Nick Marshall verbally commits to play for the Dawgs in 2011

The biggest topic right now in College Football is without a doubt Conference Re-Alignment. That being said, in the south recruiting is becoming more and more of a focus of fans and I can't help but get a little excited when my team lands a big recruit. At the end of April UGA landed a big-time verbal from Christian LeMay (scout.com has him ranked #39 overall and the #2 QB in the 2011 recruiting class). In addition to LeMay, Georgia was also recruiting some other QBs. When LeMay announced he was planning on attending Georgia my thoughts were that all of these other kids would decide to go elsewhere. Enter Nick Marshall who UGA was recruiting for both football and basketball. Marshall is thought of as one of the Top 5 recruits in the state of Georgia and one of the top athletes in the state. Marshall has drawn comparisons to Charlie Ward (for his athleticism and skill in football and basketball). Georgia originally offered Marshall as a QB (he passed for 2956 yards and 34 TDs last year) but Mark Richt called him up a couple of weeks ago and re-offered him as a defensive back. Last night Marshall called Richt and accepted the offer. He will play both sports at Georgia and will count as a football scholarship (great news for Mark Fox as Marshall is a Top 125 player in basketball). Marshall was also offered by Alabama, Florida, FSU, Clemson, and Tennessee among others.

ESPN is saying that Marshall was previously a silent verbal to go to Georgia Tech. Coming to UGA instead of Tech to play defense instead of QB is a pretty big statement. I really thought Marshall would look elsewhere after the LeMay verbal so I'm really excited that he's decided to come play football for UGA. And because he has committed as a DB we won't have to worry about him transferring if he's not getting his playing time as a QB. I think his biggest upside might be on the basketball court but I'm excited to have this kids verbal. Now we just have to keep Derek Dooley and his paws off of our recruits. Marshall is 6'2" so he fits in line with what new Secondary coach Scott Lakatos is looking for in his corners.

The first part of this video shows Marshall grabbing a 90+ yard interception and taking it to the house