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Although he is currently an unranked prospect on recruiting services, 2021 Miami Norland OL Michael Marshall has slowly begun to make a name for himself since his junior tape started circulating. Marshall has followed that up with a strong start to his offseason, earning praise for his work at the Rivals Miami camp held this past weekend.
“It went pretty good for me, it went solid,” Marshall said of the Rivals camp. “I was at offensive guard. I switch back and forth between tackle and guard, but mainly I play guard at school… One word to summarize my season was ‘dominant’. It was real physical, which was something I wanted to improve on from the previous season. I was real happy about that. I’m a dominant player and I’m smart, I’m going to make the most out of every play.”
Offensive guard is where Marshall says he is being recruited by most schools, including the local Miami Hurricanes who offered last month when new OL coach Garin Justice went to his school.
“[Coach Justice] came to the school and told my head coach he was offering me and my head coach told me,” Marshall said of the UM offer. “It was amazing, it was a great feeling. When you work hard, you expect great things to happen. It felt good.”
Even though he has yet to visit UM’s campus, Marshall said he is working to set up a time to visit this spring to see the coaches and get more familiar with the program overall.
“I would love to take a visit soon,” Marshall said. “I like the home feeling they have - I’ve heard from a lot of teammates who have friends that go there, it’s home there for them. So, I’m looking forward to that feeling when I visit.”
Of course, the Canes struggled on offense this past year, resulting in both staff and scheme changes to the attack unit during the past few weeks. Despite the down season in Miami, Marshall says he is optimistic on what new OC Rhett Lashlee can do in 2020.
“It’s going to be interesting, it’s going to be different,” Marshall said of the new offense. “But I’m pretty sure they’re going to get everything figured out, I know they’ll be working hard on that. I’ll be watching.”
Marshall, who says he is now up to 6’4” 294 pounds, also has early offers from in-state programs UCF and FIU, but has been garnering more interest nationally in recent weeks.
“There’s been a couple other schools that have stopped by to see me recently - Kentucky, Georgia Tech,” Marshall said. “Me and my head coach are discussing where I’ll take visits this spring. I’m not sure where yet, but I’ll definitely take some.”
As a team, Marshall and Miami Norland finished the 2019 season at 6-4, something that Marshall felt wasn’t quite good enough for the Vikings. Heading into the offseason, Marshall will be working on various aspects of his game to increase his recruiting profile and lead Norland to a state title.
“It wasn’t that great of a season overall, we didn’t make the playoffs,” Marshall said. “But it was more like a family this year, we got to bond over trips to Baltimore, stuff like that. Team-wise, we need to do better.
“For next season, my expectations are to do everything I was doing before, plus even more. Work even harder to get my name out there because I feel like I’m a little behind on that, but the goal is to try and make people wake up. Really just working on good footwork, technique – technique is everything. The strength is already there, the technique needs to be there as well.”
While Marshall has no decision timetable and wants to wait the process out a bit to see which other schools jump into his recruitment, a strong program environment will be something that attracts him to his ultimate destination.
“A big factor would be just feeling the coaches really want me there, that they have expectations they want me to meet, not just want me there just to be there,” Marshall said. “I’m looking for somewhere where they want to showcase what I’ve got and really believe in me, they make it feel like home. Somewhere where it’s not just a school, but more like a family.”
“It went pretty good for me, it went solid,” Marshall said of the Rivals camp. “I was at offensive guard. I switch back and forth between tackle and guard, but mainly I play guard at school… One word to summarize my season was ‘dominant’. It was real physical, which was something I wanted to improve on from the previous season. I was real happy about that. I’m a dominant player and I’m smart, I’m going to make the most out of every play.”
Offensive guard is where Marshall says he is being recruited by most schools, including the local Miami Hurricanes who offered last month when new OL coach Garin Justice went to his school.
“[Coach Justice] came to the school and told my head coach he was offering me and my head coach told me,” Marshall said of the UM offer. “It was amazing, it was a great feeling. When you work hard, you expect great things to happen. It felt good.”
Even though he has yet to visit UM’s campus, Marshall said he is working to set up a time to visit this spring to see the coaches and get more familiar with the program overall.
“I would love to take a visit soon,” Marshall said. “I like the home feeling they have - I’ve heard from a lot of teammates who have friends that go there, it’s home there for them. So, I’m looking forward to that feeling when I visit.”
Of course, the Canes struggled on offense this past year, resulting in both staff and scheme changes to the attack unit during the past few weeks. Despite the down season in Miami, Marshall says he is optimistic on what new OC Rhett Lashlee can do in 2020.
“It’s going to be interesting, it’s going to be different,” Marshall said of the new offense. “But I’m pretty sure they’re going to get everything figured out, I know they’ll be working hard on that. I’ll be watching.”
Marshall, who says he is now up to 6’4” 294 pounds, also has early offers from in-state programs UCF and FIU, but has been garnering more interest nationally in recent weeks.
“There’s been a couple other schools that have stopped by to see me recently - Kentucky, Georgia Tech,” Marshall said. “Me and my head coach are discussing where I’ll take visits this spring. I’m not sure where yet, but I’ll definitely take some.”
As a team, Marshall and Miami Norland finished the 2019 season at 6-4, something that Marshall felt wasn’t quite good enough for the Vikings. Heading into the offseason, Marshall will be working on various aspects of his game to increase his recruiting profile and lead Norland to a state title.
“It wasn’t that great of a season overall, we didn’t make the playoffs,” Marshall said. “But it was more like a family this year, we got to bond over trips to Baltimore, stuff like that. Team-wise, we need to do better.
“For next season, my expectations are to do everything I was doing before, plus even more. Work even harder to get my name out there because I feel like I’m a little behind on that, but the goal is to try and make people wake up. Really just working on good footwork, technique – technique is everything. The strength is already there, the technique needs to be there as well.”
While Marshall has no decision timetable and wants to wait the process out a bit to see which other schools jump into his recruitment, a strong program environment will be something that attracts him to his ultimate destination.
“A big factor would be just feeling the coaches really want me there, that they have expectations they want me to meet, not just want me there just to be there,” Marshall said. “I’m looking for somewhere where they want to showcase what I’ve got and really believe in me, they make it feel like home. Somewhere where it’s not just a school, but more like a family.”
