How six weeks impacted Nick Marshall, Auburn football

MANHATTAN, KANSAS – Nick Marshall tries to downplay it, just like the Georgia game last year, but make no mistake, when he leads No. 5 Auburn onto the field against No. 20 Kansas State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium tonight, there will be an added level of emotion from the Tigers quarterback.

A flurry of events unfolded over the course of six weeks in late 2012 and early 2013 had a massive impact on Marshall's life and the fate of two football programs set to clash before an expected record crowd and national television audience.

It all began when Auburn hired Gus Malzahn on Dec. 4, 2012, followed nine days later by Jake Waters committing to Kansas State, and a late December through early January recruiting frenzy, which included Mack Brown of Texas, Bill Snyder of Kansas State and a contingent of Auburn's coaches pursuing Marshall until he committed to the Tigers on Jan. 14.

Marshall and Waters will lead their respective teams in a face-off of dual-threat quarterbacks and innovative offensive coaches in Malzahn and Snyder. How they fare against each other will go a long way to determining the fate of their seasons, but their biggest impact on each other's lives may have already happened.

Waters' commitment changes things for Marshall

Then at Arkansas State, Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee were going to lose quarterback Ryan Aplin following the 2012 season.

Familiar with Marshall's prowess as a quarterback while at Wilcox County (Georgia) High School, Malzahn offered Marshall a scholarship before anyone else.

"Nick had an offer to Arkansas State before he even took the field as a quarterback at the collegiate level," said Matt Miller, then Garden City's offensive coordinator and now head coach. "That was the trust that Nick had with coach Malzahn."

Once Marshall took the field for the Broncbusters, what Malzahn recognized before anybody else was no longer a secret. Offers poured in from Texas Tech, Kansas State, Indiana, and Baylor for Marshall, who was named the Jayhawk Conference Offensive Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, Waters was putting on a show of his own at Iowa Western Community College and was named the Midwest Football Conference Offensive Player of the Year.

Kansas State was the only school pursing both of the top two junior college quarterbacks.

Auburn concluded its 3-9 season and fired Gene Chizik on Nov. 25. Then Arkansas State concluded its regular season on Dec. 1. Three days later Malzahn was hired at Auburn.

By the end of the week, Malzahn had his coordinators in place.

"We were out of luck at Arkansas State, so we had to change locations," Lashlee joked.

Waters visited, committed and signed with Kansas State all between Dec. 7 and Dec. 19, but did not stop pursing Marshall, who was naturally having second thoughts, wary of not wanting to move back to defensive back after trying to relaunch his career as a quarterback.

"When Waters commits, (Marshall) felt like that (Kansas State) would tell him he'd have the best shot and that he would probably have to move back to defensive back and that was something he did not want to do," then Garden City coach Jeff Tatum said. "They told him through the whole situation that he was going to play quarterback and that he would have a shot to beat Waters out; that they would be in competition for the quarterbacking job."

Marshall was not backing away from the competition with Waters, but he was seeing the landscape change rapidly and had reservations.

"The assumption, and that's all it is, would be (Waters' commitment) did have an impact," Snyder said. "But I don't know that that's accurate at all. He's not a guy that would run away from the challenge I'm sure about that."

According to Riyahd Jones, Marshall's roommate at Garden City and now a redshirt cornerback at Tennessee, he and Marshall were set to go to Kansas State but Marshall decided not to take an official visit after Waters committed.

"The day before we were supposed to leave for Manhattan, he wasn't too excited about it," Jones said, according to GoPowercat.com. "Then, when we woke up that morning for the visit, we missed our initial departure time. Coach Jeff Kelly ended up taking me up there and that was around 10 a.m., but during that in between time, I was trying to talk Nick into coming still. He just kept telling me no, that he wasn't going to, and kept saying stuff about how he thought they were going to move him to safety.

"If Jake Waters hadn't committed, I still think we'd both be at Kansas State. Maybe Rodriguez Coleman too."

Tennessee declined to make Jones available for interview.

Snyder said there were never any plans to play Marshall at safety.

"No we'd never addressed him about (moving to defensive back)," Snyder said. "We were always honest with everybody that we visit with and we were interested in him under any circumstances, but it was never in our mind to bring him here as something, anything other than a quarterback."

Marshall has no ill feelings toward Snyder or Kansas State.

"He's a great coach," Marshall said. "He's a nice guy. He's a man to his word."

Waters was not fully aware of the chain of events he set off in Marshall's life following his committing with KSU.

"I knew of him in (junior college) and I knew the kind of player he was," Waters said, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. "I knew he was getting recruited by Kansas State, but I wasn't quite sure of all that. I was just focused on myself and the process to make the best decision for me."

Auburn's pitch

In late December, Auburn and Texas entered the picture for Marshall, though the Longhorns' interest was short-lived.

"Sometime in December I got a call from coach (Rodney) Garner, he was expressing their interest in Nick. Then coach Lashlee," Wilcox County coach Mark Leford said. "Then Kansas State was in the picture and coach Snyder came sometime in early January … He still would like to have Nick on the team.

"I don't think he'd have flown from Kansas to Rochelle, Georgia, if he didn't want Nick Marshall."

In mid-January, Lashlee and wide receivers coach Dameyune Craig visited Marshall and his family at their home to line up the details of an official visit and Marshall committed before even visiting the Plains.

"Going there we weren't that worried," Lashlee said. "We were in good shape, but recruiting is recruiting. People are going to say what they've got to say to try to get whatever their point is across.

"By the time we got there that evening, we thought we were there to talk about the official visit. We realized some things were said not only about us, but how to get certain people into school and those things that just weren't true.

"Once Dameyune and I were able to talk with him and his mom and grandmother, they felt comfortable there is nothing Auburn can't do that Kansas State can do as far as getting Nick into school. At that point Nick wanted to come on a visit. He wanted to stay close to home and be in the SEC. I think it was good for us to be there face-to-face and start that relationship."

What if?

There are varying opinions as to what would have happened had Waters not committed and signed with the Wildcats in Dec. 2012, or if Malzahn and his staff didn't end up at Auburn.

Tatum believes Marshall would have gone to Kansas State. Ledford believes being closer to home would've won out, provided Malzahn was at Auburn.

Regardless, all sides feel good about how things played out in the end, but it hasn't stopped them all from talking about the events of those six weeks ever since.

"Nick's been talking about this game for so long," said Auburn cornerback Trovon Reed, Marshall's roommate. "He always says 'I almost went there, I almost went there.'"

Ledford has seen how Marshall, a young man of few words, handles his emotions in critical situations. Time and again, he's managed to deliver.

"Nick is going to have a strong desire to perform well Thursday night, and I think his teammates understand that also," Ledford said. "They're going to understand how big it is for Nick."