Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said on Monday that quarterback Nick Marshall deserves to be considered as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Malzahn’s Tigers (11-1) will play Missouri (11-1) on Saturday for the SEC Championship at the Georgia Dome.
“You talk about the best player in America at this point in the season you’ve got to at least mention his name,” Malzahn said. “He should be in the mix, no doubt. He’s one of the best players in college football.”
Votes from the 928 Heisman voters are due by Monday, two days after the SEC title game. The winner will be announced Dec. 14.
Marshall, a former Georgia player who has passed for 1,627 yards and rushed for 922 more, isn’t among a list of favorites led by Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston.
But Marshall has enough Heisman moments to fill up the TV time:
- His 39-yard shovel pass to Sammie Coates that tied the Iron Bowl against Alabama with 32 seconds left.
- His 73-yard Hail Mary with 25 seconds left to beat Georgia 43-38.
- And also, his 11-yard game-winning touchdown pass to tight end C.J. Uzomah with 10 seconds left that knocked off Mississippi State 24-20 on Sept. 14.
“That was big-time,” defensive tackle Nosa Eguae said. “He was so poised.”
Marshall’s moments would have to overcome his lack of statistical fireworks, one of high hurdles he would have to overcome to have any chance of receiving votes.
Marshall, a Pineview native, doesn’t rank in the top five in the SEC in rushing yards per game (eighth at 83.8 yards per game), total offense (eighth at 231.7 yards per game) or scoring TDs (12th at 5.5 points per game).
And his stats are nowhere near what Cam Newton posted in 2010 when he won the Heisman Trophy and led the Tigers to the national championship running Malzahn’s offense. Newton passed for 2,854 yards and rushed for 1,473 in 14 games. And Newton posted an eye-popping 50 touchdowns, compared to Marshall’s 22.
But Marshall’s stats also don’t reflect the Tigers’ success in the hurry-up, no-huddle schemes Malzahn prefers.
From a rushing standpoint, it can be argued that Marshall is actually running Malzahn’s offense better than Newton did.
This year’s team is averaging more yards per rush (6.3 to 6.1 in 2010) and needs just 69 yards to eclipse the rushing yards gained by Newton and company in 2010.
And, with 209 yards, Auburn will break Alabama’s SEC record set in 1973 for rushing yards gained in a season (4,027).
It seems Marshall has a handle on the read-option part of the offense.
“He’s smart, the way he handles situations,” fullback Jay Prosch said.
Marshall is doing all this despite not even beginning to learn the offense until he arrived at Auburn during the summer after transferring from Garden City Community College, where he enrolled after being dismissed from Georgia in Feb. 2012.
Malzahn said the competition was thrown open to all four quarterbacks, two who began learning the system during the spring.
Malzahn said they went “live” three weeks before the season and Marshall won the job.
“I am going to say this again, he has only been here for what, six months?” Malzahn said. “What he has done to lead our team and put us where we are at is really unbelievable.”
After a rough start – he rushed for just 27 yards and passed for 99 in the 31-24 season-opening win over Washington State – Marshall began to slowly improve first as a passer, and then as a runner.
He threw for a season-high 339 yards against Mississippi State in the third game, and rushed for a season-high 214 yards against Tennessee in the 10th game. He has thrown one interception in the past seven games and has just five against 11 touchdowns this year. Malzahn said knowing how to protect the football is a sign of a good quarterback.
Now, Marshall and the Tigers are playing for an SEC championship with an outside shot at playing for the national title.
Marshall told reporters on Sunday that it wasn’t something he thought about when he enrolled.
“I was just focused on bonding with my team and just getting that playbook down,” he said. “As I got used to it, and as we got on a roll, I figured it would be a good road to glory.”
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