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LSU Receiver Terrace Marshall Benefitting from Offseason Work with Myles Brennan

Brennan, Marshall showing elite chemistry three games into 2020 season

Terrace Marshall already had the blueprint. He spent the offseason of 2019 building that chemistry with Joe Burrow for months and knew exactly how to approach it with Myles Brennan this offseason. Of course last season, there were some pretty big mouths to feed in Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson.

While LSU still wants to spread the ball around, there's no denying that Marshall is the clear cut No. 1 option in this offense. 

It's why he felt comfortable saying he wanted a 1,000-yard season and 20 touchdowns before the 2020 season even started. It's why through three games, his 424 yards and seven touchdowns are on pace to even catch Chase, who set an SEC record with 20 touchdown receptions in 2019, in five fewer games.

Marshall says that confidence and subsequent success has come from the offseason chemistry he's been able to build with Brennan, even in an offseason where spring ball was cut short and they weren't able to put in as much work as Burrow and the receivers did the offseason before. To make up for that lost time, Brennan, Marshall and the receivers stay after practice and come in on off days to get that extra work in that's led to the early connection between the two.

"That's something that coach Mickey [Joseph] and coach [Scott] Linehan stress to us everyday," Marshall said. "Continue to get that extra work in after practice and on the off days because that's what it takes to be great.

"Even when Joe was here, you could always see the potential that Myles had. He's getting better each and every day and I'm ready for him to reach his full potential."

There is still plenty Brennan, Marshall and the offense can continue to improve on. The two have connected on a number of explosive plays of 20 yards or more, but when the offense gets into the redzone, there's a noticeable difference in efficiency. That's certainly one area the team will want to focus on with these extra few days to prepare for South Carolina.

Finding answers for some of the third down issues will be important as well as the Tigers rank towards the bottom of the FBS on third down conversions (27%).

"Nothing's perfect, there are always areas of your game that you can improve on," Marshall said. "In our offense, it's small things that are gonna turn into big things. Obviously we've got some work to do on third down but we're gonna continue to emphasize gaining yards on every play no matter the down."

For Marshall, putting the offense and the team in the best positions to score is his primary focus. If that means catching one pass or fifty, Marshall is ready to handle the workload. At one point in the Missouri loss where Marshall was in such a groove offensively, he was running to the sidelines calling for the ball on every play.

"That's just the competitiveness in me," Marshall said. "I don't really know how to control when I'm in the game. Whenever I get in the zone, I'm just ready to eat."