Nick Marshall developing as a passer, bonding with WRs

• Nick Marshall is the most efficient %28143.2%29 returning quarterback in the SEC
• Footwork and throwing mechanics a focus of the spring for Auburn starting QB

AUBURN – Nick Marshall was bored.

The Auburn quarterback had far more down time before spring practice began than during the season. There was no opponent to prepare for, no game tape to analyze, just time to do whatever he pleased outside of the offseason conditioning and weight room routine.

He could think of no better way to use the down time than to call his wide receivers and hit the practice field.

"You try to get a bond with your receivers," Marshall said. "If you have a bond, just like a brotherhood, you don't miss a beat with anything."

Marshall would call Sammie Coates, Ricardo Louis, Quan Bray, Tony Stevens, Marcus Davis and D'haquille Williams "every day off" they had this winter.

The sessions were usually twice a week, sometimes after team workouts, sometimes on Sundays, with the quarterback and his array of offensive weapons working on various aspects of the passing game.

"He really wants to accomplish his goals and help us accomplish our goals," Louis said. "That's why we see him as a leader."

Marshall's wants to be a more polished passer and use his receivers more in the fall than he did last season, when he relied heavily on his legs as he threw for 1,976 yards with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions and ran for 1,068 and 12 scores.

With the SEC's top five quarterbacks in pass efficiency (Johnny Manziel, Zach Mettenberger, AJ McCarron, Connor Shaw and Aaron Murray) from last season all moving on to the NFL, Marshall is the most efficient returning signal caller in the conference.

He won't be abandoning his dual-threat capability, but Marshall wants to be more potent in the air in order to lead a "real scary" Auburn offense, and take the Tigers back to the national championship game.

The winter sessions with the receiving corps and 15 spring practices helped Marshall, whose A-Day game performance (13-for-22 for 236 yards and four touchdowns) was more impressive outside of the box score.

Even with a less than daunting pass rush from a mostly second and third-string defense, Marshall's presence and poise in the pocket was far different than it was during last season.

"I'm seeing an NFL-caliber quarterback right now already, just in the spring," Bray said. "He's making throws he wasn't making last year right now. He's just leading us and being that guy we can lean on and he can lean on us. When he makes a bad throw we just have to catch it."

There weren't many bad throws from Marshall on A-Day, though he did fire three straight incompletions from the 10-yard line on an early goal-to-go scenario, as he was crisp and hit several tight windows. A back-shoulder pass to Williams for a three-yard touchdown was particularly impressive, as was a deep ball to Coates, who made a spectacular one-handed grab for a 19-yard score.

"He's making better reads," Coates said. "He's doing a great job and it's going to be a shock to the world what he's going to do when he gets it all together."

The three weeks of practice leading up to the BCS National Championship were the first time the coaching staff got a chance at a prolonged time to work on Marshall as a passer without having to game plan each week, as it did during the season, or have split reps in a quarterback battle, as was the case early in fall camp.

That time led to a clear change on the field, as Marshall attempted more passes (27) against Florida State than he had since coach Gus Malzahn focused the offense on the zone read following the loss to LSU.

Having a chance to go through spring practice, a time of year Malzahn places an inordinate value on when it comes to his quarterback, allowed Marshall to further refine his passing skills.

"There's no doubt he's improved from (January) and he's gotten better, more comfortable, it's like anything else – the more you do something the more comfortable you'll get," Malzahn said. "You can see him in the pocket – he is just more under control. His balance is good, his eyes and progression are good. So you can tell that he has really improved."

Marshall made changes to his mechanics during the spring, paying specific attention to his delivery.

"It's footwork and keeping my shoulders square and not dropping my elbow when I deliver the ball and just try to follow through on every ball," Marshall said. "As you can see, every time I follow through with the ball it'll be somewhere in the receiver's premises. … I'm a way better passer than what I was from last year."

The assuredness of Marshall's words reveals a quarterback more at ease.

The Pineview, Ga. native has always been confident in his own natural abilities – before even signing with Auburn Marshall set his personal goals for his time at Auburn as winning the Heisman Trophy and a national title. What's different now is his deeper understanding of all that's taking place on the field.

"I just think there's a confidence about him, not from his ability, just from, 'Man, I know what's going on,'" offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said. "Not only do I think he does a better job of commanding the team and carrying himself, but I think because he's confident, if he doesn't think the receiver's where he wants them, he's going to let him know. If they didn't give him enough time, he's going to let them know. He's had the ability to admit, 'Hey, man, I blew that.' If you're not quite sure of yourself, it's harder for you to lead other people.

"And I think he's more sure of himself even than he was in January. Last year, he led more by example and making plays and our guys believed in him. Now, he can be having an off-day and still lead our guys and they're going to listen to him."

There was a particular play from spring practice Lashlee cited as an example of how far Marshall has come even since January: Marshall had four reads on a passing play, with a checkdown to Corey Grant being the fourth.

"We had a protection breakdown and had all these things happening. Instead of trying to hang in there and hold the ball or take a sack, he just flips, hits his checkdown, Corey gets seven yards," Lashlee said. "That's sometimes part of playing quarterback. That's the level he's getting to that he wasn't at."

Trovon Reed, Marshall's roommate, says the quarterback is "more mature" now than when he first arrived at Auburn.

As the player who spends the most time with Marshall off the field, Reed hears and sees things from the quarterback nobody else does.

It was Reed who Marshall promised he lead Auburn to the SEC Championship the first day he got to Auburn. Reed, who has moved from receiver to cornerback, saw how the loss to Florida State has stuck with Marshall.

"He knows he has to take that extra step for us to win the championship," Reed said. "He beat himself up all the time about we could've won, we could've won, but he always tells me, 'I got you this time.' And I believe in him 100 percent and I know he's going to take us back to the promised land."