Dobbs was born on November 30, 1987, in
Savannah, Georgia, and attended Calvary Baptist Day School, where he played on the Cavalier
high school football team. When Dobbs was seven years old, he left home and moved into
Bethesda Home for Boys with his brother Daniel. He excelled in school and was recruited to play football at Calvary Baptist Day by Danny Britt, the current athletic director at Benedictine Military School. Before high school, "Demarcus had never played football before. Calvary just wanted to give him an education," said Britt. "At that point, I asked him if he would like to try football." Through his freshman and junior years at Calvary Baptist, he remained close with Britt and his family, before eventually being offered to move in with them during his senior year of high school. "Our girls were very small – just 4 and 5 years old at the time – and we were poor. We wondered, 'Can we raise a teenage boy? Can we feed another child?" said Britt's wife, Stephanie. He moved in with the Britts in 2005, forming a close bond with their two daughters. "The girls have always been so excited to be with me, and it's funny when you see us together – I'm so big, and they're so small," said Dobbs. After his senior season in football, he was rated as a three-star recruit by
Rivals.com and as a four-star recruit by
Scout.com. He was recruited by
Ball State University, the
University of Alabama at Birmingham, the
University of Georgia,
Auburn University, and the
Georgia Institute of Technology, before ultimately accepting a scholarship to play for the
Georgia Bulldogs football team. Dobbs is a supporter of his former school. When they had an
alumni football game put on by Gridiron Alumni Football in March 2012, he was there to do the coin toss. He stood on the sidelines for the whole game as his former teammates rallied against an alumni team from Richmond Hill. ==College career==