COLUMBUS, Ohio — After waiting more than a year for it, Urban Meyer finally received a national letter of intent from Jalin Marshall. And once he did on a cold February morning in 2013, the Ohio State head coach didn’t sell the Middletown, Ohio, star short.
“Jalin Marshall is a young man that if he was a guy that wanted to play the game and wait until signing day to put the eight hats out there, he could have whatever many amounts of hats he wanted,” Meyer said of the 4-star prospect who committed to the Buckeyes in January of 2012. “I would rather recruits do it the way he did it, but can you imagine Ohio State University and the state of Ohio and Buckeye Nation if he would have waited and put on a hat?
“That would have been a great day. Because we think he’s certainly if not the best player in Ohio, one of them.”
Upon arriving on campus six months later, a preseason concussion and standard freshman struggles would delay Marshall’s ability to make good on Meyer’s promise. But through the first nine games of his redshirt freshman season, the 5’11”, 205-pounder has proved to be well worth the wait.
Helping eighth-ranked Ohio State reenter the race for a spot in the first-ever College Football Playoff, Marshall has proved to be one of Meyer and the Buckeyes’ most reliable weapons. Ranking fourth on the team in receiving with 14 catches for 157 yards and two touchdowns as well as fifth in rushing with 107 yards and one score on 17 carries while also returning punts, Marshall seems to have done a little bit of everything for Ohio State, and his responsibilities are only growing.
In fact, you may have noticed that I’m yet to have listed a position for Marshall here. His role(s) on the Buckeyes makes it difficult to do so.
Ohio State’s official roster pegs Marshall as an H-back, Meyer’s preferred name for the wide receiver/running back hybrid position that Percy Harvin made famous in the spread offense at Florida. But even the versatility that spot entails doesn’t do enough justice in describing all that Marshall is capable of.
Continue Reading: Ohio State’s Jalin Marshall Is the Model for the Future of College Football
