Film Focus: Jimmy Marshall III

College football coaches are in a never ending arms race when it comes to getting high school players that fit their system to sign on the dotted line come National Signing Day. Sure, players come and go, and that is why it is so imperative for coaches at the college level to earn their keep by getting the best players possible.

It does not take a brain surgeon to comprehend what MTSU is trying to accomplish on the offensive side of the ball. The offense is predicated around slinging the football all over the field. In order to do this successfully, there are a few things that need to occur. First, you need solid offensive line play, allowing the quarterback ample time to stand in there and make a throw. Number two, you need to quarterback to have great accuracy and vision. Lastly, you need playmakers that you can plug in play throughout the lineup.

Wide receiver commit, and Georgia native, Jimmy Marshall III, seems to possess all the attributes Rick Stockstill and his staff want in a receiver. Marshall is a different breed of receiver. He is 6’5 and checks in around 215 pounds and has the quickness and athleticism of a smaller, shiftier, receiver.

For this week’s Film Focus, I decided to switch on the most extensive film available on his HUDL. There are still games to be played for his senior season, so I opted to look at highlights from his junior year sprinkled in with clips from a few games this fall.

The very first play on the tape, Marshall looks like a gazelle on the football field. Here, the defensive back sags back in coverage prior to the ball being snapped. Then, effortlessly, Marshall simply zips by the defender, reeling in a touchdown snag.

Almost every play, Marshall is positioned and lined up on the outside, typically going head-to-head with a much shorter cornerback – something that won’t really change at the next level given his stature. The tape makes it blatantly apparent that Marshall is a deep ball threat dynamo. Play after play, Marshall’s quarterback heaves the ball sky high and, time after time, Marshall catches the ball either in the red zone or the end zone. It also doesn’t take long to realize that he excels at high-pointing the football.

Not even two minutes into the film, Marshall makes an acrobatic grab in the back of the end zone with a defender draped all over him. For Tattnall Square Academy, Marshall is Mr. Reliable. He is great at adjusting on the fly to catch the ball, and is great at adjusting his large frame to stay in the correct positions.

There are times when many receivers catch the ball with their body and their shoulder pads. This is a no-no from a technical aspect. I never caught Marshall doing this once on tape. He focuses his sights on the pigskin and makes grabs with his hands.

On top of that, Marshall has Charmin soft hands, which should have MT’s coaches salivating. This is often something that coaches have to teach, but Marshall already has this in his arsenal. The tape transitions from Marshall catching bombs over and over to Marshall doing damage on the intermediate routes. Football can be a very mental game, especially at the receiver position (Odell Beckham anyone?). It seems to me that Marshall gets inside the heads of opposing defenders. Since they get burned on the deep routes, they seem to anticipate the go routes a bit more, but end up looking silly when Marshall executes slant routes and burns them on the inside.

Coaches at MTSU will expect Marshall to have the route tree down pat and have polished route running abilities. Obviously he is a nightmare when it comes to the vertical plays, but Marshall is good at running routes, such as curl routes, as well.

One more thing I love about his game is his ability to crank out RAC yards, that is run-after-catch yards. Marshall deters tacklers after he secures the ball on a passing play. Despite being so tall and having his lower-body vulnerable to hits, Marshall shows that he can shrug these attempts off and keep his wheels moving.

Jimmy Marshall can do it all. The possibilities are endless and it seems to me that the staff at MTSU has something special on their hands. He’s been under-recruited for a number of reasons, but it’s worth noting he did have a serious knee injury earlier in his high school career. It took some time for him to get back into the swing of things as a junior (a time when a lot of programs are developing relationships with targets). Sufficed to say, though, he is showing no ill-effects from that at this point. I wouldn't be surprised to see his offer sheet grow exponentially between now and February.

Once at MT, look for him to blossom in the weight room under Jason Spray and the training staff. Marshall has the frame to be even bigger than he already is. Every team needs a guy who can create mismatches for the defense, and Marshall strikes me as a matchup nightmare and a jump ball specialist.