There has been a lot of talk this week about what Nick Marshall has done for Auburn. There has been less talk about what he’s not done for Georgia.
Had Marshall not broken team rules and instead remained with the Bulldogs, he most certainly would be a starter at cornerback for Georgia on Saturday against Auburn and likely would be doing so with an eye on the next NFL draft.
The Bulldogs saw enough of Marshall to know he would help them in the secondary.
“He’s got the size to be a corner, the skillset to be a corner and he is an NFL corner, if that’s what he chooses to do,” Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. “But fortunately for him he’s doing well right now, and we’ve just got to go get ready to play.”
Marshall played one season as a backup corner in Georgia’s veteran-laden secondary of 2011. He also was a special-teams stalwart. He appeared in all 13 games, but had no starts and finished with five tackles.
“I think he’d be an all-conference-type guy,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “He’d be a guy with a very bright future at that position.”
Marshall’s departure was one in a sort of a perfect storm of circumstances that left Georgia’s secondary in somewhat of a lurch this season. Defensive back Chris Sanders was dismissed at the same time as Marshall. Defensive backs Jordan Love, Derek Owens and Quintavious Harrow left because of various circumstances before last season. And the Bulldogs have encountered some recruiting misses, not getting what they hoped out of Devin Bowman, Marc Deas and junior college transfers Shaquille Fluker and Kennar Johnson.
Meanwhile, injuries impacted the progress of several young prospects this season, including Paris Bostick (toe), Tray Matthews (hamstring) and Reggie Wilkerson (knee).
“I’m not into hypotheticals,” Grantham said. “I know when we brought (Marshall) in here, we were very confident he could be a starting corner for us. and there’s no doubt about it from watching him play. I’m pretty proud of what he’s done. He’s been able to go out and accomplish some goals on his own, and he’s been successful. I’m sure he’s happy, and we’ve all moved on. That’s part of life.”
Conley questionable: Receiver Chris Conley is trying to come back from an injury, and Richt made it clear Tuesday that his availability remains very questionable. Conley suffered a sprained ankle on the last play of the game against Vanderbilt on Oct. 19. He ran on the side during practices Monday and Tuesday but hasn't taken any snaps from scrimmage.
If anybody could play without practicing all week, Richt said Conley could. “The fact that he knows the system and the fact that he stays on top of everything and the fact that he has been in these types of games, I could see him rolling in on Friday feeling good and then going into pregame warm-ups and having an impact,” Richt said. “But since he’s not practicing a lot, it will be hard to predict.”
Marshall has surgery: Georgia sophomore tailback Keith Marshall, out since he suffered a knee injury in the second quarter of the Oct. 5 game against Tennessee, finally underwent surgery Tuesday. He had an ACL reconstruction.
“Ron (Courson) thought it went well, from what he told us,” said Richt, referring to Georgia’s director of sports medicine. “He’ll probably be in the hospital for a day or two and then start rehabbing.”
As the No. 2 tailback, Marshall had 357 total yards and two touchdowns when he went down in the season’s fifth game. He was the third player to undergo an ACL reconstruction this season
Road warriors: Because of a scheduling "quirk" caused by SEC expansion in 2012, Georgia is having to play on the road at Auburn in back-to-back years. Georgia has to play at Auburn for a second consecutive year, thanks to the adjusted SEC scheduling. Richt bemoaned that fact at the Bulldogs' news conference Tuesday.
“The quirk in the schedule didn’t really work out to our favor,” Richt said. “But that’s what happens when you add two new teams and you’re trying to make the scheduling work.”
Georgia has won six of the past seven in the series, but the road team has been curiously successful in the rivalry. The Bulldogs are 15-10-2 in Jordan-Hare Stadium and Auburn is 18-12 in Athens. The teams played 40 times in Columbus.
He said it: "It's basically the same defense, the same people. They're winning, beating teams, so they've just got a lot of energy right now. Our plan is to go in there and take it out of them." — Georgia tailback Todd Gurley on Auburn's defense
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