NEW ORLEANS -- The first practice period begins with 5 minutes on the clock, and maybe the most hectic schedule in college football officially begins.
It starts with a couple minutes of throwing the football with the Ohio State quarterbacks and some hands-on instruction about his footwork from the coaching staff.
With half of the session to go, it’s time to stop tossing the ball and squeeze in a route near midfield with the wide receivers.
After another minute, it’s off to another set of coaches and teammates to work on a package as a rushing threat or blocker out of the backfield as a hybrid weapon.
That’s just a small sample of what life is like for versatile redshirt freshman Jalin Marshall, the busiest of Buckeyes who could wind up having the biggest impact on the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Thursday night given his many responsibilities -- potentially including the role of backup quarterback.
“It’s definitely hectic,” Marshall said. “I come out to practice every day, I’ve got to hold field goals, catch punts, run in the backfield, warm up to throw, warm up my legs to run routes. That’s definitely a hectic situation, but I enjoy every moment of it.
“I mean, this is the biggest stage there is in college football, and being at Ohio State, what else could you do but play every position?”
Marshall has shined everywhere he’s lined up for the No. 4 Buckeyes during his first full season on the field, blossoming as a game-breaking receiver, a dangerous rusher when called on and a lightning-quick weapon on special teams. But it’s his background as a high school quarterback and Ohio State’s run of injuries at the most critical position on the field that could put him in the brightest spotlight, one play away from perhaps being pressed into action to replace Cardale Jones behind center with Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett already on the shelf.
The Buckeyes have one more scholarship passer on the roster in Stephen Collier, but he’s redshirting and Marshall’s previous experience, his intelligence and an arm that offensive coordinator Tom Herman called “stronger than you’d think” will make him the first option off the bench if something were to happen to Jones. And that’s added to Marshall’s already jam-packed list of responsibilities as Ohio State tries to balance installing a game play with him at quarterback while simultaneously making sure he’s prepared to do the kinds of things elsewhere that produced 7 offensive touchdowns this season.
“He’s really sharp mentally, so that helps,” Herman said “He sees the game like a quarterback, because he played the position, he knows. Now, it’s a little faster and the terminology is different, what we ask him to do is a ton different than what he did in high school, but kids that have never played the position have a hard time seeing it through that lens.
“He’s not going to get the whole game plan, that’s the thing. We probably have too many plays, too many formations already, so to say that he’s going to learn them all, that would be foolish. We say, ‘Hey, Jalin, here’s what you need to know. Here’s your little box.’ If we had to go win the game, we would rather try to win the game with these 15 plays and you at quarterback.”
The best-case scenario for the Buckeyes, of course, would be keeping Jones healthy at quarterback while allowing Marshall to continue to providing one of his most lethal weapons on the perimeter.
He is already playing a more prominent role in the attack at the H-back position than earlier in the year thanks to the November injury to sophomore Dontre Wilson, which helped open the door for him to score five touchdowns in the last four games on the way to the College Football Playoff. And while Marshall would certainly prefer that there aren’t any more health issues that force him to shuffle around the formation again, he made it quite clear on the practice field that he’ll go wherever he’s needed.
“I’ve taken maybe 300 reps at quarterback,” Marshall said. “I take every mental rep at quarterback. Watching more film, you know, and taking team reps as well. When Cardale’s arm gets tired, I take those reps. They’ve just given me as many reps as I can [take], as many reps as possible for me to get ready to play quarterback if I have to.
“It’s a weird situation. I don’t want to see Cardale go down, and I don’t think anybody wants to see Cardale go down. But if he does, I’ll be ready.”
And if the Buckeyes don’t need him at quarterback, they’ll undoubtedly find something else to keep him busy.
