Reserved to virtual visits and Facetime tours, recruits in the COVID-era have felt out of touch, forced, at times, to pick their college based on a few photos. But Jadyn Marshall found a loophole of sorts in the absence of official visits
The three-star wide receiver prospect was on Arizona State’s campus last week walking around the Tempe dorms. It was one of the perks of having a brother on the track team. Helping his older sibling, Jamar, move into his freshman dorm, the younger Marshall had the chance to envision himself doing the same in two years.
“It would be even better if we were in the same dorm,” Marshall said, before describing the campus. “It was beautiful.”
Marshall is ranked as the no. 52 receiver in the Class of 2022 and comes in as a top-30 prospect in California. His offer list includes notable college football programs such as Nebraska, Oregon, Auburn, USC, and UCLA, which offered the junior last week.
But Marshall’s experience as an ASU prospect began back in February. A flurry of Twitter accounts associated with ASU football hit him with a follow and, soon enough, Marshall was on the phone with ASU defensive analyst Anthony Garnett, who eventually handed the wide receiver an offer from the Sun Devils.
“Coach Garnett is super cool. We don’t really talk about ASU that much. It’s more about like, “How was your day? Did you work out today? What are you doing this weekend?” Marshall said of Garnett. “He’s laid back.”
Garnett’s opening questions weren’t about the St. Mary’s standout exploits on the gridiron, either. He wanted to hear about Marshall’s hurdling prowess, the acclaim he touts on Twitter with the bio line: “#1 Hurdler in the Nation.”
He said his personal record of 14.17-seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and his 37.59-second 300-meter time topped all freshman in the country, adding that he hasn’t lost a race to someone his age in more than two years. Marshall wants to follow in his brother’s footsteps as a California state champion and, eventually, an NCAA hurdler. But he plans on pulling double-duty, pleasing a lucky college football program with an elite speed that rarely is displayed on the football field.
“(At St. Mary’s High), the way they use me is I play wide receiver, I’m a special teamer, and I play like a running back role because I do a lot of fly sweeps. I had almost 400 yards last year just off of fly sweeps,” Marshall said. “I think I’m one of the best YAC (yards after catch) receivers in my class. I don’t need blockers for me to score.”
In 2019 Marshall posted 1,381 all-purpose yards and scored 14 touchdowns.
Yards after catch, aka YAC, in Tempe, has become synonymous with former Sun Devil receiver Brandon Aiyuk, or “AiYAC,” as some fans aptly nicknamed him. Aiyuk was a first-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in this year’s NFL draft primarily because he led the draft class in that attribute (710 total yards, averaging 10.9 yards). Granted, no one is thrusting NFL expectations on Marshall yet, but his track speed allows for the same type of on-the-fly artistry that vaulted Aiyuk up the draft boards.
And Marshall knows Arizona State has the NFL coaching experience to help him realize his football potential.
“It’s nice to know that the people who would be mentoring and guiding me to the next level have been there before and have experience under their belt,” he said of the program’s Pro Model.
Marshall can pull up a Google page in three seconds and read the accolades of ASU’s coaches and the praise for the former ASU receivers who excelled in their Sun Devil career. Yet, the culture of a school is something that’s tougher to grasp through a computer screen, and is an aspect that recruits all over the country have been basing their college choices without knowledge of.
With Arizona State, though, Marshall has that in-person experience. And, currently in his recruiting process, that’s invaluable.
“What I’m looking in for a school is coaches that don’t look at me as a recruit but look at me as someone they want on their team, someone who can make a difference and someone who they truly believe could change their team,” Marshall said. “People have to be cool … I go to St. Mary’s. It’s a very diverse school, and I like diversity.
“I’ve seen how culturally diverse ASU is. How culturally diverse its coaching staff is. When I think of ASU, it just feels like family.”
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