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Keith Marshall: Bounce Back Year in 2015?

By John Buhler

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Keith Marshall came to Athens as the number 5 overall high school recruit in the 2012 Graduating Class.  Marshall front-lined a strong UGA Recruiting Class as a five-star tailback out of North Carolina.

He was integral in getting fellow North Carolinian RB Todd Gurley, then a three-star out of Tarboro, NC to commit to the G.  Both tailbacks formed the “Gurshall” backfield in 2012 as the Dawgs ran all the way to the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, 5 yards short of a likely National Championship.

-= Mark Richt Holds All the Cards in UGA QB Battle =-

However both players’ career trajectory altered drastically in the next two seasons.  Gurley took the SEC by storm and had an outstanding three-year career in Athens before getting drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the 2015 NFL Draft.  Keith Marshall suffered a litany of injuries in both his sophomore and junior seasons.  The ACL tear in Knoxville in 2013 still makes me cringe.

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    • Keith Marshall finds himself essentially third on the UGA RB depth chart behind true sophomores Sony Michel and Heisman Trophy hopeful Nick Chubb.  With junior tailback Brendan Douglas deserving carries as well and AJ Turman now likely in the RB rotation, can Keith Marshall have a bounce back senior season in 2015?

    Marshall came to Athens as the lightning to Gurley’s thunder.  They were a running back tandem that inspired both Chubb and Michel to commit to sharing carries for the Dawgs as a part of the 2014 UGA Recruiting Class.  Keith Marshall bulked up a bit in his sophomore and junior seasons in Athens to better handle the SEC’s brand of physicality.  However, injuries kept his raw talent off the field for Head Coach Mark Richt.

    Though Nick Chubb will certainly get the most carries of any Dawg on the 2015 roster, I know that Richt and new Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer will run the ball a ton this fall.  Expect all five running backs to get significant playing time this season.

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    By spreading the carries between five tailbacks, Georgia will decimate the opposition’s run defense by the time the fourth quarter is under way.  Remember how UGA defeated the Clemson Tigers at home last year in Week 1 by exhausting the Clemson Front 7 with a deep but strong running back rotation?  Expect that to continue all season long for the Dawgs barring any injuries or autograph-based suspensions.

    I see Keith Marshall getting close to 10 carries a game if healthy.  Again health is a big if with the senior Georgia tailback.  But should he stay on the field, I know that by playing at a lighter weight this fall he will burn right by flat-footed defenses many times this fall.

    I’m not saying that UGA should adopt Auburn’s Gus Malzahn’s hurry-up-and-run offensive strategy, but it would behoove Georgia to keep the clock running by feeding the rock to the plethora of tailbacks Schottenheimer has at his disposal.

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    Look for Keith Marshall to make an impact as a fantastic change-of-pace back for Nick Chubb and the rest of the UGA RB unit this fall.  With the offensive line in front of them returning 4 of 5 starters, Georgia’s running game could become the best to grace college football since the early 2000’s Miami Hurricanes teams featuring Frank Gore, Willis McGahee, and Clinton Portis.

    All I ask is to slow work Keith Marshall into the running game so that he doesn’t get hurt in the first weeks of the season.  And for goodness sake, do not throw a checkdown to Keith Marshall at Neyland Stadium when the Georgia Bulldogs take on the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville.  I want to see Marshall finish his career with the Dawgs on a healthy note and I believe that with this deep of an RB corps, good things are on the horizon for Keith Marshall and the Georgia Bulldogs.  Go Dawgs!

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