One look at Mark Pierce can tell a lot about the man.

His stocky frame and bulging biceps indicate he’s an athlete. The tattoo on his right arm, which reads &#8220Pierce 33” tells you his name and old number from his college football days. The tattoo on his left bicep, a cross with his father’s initials, speaks to the tragedy and adversity he’s had to deal with since then.

And then there’s the smile.

As Pierce speaks, the braces on his teeth show a youthful optimism that hasn’t been deadened by all of the setbacks he’s endured. An optimism that, while tested, has been refreshed by the love of a woman, her family, and the ever-present possibility of another chance.

A magic night in overtime.

Football fans in Mississippi may recall Pierce as a one-man wrecking crew in one of college football’s all-time classic games.

As a freshman fullback for Arkansas, Pierce scored three touchdowns in a seven-overtime, 58-57 win over Ole Miss in 2001. Pierce finished with only 39 yards on 11 carries, but scored the Razorbacks’ last two touchdowns in overtime and showed a glimpse of the talent that made him a two-time all-state high school running back in Texas and a top NFL prospect in 2004.

&#8220I had two or three touchdowns. When it got to overtime, that was my time to shine,” said Pierce, who now lives in Vicksburg. &#8220I got to see that Ole Miss game four or five times in the last two years. That’s fun, to be able to go back and watch yourself on TV.”

Pierce ended up on the cover of a DVD of the game that was sold by the Arkansas athletic department. It also was not the last time he’d endure a long night of football.

Pierce started for the Razorbacks in a 2002 game against Tennessee that lasted six overtimes, and another seven-overtime game against Kentucky in 2003.

&#8220It never got easy. It’s impossible to prepare to play that long,” Pierce said. &#8220You can only get hit so many times before your body’s numb and you can’t feel it anymore.”

As he endured the multiple hits and marathon games, Pierce developed into a star for Arkansas. His tailback speed – he runs a 4.4-second 40-yard dash – and 230-pound fullback size made him a unique and versatile weapon.

In 2002, he scored a team-high eight touchdowns as the Hogs won the Southeastern Conference West Division title. He scored a touchdown in a 21-20 win over LSU in the regular season finale that helped put Arkansas in the SEC championship game against Georgia.

Pierce’s father, Rick, saw his son play a college football game for only the second time in that win over LSU. The two of them, along with Mark’s eight siblings and his mother Debbie, spent the Thanksgiving weekend together celebrating and enjoying time as a family.

It was the last good time Mark would have for a while.

Rocky roads ahead.

At the end of Thanksgiving weekend 2002, the Pierces bid farewell and went their separate ways. Mark went back to Fayetteville to prepare for the biggest football game of his life, while his parents and some of his brothers and sisters went back to the family’s home in Weatherford, Texas.

The next day, Pierce got the worst news a child can get. His father had suffered a massive heart attack. The man who had raised Mark and inspired him to play football, was dead.

&#8220When he died, that took a lot of heart away from me. I didn’t enjoy football as much,” Pierce said. &#8220That one negative incident destroyed everything I had worked for.”

Pierce left his father’s funeral on Saturday and played in the SEC championship game later that day against Georgia. He didn’t have a carry and caught only one pass for two yards in a 30-3 loss, and his mind was clearly elsewhere.

As the offseason rolled into spring, and spring into the fall of 2003, Mark wasn’t the same player or man he had been before his father’s death. On the field, he played through a painful shoulder injury to rush for four touchdowns in 2003.

By his count, Pierce dislocated his shoulder nine times during his junior season. The injury eventually required reconstructive surgery.

Off the field, he was not only dealing with his own grief over his father’s passing, but also that of his family.

His mother became ill in the months after Rick Pierce’s death. Mark briefly left the team in the summer of 2003 to care for her, and she eventually moved to Fayetteville to live with her son.

&#8220That’s one of the biggest things for me. Not knowing where you’ve got to go to visit your family,” Pierce said.

Pierce contemplated leaving football before returning, then butted heads with the Arkansas coaching staff when he did. Pierce had a run-in with Fayetteville police before the 2003 season-opener with Tulsa, drawing a one-game suspension.

&#8220Mark was not drinking or involved in drugs, but there was an incident where he exchanged words with an officer,” Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt said at the time.

By the time the season was over, Pierce decided it was time to move on. The shoulder injury, family responsibilities, and loss of desire made him realize it was time to leave Arkansas, and he applied for early entry into the 2004 NFL Draft.

It didn’t work out.

Based on talent, Pierce was tagged as one of the best fullbacks in the draft and a mid-round selection. Based on intangibles, however, he got slapped with a few other tags.

The suspension earned him a label as a character risk. The injury, which he tried to hide, made him a shaky prospect from a physical standpoint. And his own lingering grief over his father’s death made him question just how badly he wanted to keep playing.

In the end, he went undrafted and found himself out of football soon after.

