn from my past mistakes and learn from my friends in the NBA.”

One of only two players who have been on the team the longest, it is evident that Rodgers is a leader on and off the court with his teammates.

“I expect him to really set a good example for the rest of his teammates and for him to play a big part and role in our success,” Harris said.

As one of the oldest players on the team, Rodgers is hoping to be an inspiration to his younger teammates like those he once had when he was a freshman on the team. Rodgers is going into the season with a new motto “expect the worst and embrace the best” and hopes to inspire his teammates to do the same.

“[He’s] a vocal leader on the floor,” teammate Jerome Bryant said.

As the two oldest on the team Rodgers and teammate Terry Dawn have a lot of teaching to do.

“I’m excited. We have a really young team this year, and they are good,” Rodgers said.

Junior forward Jerome Bryant has been playing with Rodgers since high school, and their shared history has created a bond many can only dream of.

“[He] always looks to pass the ball to me when we are on the court; we have really good chemistry,” Bryant said.

After playing together for four seasons, the duo hopes to reconnect now that Rodgers is back on the court.

“He’s an unselfish player,” Bryant said.

A very selfless player, Rodgers’ goals for his junior season are to go undefeated as a team and to earn a conference championship.

“I want to beat Western this year” Rodgers said.

He missed out on the win at Western Washington University last winter.

Rodgers returns to the floor this season hoping to stay healthy this season.

“I realized how quick I could have lost basketball and how it could have been gone forever,” Rodgers said.

Aware that he has fewer games ahead of him than behind him, Rodgers is ready to give this season  his all.

Rodgers and the team are gearing up to head down to Seaside, CA to take on California State University San Bernardino and California State Monterey Bay University before returning home to take on Washington State University Tuesday Nov. 15 in Kennewick.