O'Cephus T. Starks

O'Cephus Taylor Starks was born in Chicago, Illinois to Kimyona L. Taylor and O'Cephus Starks, Jr. on November 15, 1989 at 1:45pm. He has two brothers and two sisters, all of whom are younger than him. O'Cephus knows all about family as his mother is the 3rd youngest of 10 children and his father is the 3rd youngest of 8 children. His childhood was filled with friends and a lot of cousins as he is one of 45+ grandchildren.

At a young age, O'Cephus developed a love for music that still sits inside of him today. In addition to his love for music, he loved watching wrestling and playing video games with friends and cousins. He attended six elementary schools, graduating from Edward Coles Language Academy in 2003. He attended Chicago Vocational Career Academy, majoring in business, graduating in 2007. During the second semester of his senior year in high school, O'Cephus got a job at a hand car wash. He would go on to Illinois State University that fall, with hopes of majoring in Business.

Less than a month after stepping on campus, he got a job working in one of the dining centers. He would obtain a second job in February 2008, as a desk attendant. He would hold both jobs for the majority of his collegiate career, adding a third job in the summer of 2010 as a sales associate at a local thrift store in town.

In the spring of 2012, O'Cephus applied and received a summer athletic marketing internship. Taking the advice of the internship coordinator of his Recreation Management program, O'Cephus stopped at the athletic ticket office on his way out of Redbird Arena to inquire about employment in the fall. In July 2012, he accepted the position in the athletic ticket office for the fall semester. That same summer, he typed "how to be a NFL scout" on the search engine, Google. An article from the director of scouting for the NFL Cleveland Browns appeared. The director shared that whenever he makes hiring decisions, he almost always hires candidates who played sports at the collegiate level or had close contact with a collegiate program. This prompted O'Cephus to contact the Redbird Football program at ISU, inquiring about student manager positions. He now works under defensive assistant Jake Schoonover, evaluating film on potential recruits.

After completing a full-time internship, he will enroll in graduate school to pursue a MBA with a focus in Sport Management to assist him when he is promoted through the NFL scouting ranks to GM.