Let me try to be objective about Lawrence Marshall's commitment to UM. Folks, this one hurts almost as much as the Drake Harris loss. Marshall was a solid talent and he was supposedly leaning towards MSU for several weeks, now. The inability to seal the deal is certainly a little frustrating.
On the other hand, if Marshall was being recruited as a weak-side defensive end, then there are actually better prospects still out there. Personally, I think guys like Joe Henderson and Robert Bowers are better suited to play WDE because they have a little more speed and length than Marshall. And now that Marshall committed to UM, a guy like Henderson is actually more likely to end up at MSU.
Marshall actually reminds me a lot of William Gholston. He looks strong, but not particularly fast. So I think he would be better suited to play strong-side defensive end, and he would have likely excelled at that position. But were the coaches intending to bring him in to play SDE? If not, then he may have taken up the spot of a better WDE prospect in the 2014 class. And then, it's also possible that he would have occupied that spot on the roster for a few years, kind of like Gholston did the last couple of years. I love Gholston, but he was not quite fast enough to play WDE. I think Shilique Calhoun will show us this year what a speedier WDE can do.
The main point, folks, is that while the Marshall loss hurts, there is quite a bit of talent still out there. Heck, there is still a lot of talent that will emerge throughout the next 12 months. Don't forget, we're talking about a crop of kids that is only about to finish the 11th grade. There is still a long way to go.
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