The hardest thing for a freshman wide receiver on the No. 18 Michigan football team, in the eyes of Sherrone Moore, isn’t adjusting to the speed of college ball, or training your hands, or managing your stamina.
According to the Wolverines coach, the part of the game that might sound the simplest often poses the biggest challenge.
“As a true freshman, you gotta learn where to line up, you gotta learn where to go,” Moore said Oct. 20. “You gotta learn the playbook. You gotta be able to execute everything at the highest level.”
Andrew Marsh agrees.
The freshman receiver enrolled in the spring and spent much of that time going over each page in the playbook with his coaches. At that point, Marsh was somewhere around the fourth or fifth receiver in the depth chart. Marsh honed in on the details, from different options on different routes to knowing exactly how far apart to line up from his teammates.
Then came the Wolverines’ first bye week, when Marsh made the most of the extra practices, put his schooling to work and emerged a starter. Since that September bye, Marsh has caught 36 passes for 525 yards — more than any other Michigan receiver over the whole season.
Yet, Marsh is the first to admit he’s still learning.
“There was a few moments, even recently, there’s still times where I make mistakes or I may do something that I wasn’t supposed to do,” Marsh said Tuesday. “But just being able to bounce back from it, leave that play in the past, know that you’ve got a next play. Just being able to move on.”
The Wolverines’ passing game, even with freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood’s late consecutive interceptions or any potential Marsh mishaps, was at its best this past Saturday against Northwestern. The third-down, fourth-quarter, highlight-reel sideline catch was arguably Michigan’s flashiest passing play of the season, and Marsh’s other 11 catches weren’t exactly pedestrian either.
Marsh’s connection with Underwood looked effortless and polished, the latter dotting the former up and down the field. They certainly didn’t look like freshmen. For Marsh, building that connection was as involved and important of a process as learning the playbook was.
“It’s a little bit more than reps,” Marsh said. “Being able to go watch film and talk through things, whether y’all have a miscommunication, or y’all see things differently on the field. Being able to talk through things and just have that chemistry, know where each other’s at. … (Underwood) always tries to take the blame. He’s one of those type of guys, and so just being able to be around him, I’ve learned a lot.”
Marsh doesn’t have a shortage of teachers. From Underwood, to graduate wide receiver Donaven McCulley, to the Wolverines’ wide receiver coach Ron Bellamy, Schembechler Hall provides a pretty solid education for pass catchers. After his 179-yard, 12-reception performance versus the Wildcats, he called former Michigan wideouts Desmond Howard and Roy Roundtree.
Days later, his phone hasn’t stopped buzzing. He’s managing the hype with a maturity rare for a freshman.
“I haven’t surprised myself, but just been able to prove myself,” Marsh said. “I feel like we have a lot that we have to prove as a team, and me as well, I feel like we have a lot of work to do.”
It will be hard for Marsh to top his showing against Northwestern. But now that he’s more familiar with the playbook, Marsh is getting more targets, making more plays and becoming a key weapon in the Wolverines’ offense.
By Moore’s assessment, Marsh has conquered the hard part. Yet with just two regular season games left, he’s still learning.
