2 weeks Ago
Nick Marsh was a pleasant surprise for a Michigan State fanbase that has sat through much gloom in recent years when he came onto the scene as a freshman sensation last year. The former four-star recruit led the Spartans in receiving with 649 yards last season, nearly 200 of which came in just his second-career game, a narrow road win over Maryland in which he secured eight catches and scored one of his three touchdowns on the year. Now, the bar is raised for Marsh , who is expected to be quarterback Aidan Chiles' go-to receiver and the leader of a revamped wideout room.
Marsh's position coach, Courtney Hawkins, a former Spartan wide receiver himself, laid out what "the next steps" are for his second-year standout. "I mean, the next steps for him [Marsh] is, for one, is just still fine-tuning from a route standpoint," Hawkins said . "Challenging him to step out of his comfort zone, I need him to lead, come and lead the room.
"Also, just playing fast being a playmaker, being that guy that we know on third down, the rock's coming to you. You got to get open, man. And having that mindset, when he checks all those boxes -- right now, just continuing to get the game to slow down for him so he's understanding what's happening on the back end, the more you understand it, the slower the game appears to you as a wideout.
"So, we're constantly pushing that right now. And I think with him, man, the sky's the limit for his game, man. He can do a whole bunch of stuff.
" Hawkins has already seen growth from Marsh , particularly from a mental side of things. "I think now one of the biggest differences is now maybe the questions he asks are a little more football, little higher level from a football education standpoint," Hawkins said. "Which, sometimes, he'll ask a question and I'll look like, 'Did you really just ask that?' "So, that lets me know that he's understanding what's going on on the backside now, the things that he needs to do to get open from a tempo standpoint.
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