Georgia Tech quarterback TaQuon Marshall, moved from A-back early in the spring, showed some of the playmaking flair that has made an impression on coaches during spring practice. He also showed that he needs some refinement.
In Saturday’s spring game, he led the Gold team to its only points of the game on a 15-play scoring drive in the third quarter for the Gold (second-team offense) in which he kept the ball on nine plays, gaining 34 yards. He came out briefly in the middle of the drive, apparently out of gas, before returning.
He sometimes broke off plays against their apparent intended direction, but also played with an elusiveness that enabled him to squirt for extra yards. On a third-and-2 in the third quarter, safety Shawn Kagawa fired into the backfield and had Marshall lined up, but Marshall slipped him with a feint and was able to pick up the first down.
“He’s got ability,” coach Paul Johnson said. “He’s had a decent spring. He didn’t have one of his better performances (Saturday), but he’s got ability.”
Splitting series with quarterback Matthew Jordan, Marshall ran 16 times for 58 yards and was 0-for-3 passing. On his first throw of the game, he was off-target throwing a slant route that was deflected and intercepted by Kagawa, who returned it 39 yards.
He made one of the more daring and perhaps ill-advised plays of the scrimmage, a long pitch to B-back Dedrick Mills for a 6-yard gain. Marshall made the pitch from just inside the hash marks. Mills was by the numbers, a last-ditch lateral covering about 10 yards.
“It was one of those things where I yelled at him about 40 plays to pitch the ball, so he finally pitched it,” Johnson said.
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