Nice article on Nick Marshall. It moved, which is a great accomplishment at my age.
I'm copyin' all up in your pasta al.com
AUBURN, Alabama -- The day after Georgia dismissed him from the football team, Nick Marshall already knew what he wanted to do next. Back at home in Wilcox County, Ga., Marshall met with his high school football coach, Mark Ledford, to sit down for a long talk about what happened in Athens and how Marshall was going to respond. Marshall was frustrated, remorseful. Everything he told Ledford matched what the Georgia coaches had said in a phone call the day before. He talked about getting a second chance.
"He told me that day," Ledford said. "I want go to junior college, and I want to play the position I was best at in high school, and I want to go back to the SEC."
Marshall had built a reputation as a two-sport star at Wilcox County, a prodigious natural talent who starred in both football and basketball. On the basketball court, Marshall averaged 27.5 points per game and twice took Wilcox County to Georgia's Final Four. He was even better on the football field. By the time he finished his career at Wilcox County, he'd led the Patriots to a state championship and set a Georgia high school record by tossing 103 career touchdown passes.
"I don't think there's a position he can't play or anything he can't do," Ledford said. "The best athlete I've ever seen in my career."
At the start of the recruiting process, Marshall drew comparisons to former Florida State dual-sport star Charlie Ward, picked up offers to play quarterback from Georgia and Florida State and seemed headed for a college football career. But Marshall wasn't ready to give up basketball, a decision fueled partially by relationships with AAU teammates like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who is now Georgia's leading scorer.
Few college football teams are ready to let their quarterback play two sports, and by the time Marshall made his full decision to play both basketball and football, the Bulldogs already had Christian LeMay committed to play quarterback. Marshall signed with Georgia as a defensive back and played as a freshman, making five tackles in 13 games and seemed headed for a career in the Bulldogs' secondary, following the same path that Alfonzo Dennard -- his predecessor at Wilcox County quarterback -- had taken from Nebraska to the New England Patriots. Then everything changed.
Marshall, wide receiver Sanford Seay and defensive back Chris Marshall were kicked off of Georgia's football team the February after his freshman year for an undisclosed violation of team rules that involved stealing money from another student, according to multiple reports. His high school and junior college coaches declined to discuss details of the incident for this story. "I met with him the day after," Ledford said. "One thing he was, was remorseful, and completely honest about the situation. Everything he told me matched what the Georgia coaches told me."
A few days after Marshall and Ledford met to discuss his future, the Wilcox County coach drove his former quarterback to a spot an hour west of Birmingham. Jeff Tatum, then the head coach at Garden City (Kan.), was waiting. He'd already done his homework. "What the Georgia coaches told me was he was a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they had to do something, but they didn't want him to have a bad name," Tatum said. "That's one of the reasons Coach Ledford brought him to me, a chance to clear his name without somebody always bringing it up."
Before he took the job at Garden City, Tatum coached at Georgia Military College. He'd seen Marshall play quarterback in high school. When Tatum, who took a job at Mississippi Delta Community College this offseason, saw that Marshall was looking for a landing spot, he targeted him as a passer. "I told him, this is a second chance to revive your career," Tatum said. "You've got to be on the best behavior of your life."
Marshall responded by being a model student at Garden City. According to Tatum, his new quarterback went to great lengths to stay out of trouble, staying away from anything that offered a hint of a problem. And Marshall felt at home again on the football field. "It took me about two weeks," Marshall said. "I'd always been a quarterback in high school, and that's where I feel most comfortable."
Tatum realized pretty quickly that Marshall's instincts were still there. The second or third week of practice at Garden City, Tatum started throwing blitzes at his new quarterback. Only a few weeks after taking over, Marshall hadn't been through Garden City's hot reads. "He picked our defense apart," Tatum said.
Marshall produced 3,142 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and 20 interceptions, ran for 1,095 yards and 19 touchdowns and gave the Broncbusters a high-powered offense all season long. Offers from BCS schools started rolling into Garden City.
The nation's hotbed for quarterbacks, the Big 12, targeted Marshall first. Texas, Baylor and Kansas State all offered Marshall, searching for the same kind of dual threat all three schools have produced in recent years. But Marshall wanted to play in the SEC, and when Gus Malzahn landed at Auburn as the head coach, he had his chance. "They have been recruiting me since they were at Arkansas State,†Marshall said. "They didn’t have a chance to get me at first, but when they got here they gave me another shot at it."
Nick Marshall will have a chance to compete at quarterback for Auburn in the fall. Marshall's skill set fits Malzahn's hurry-up, no-huddle offense, and the Tigers have an obvious need at quarterback after playing three different starters in 2012. "The offense he teaches, I feel like I fit well in that offense,†Marshall said. With only Kiehl Frazier and Jonathan Wallace returning, adding Marshall allowed Malzahn and his staff a chance to bring in a more experienced player with high school signees Jeremy Johnson and Jason Smith.
"He’s one of those impact players who throws the ball extremely well and has a very strong arm," Malzahn said on Signing Day. "We feel like he could come in here and give us a chance right off the bat." When Marshall signed his letter of intent on Wednesday, he met his first goal. After his official visit, Marshall said his new goals are to bring a national championship to Auburn and win the Heisman Trophy.Both goals seem lofty, far away for a team that was 3-9 last season. But Marshall might be able to make Auburn's quarterback race interesting once he enrolls in the summer.
"He's the kind of quarterback you need to sign when you're trying to turn a program around," Tatum said. "I think he will help them from Day 1."
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