&#8220I don’t regret it at all. It’s a decision I made for my family,” Pierce said. &#8220It should have worked out better than it did, but with the shoulder problem I would have had to have surgery anyway.”

Rejected by the NFL, Pierce was ready to put football behind him. Little did he know that a devoted Arkansas fan would change his life and give him a second chance.

More than a fan.

Mandy Reynolds remembers going to Arkansas football games when she lived with her family in the state, and rooting for Pierce. The big, bruising fullback was one of her favorite players.

&#8220Before I knew him, we were watching him play,” Reynolds said.

Pierce, meanwhile, had had surgery on his shoulder and returned to Weatherford, a short drive from Dallas. A mutual friend set the two up on a date, and they hit it off immediately. They were engaged earlier this year and plan to marry in December.

Although Reynolds was a fan of Pierce, he didn’t want to talk to her about football at first.

&#8220When I first met her, I wouldn’t touch a football. I wouldn’t talk about it,” Pierce said. &#8220There was about a year in my life where I told myself I’d never play again.”

Reynolds and her family knew better, though. They not only encouraged Pierce to get back in the game, they became scouts for him.

Reynolds’ father, Rock, spent hours online scouring newspapers and team Web sites to find teams who needed a fullback. Rock and Mandy burned films of Mark’s highlights at Arkansas onto a DVD and sent them to all 32 NFL teams.

Thanks to the efforts of Team Pierce, Mark has caught a few breaks.

He latched on with the Dallas Desperadoes of the Arena Football League in 2005, but was cut during training camp. He was picked up by Tulsa of arenafootball2, but was put on the refused to report list before the start of the 2005 season.

Then, earlier this year, Pierce caught a big break. The Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League offered him a tryout. They liked what they saw and signed him to a four-year, incentive-laden contract.

&#8220My face was kind of off the map for a couple of years. Now I feel like I’m making a name for myself,” Pierce said. &#8220That’s what’s so funny about football. If you stick with it, you’re going to catch a break.”

There’s another funny thing about breaks, though. They come in both good and bad varieties.

In early April, Rock Reynolds was doing his usual research on the Internet when he came across a disturbing bit of news. The Ottawa Renegades were in deep financial trouble and had suspended operations for the 2006 season. No one from the team had bothered to call Pierce and tell him.

&#8220We were getting ready to move to Canada,” Mandy Reynolds said. &#8220We were figuring out what we needed to do to move up there, looking for an apartment and were looking forward to going up there.”

Pierce’s name was put in the CFL’s dispersal draft, but no teams picked him up. He had two tryouts scheduled in Dallas this weekend with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders, and was confident he could make an impression with them.

He said the experience with Ottawa has inspired him to try even harder to make his dreams a reality.

&#8220It added fuel to my fire, because when you’re there you know you can get there again. I have the skill and ability to get there,” said Pierce, who works for International Paper. &#8220If you have the heart and are willing to do the hard work, you can make it.”

He also wants to make it his future wife and in-laws, who not only rejuvenated his football career but picked him up off the mat from a personal standpoint.

With the backing and support of Mandy and her parents, Pierce has pulled himself out of the depths of despair.

When Mark and Mandy moved to Vicksburg to be closer to the family, Rock Reynolds helped Pierce get the job at IP. When Pierce isn’t trying to further his football career – which he does by working out for about two hours a day after he leaves the mill – he pulls 12-hour shifts installing insulation on hot pipes.

When you lose five pounds a day in sweat before you even touch a weight, finding the will to keep in shape is tough, Pierce said.

&#8220It’s a hard thing to do when you’re working 60 to 80 hours a week around 600 degree pipes,” Pierce said. &#8220I’m exhausted when I get home. Sometimes I’ll be asleep by 7:30. But I try to find an hour or two to lift weights.”

When the exhaustion sets in, all Pierce has to do is look at Mandy or Rock for inspiration.

Rock has become a second father to Mark. The two often play golf and spend hours together as friends, as much as future father- and son-in-law. The relationship has helped Pierce shake off the demons and doubt that crept into his head when his own father passed away, and rekindled his desire to play football.

&#8220They make me so damn excited about playing football. Her family is the ones that got me excited about it again,” Pierce said. &#8220I know somebody is always going to be there to support me. They always make sure one of them is going to be free to be there for me.”

Seeing that fire back in her future husband makes the family want to help Pierce even more, Mandy Reynolds added.

&#8220Whenever we go to a tryout, he goes up against all these other people and he always outperforms them. It’s amazing,” she said. &#8220We know he has the ability to be a success in football, and that’s why we’re going to stick with him until it happens for him.”

There’s only one way, Pierce added, to pay the Reynolds family back for the way they’ve helped him – by finally making it in the football world.

&#8220Her parents have put a security blanket over us and given us an opportunity to chase those dreams,” Pierce said. &#8220I want to show that it’s all worth something. I want to be able to provide for their daughter. That’s the biggest thank-you you can give.”