Sophomore running back Jordan Marshall wasn’t supposed to be waiting in the wings. Alongside junior Justice Haynes, the Michigan football team claimed it had 1a and 1b heading into the season.
But for five weeks the two-starters promise started to feel like just offseason talks. Haynes rattled off chunk plays like they were nothing, and the Michigan football team had no choice but to keep feeding him carries. Through five games, Haynes lapped Marshall in rushing yards, 656 to 233.
Frustration could have befallen Marshall. Instead, he endured, waiting for the moment which finally came Saturday.
“Career high, 25 carries, 133 yards and a touchdown, outstanding,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said. “(He) ran physical, ran hard, did the little things right and just played really well.”
Although not the way he or anyone wanted — with Haynes coming out of the tunnel without a helmet after sustaining an injury last week — Marshall was tasked with not only being an equal part in a two-man backfield, but a one-man band. In the first half against the Huskies, he was the only running back to touch the ball.
Every carry felt like a microcosm of arduous Marshall’s season. Most of the time he was called upon to run through the tackles, take contact and barrel forward for more yards anyway.
His 100-yard game was nothing like any of Haynes’ five. Marshall didn’t break the game open with any big plays, his longest carry was a touchdown run for a modest 14 yards. But Marshall turned plays that should’ve resulted in a loss of yards into no gain, 3 yards into 5 yards and so on.
Facing third-and-2 early in the fourth quarter, Michigan needed to capitalize on its second interception and protect its narrow 14-7 lead. As balanced as the Wolverines’ attack was Saturday, a handoff to Marshall in short yardage was surefire. It didn’t matter that the Huskies hit him at the line of scrimmage or turned him around. Haynes knew what he had to do, diving backwards to pick up the first down.
“It’s getting to the point where it’s expected,” Underwood said. “You hand off the ball and see him get wrapped up a little bit. Like, yeah, a couple more yards coming after that. So (that’s) just the expectation now for him.”
Including that instance, Marshall was handed the ball five times on third down, converting four of them to keep drives moving. With Marshall, the Wolverines didn’t need to call overly complex runs, he just took the ball up the middle and was good for moderate gains. He was the definition of a workhorse.
“When one of your brothers are down or not playing, you got to play for them,” Marshall said. “Justice was doing everything he could this week to get out there and play with his team and couldn’t go before the game, and I knew I was going to have to carry the load today and help this team win. And again, just to put us in the position to win is all I ever asked for. And again, playing relentless and with 100% effort every single play is what I’m going to give every single time I step out there.”
Marshall came into postgame interviews in a blue-collar shirt like Moore’s from earlier in the week. Not just after a hard day’s work, but after half a season that culminated in a career performance.
Related articles