In Ohio State's Offensive Outburst, Jalin Marshall Emerging as Latest Playmaker

By Patrick Maks on October 21, 2014 at 3:15 pm
Urban Meyer has longed for Jalin Marshall to become a playmaker in his offense.
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Midway through Ohio State’s season, Jalin Marshall’s stat line — at least in and of itself —  isn't much to look at. It's pretty pedestrian.

He’s caught six passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns and taken six punts back for 111 yards through six games.

But they don’t tell the story of how Marshall —  a talented redshirt freshman H-back — is starting to emerge as a legitimate playmaker for an Ohio State offense that's bonkers good on offense right now.

In a 56-17 destruction of Rutgers Saturday, Marshall had arguably his best game as a Buckeye.

He caught three passes for 58 yards and shouldered the team’s punt return responsibilities, a role that used to belong to fellow H-back Dontre Wilson.

The speed of the game, which perhaps overwhelmed Marshall before, is slowing down. That was apparent against the Scarlet Knights.

“I’m getting adjusted to it, the more and more I get the ball in my hands I feel like I can more people miss,” he said Monday. “It’s coming to me. It’s coming to me.”

For Urban Meyer and a coaching staff that’s long wanted to involve Marshall in the game plan, such a maturation is encouraging.

“He's really done a phenomenal job. Coming into the year, we had high expectations. Coming into his career, there were high expectations. He worked hard, tried to live up to those,” wide receivers coach Zach Smith said.

Of course, that's no easy task. Marshall, who put up ridiculous numbers as a quarterback at Middletown High School before coming to Columbus as one of the state’s top recruits, redshirted last season to mature on and off the field.

“He just was not a good practice player last year,” Meyer said Tuesday, adding he also struggled in school.

Injuries have also hampered Marshall: he sustained a concussion in early 2013 and, upon moving from wide receiver to H-back in the spring, he suffered knee injury and needed subsequent surgery. 

Still, Meyer remained upbeat about Marshall's potential and what the shifty speedster could offer the Buckeyes on offense. 

“His whole issue is just the 4-to-6 mentality that we have, you've gotta go as hard as you can. When he goes as hard as he can, he's really good and I finally saw that last week,” Meyer said after Ohio State obliterated Kent State in mid September.

“Even on plays that he didn't get the ball, he was stretching the defense. The good thing is, he's very knowledgeable about all the spots and if he keeps moving up the ladder maybe (he and Dontre Wilson) will be on the field at the same time."

Fast forward a month and Marshall’s still stretching the field, but now he’s getting the ball in his hands too.

“He's a guy over the last five weeks or so has really earned more, I guess, respect and more playing time. More touches,” Smith said.

“So we're trying to find ways to get him more involved because he's a dynamic player that's doing a lot of things really well right now, has a lot of momentum.”

It’s up to Marshall to keep it going.

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