Tajwar's Take: Appreciating Biggie Marshall's special season
This has not been a satisfactory edition of USC football this fall.
Far from it -- 5-4 isn’t good enough for most schools across the country, and here in Los Angeles it’s plain panic-inducing.
And there's plenty of blame to go around -- an inability to run block, poor play-calling, missed opportunities and stupid penalties only start the list. What’s been hardest to watch for me, however, has been the play at cornerback. It’s agonizing to see the Trojans let their corners get beat up on game after game. With one very notable exception, of course.
The play of Iman Marshall this fall has been a pure bright spot for this USC team. He hasn’t gotten much love for it, but Biggie has delivered one of the best seasons for a Trojans corner in a long time, and amidst the disappointment of the overall proceedings he deserves some spotlight recognition.
The raw numbers don’t pop off the screen -- he hasn’t come up with any picks and has a modest 5 pass breakups so far. But a closer look shows just how dominant he’s actually been.
The first factor to consider when putting Marshall's season into perspective is the sheer lack of targets he’s received. He's only been thrown at 27 times through nine games -- that’s but three times a game -- and only 5 times over the last three games. Quarterbacks are simply avoiding him.
Even when he has been targeted, Marshall has been excellent at either preventing the completion and securing tackles to prevent yards after the catch. According to Pro Football Focus' detailed data, only 15 of those 27 targets were completed, most of them underneath for short gains before he came up and made the tackle. He’s only given up 19 yards after the catch the whole season (after allowing 188 YAC last year).
The three longest plays he’s allowed this fall have been for 29, 28 and 18 yards. Marshall has given up an average of only 5.9 yards per completion on the others (and 9.7 YPC overall). Over the first three years of his career, he gave up an average of 16.4, 15.8, and 12.6 yards per reception respectively. According to PFF, he’s only allowed 0.44 yards per cover snap this season -- second best in the country.
Marshall has improved every year of his career at USC, but the jump from 2017 to 2018 needs to be measured in lightyears. His biggest issue in the past was flawed technique, as his penchant for getting lost in his footwork and inconsistent eye discipline led to deep completions and holding calls against him time after time. This offseason, Marshall made a concerted effort to become more of a technician, and the tape shows it.
He’s never been the fastest or quickest guy on the field, but he's gotten to the point in his development where he fully understands both his athletic strengths and limitations.
It shows in his ability to properly play press-bail on speedier receivers, where he uses his strength to redirect the route-runner at the line and utilizes his big frame to keep them from running past him deep in the open field. His footwork has been much better, keeping to short, choppy steps in his backpedal to stop receivers from getting outside his frame as opposed to previous seasons when he’d tend to lunge on a move and subsequently lose the offensive player as they made another cut.
And Marshall's eye discipline has also improved greatly. Where he’d once get his eyes lost in the backfield or looking at the receiver’s torso, he’s been consistent at keeping his eyes on the hips of the man he’s guarding without losing track of the quarterback’s movements. This newly developed discipline gives him the chance to make the most of his always-strong football instincts, leading to better decisions when breaking on the ball or flipping his hips to run.
For those who came into the season expecting a new and improved version of Marshall, the results have exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. Such a dramatic improvement is rare, especially at a position as technically nuanced and difficult as corner. He’s still got a lot to work on -- he’s on pace to have more penalties than he’s ever had in his career.
Nonetheless, Marshall's play this year has been one of the few things I’ve been able to enjoy on a weekly basis from this team. Think about what the defense would have looked like without him this season -- terrifying.
Marshall was often maligned by many throughout the first three years in the program -- including by myself. What he’s been able to do this fall is special.
I couldn’t be happier to have been wrong about him.