Five Play Prospect: Florida Gators DB Jason Marshall Jr.
The highlight of the Florida Gators 2021 recruiting class.
With a heavy emphasis on rebuilding the secondary on the trail, Florida has added three or more cornerbacks in their previous two recruiting hauls, landing a few big-name defensive back prospects in the process. None bigger than Palmetto prospect Jason Marshall Jr.
Sitting as the highest-rated recruit for the Gators this cycle, the hype surrounding Marshall’s skillset is amongst the top of any Dan Mullen-recruited player during his tenure at UF.
Ranked first of all qualifying prospects in the SIAA positional rankings, Marshall presents rare intangibles that have the potential to reequip the defensive back position — that saw a down year in 2020 — with the success it has produced for much of the past decade.
Marshall, 6-foot-2, 180-pounds, held offers from 28 schools, including Clemson, Alabama, LSU, Miami, Georgia, and Ohio State. Often regarded as a heavy Miami lean due to the proximity to home in a pandemic-riddled recruitment, Marshall announced his commitment to Florida on Aug. 9, 2020, landing the Gators a blue-chip talent and the headlining act of their 2021 recruiting efforts.
The Five Play Prospect series, which we began on AllGators last year, breaks down five clips of each enrolled prospect's high school film to paint a picture of the strengths in their game and what they can continue to develop at Florida.
Due to a lack of senior film available, we’ll be looking at four pieces of Marshall’s game and five plays from his junior varsity tape at Palmetto High School to understand what the incoming freshman brings to the table.
Press Man Coverage
Given his height, length, and muscular build that he has to room to further develop in spring camp, Marshall is top-tier at utilizing his frame to his advantage, playing with extreme physicality in press situations.
Jamming wide receivers to throw off the rhythm between the quarterback and the wide receiver, Marshall creates opportunities for himself to come down with errant passes from the opposing team's signal-caller.
In this play, Marshall lines up in off-man coverage from the wide receiver, providing enough cushion to get a grasp of which spot the receiver is trying to get to.
Recognizing the attempt at a fade towards the back corner of the end zone at the top of the wideouts route following a quick jab step to the inside, Marshall diminishes the cushion, beginning to actively employ his hands to punch into the chest of opposing wide receivers.
Swiping down repeatedly on the receiver's hands to remain on top of the route and in position to make a play on the ball, Marshall imposes his will with physicality.
By doing so, he makes it difficult for his assignment to push vertically while the football is in the air, resulting in a direct path to the ball himself. Making an effort at the ball at the last second, Marshall cannot come down with the interception but accounts for a huge pass breakup.
As shown, Marshall withholds an ability to contain the 50/50 fade routes in the red zone against nearly anyone that lines up against him.
With the success he saw playing press man at the high school level — albeit a limited amount to be shown in his film anywhere other than the red zone — his transition to the collegiate game is expected to be a smooth one that sees him earn playing time in year one.
In that next chapter, Marshall could find himself as a guy opposing quarterbacks look to avoid, especially when attempting to find pay dirt inside the 20 yard line.
Ball Skills
Marshall shows traits of an instinctive — but cautious — player that can make game changing plays due to his length and breaking speed towards the ball.
Having a background as a wide receiver due to possessing the long and athletic build it takes to play the position in the talent hotspot of Miami, Marshall has a better understanding of route concepts opposing offenses attempt to scheme up as well as an increased ability to high point the football in jump ball situations.
Here, Marshall is seeing time on the offensive side of the football for Plametto.
Running a standard fly route up the sideline against his defender, Marshall’s quarterback escapes the pocket and launches him a jump ball in the back of the end zone.
Timing his jump perfectly and exemplifying some impressive hang time to come away with the football and the touchdown, Marshall’s ability to go up and snag it translates directly to the defensive side of the football.
As a serious threat to take the ball away when the quarterback elects to target his side of the field, Marshall brings a much-needed ball hawk to a Florida secondary that only accounted for just nine interceptions in 2020.
Playing in a Cover 3 dominated scheme during his time at Palmetto, Marshall grew accustomed to the responsibility in the back third of the field. Consistent in his role in zone coverage — likely due to his heightened football IQ for someone playing at the high school level — Marshall is not much of a risk-taker when it comes to making a jump on the ball.
Instead, he uses his athleticism to make plays.
As shown in this clip, Marshall is about eight yards off the closest receiver when the quarterback lets go of the football. Planting his feet and exploding towards the ball while it’s in the air, Marshall showcases his elite closing speed to come away with the acrobatic interception as he juggles it on the way to the ground.
A play reminiscent of Amari Burney’s interception on a tipped ball against Tennessee in 2019.
In this display of his athleticism here, Marshall presented another reason why he has the potential to be a consistent playmaker in the Gators secondary for years to come.
Footwork Mirroring
Despite still having steps to take to polish up his footwork fully, the Miami native has shown improvement in the past two years.
Going from a player that predominantly utilizes his intangibles to win battles, Marshall has honed in on his technical abilities as a corner, which has paid dividends for him in the long run.
Here, Marshall lines up four-to-five yards off the line of scrimmage, allowing him to contain the deep third of the field he is responsible for.
Keeping that distance with the closest wide receiver to him throughout the longevity of the route, Marshall goes step for step with him down the sideline until the football is thrown.
As a result of his ability to mirror his assignment's footwork, Marshall is in position as the furthest man back to make a play on the overthrown football. An instance where he once again shows off his playmaking ability when he returns it home for a score.
Equipped with a smooth backpedal and the ability to contain opposing receivers via discipline and footwork, the once-coveted recruit could see the field early and often upon his arrival to UF.
Open Field Tackling
With relative concerns about Marshall’s ability to tackle in the open field previously being expressed, his willingness to work down towards the line of scrimmage shows potential to fix the issues that he has seen in his past in the tackling department.
Diagnosing this play as a run, Marshall begins to move down towards the line of scrimmage, setting the edge to limit the running backs room to work.
Setting his feet as a brace before contact, Marshall drives through the ball carrier to take him down with force into the turf. Executing the tackle to perfection — wrapping him up and putting his head on the football — Marshall shows a flash that coaches can build upon.
At this stage in his career, consistency in doing so will be the next step for Marshall as a tackler. Making that adjustment to his game, Marshall could find himself with basically no weak spots in his skillset in the later years of his Gators career.
Fitting into the mold of successful athletes that have crossed through the program over time, Marshall presents similar tackling concerns as former Florida Gators and current Jacksonville Jaguars DB C.J. Henderson.
With a similar knock-on Henderson coming out of the college game — one he seemingly put to rest with his performance for the Jaguars in year one — remarkable coverage skills and a willingness to tackle outweighs the oft-inconsistent effort in bringing down ball carriers. Especially when those are the only notable concerns for Marshall as a true freshman.
Final Thoughts
Accounting for 15 pass breakups and five interceptions in his junior year of high school, Marshall captivated the highest level of football Florida has to offer and looked as if he was ready for the college game going into year four of his Palmetto career.
Playing in just six games in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Marshall was not given the full capab to showcase the talents that put him in the highly-coveted position as a recruit that he held alongside high school and now college teammate Corey Collier Jr. But, still had his moments in the shortened season.
With the Florida secondary set to be heavily remodeled in 2021 after poor play in 2020 — both in player personnel and coaching staff — Marshall will benefit from spring practice and what should be an open competition until September for the starting spot on the boundary across the field from Kaiir Elam.
Not likely to sit on the sidelines for very long — if he does at all — given his physical makeup and already polished set of coverage skills, Marshall is set to flourish as an elite cornerback in the SEC. Especially if he continues to make the strides he’s expected to make in the coming months.
