While several former Georgia Bulldogs were finding out where they would be playing their professional football, one south Georgia standout was committing to playing his college career in the Classic City.
6’1, 235 pound linebacker Trezman Marshall picked the Bulldogs on Friday over offers from a who’s who of college football’s standout programs. Marshall, ranked the #98 player in America and #10 in Georgia by 247Sports (#9 in the Dawg Sports Peach State Top 20), had been rumored to be leaning to the ‘Dawgs for months, and was previously on the verge of committing.
There are guys you recruit to fit a specific scheme need. And there are guys you just want to get on campus and know you’ll find somewhere to put them later. Marshall is in the latter category. He could play with his hand in the dirt or, and I think this is more likely, slot in at inside linebacker.
Marshall has good, if not great, lateral movement. He also loves to hit. I view him less as a Roquan Smith-type sideline-to-sideline inside ‘backer who can also serve as a robber/spy for mobile QBs, and more as a Reggie Carter-style run stuffer/inside pass rusher.
This is a bit of a contrarian stance, but I’d also throw out that I wouldn’t be surprised to see Marshall switch to offense and move into a fullback/H-back role if he’s not making waves at linebacker. He averaged better than 10 yards per attempt at tailback as a junior and could play an important offensive role similar to a Shuan Chappas or Brannen Sutherland if Jim Chaney gets an itch to bring back the big backs who can both block and put the ball in the endzone.
Marshall’s commitment moves Georgia into 5th in the 247Sports 2019 recruiting rankings with only 8 commitments, tied with Wisconsin for the fewest of any team in the top 15.
On a related note Georgia has also been recruiting Grayson standout Owen Pappoe, an extremely highly rated inside linebacker who yesterday committed to Auburn. The Tigers had picked up significant momentum for Pappoe in recent weeks so the pledge wasn’t really a surprise. That being said, don’t expect Pappoe’s recruitment to be over any time soon. As Rodney Garner was fond of saying when he coached at Georgia, getting an early commit from a player just tells everybody else who their competition is.
That being said, with two stellar recruiting classes in the house, Kirby & Co. will be fighting a battle in this cycle to convince guys that the depth chart in Athens has room for them and that they can play early. It will be interesting to see how they adapt to that challenge. Until later . . .
Go ‘Dawgs!!!