Inside the commitment: Peyton Marshall's outlook at Auburn

Four-star and 7-foot center Peyton Marshall became the first piece of Auburn’s 2024 basketball recruiting class when he committed to Bruce Pearl’s Tigers on Dec. 9.

Marshall is ranked as the No. 72 overall player on the On3 Consensus and as No. 6 center and the No. 7 player in Georgia.

Marshall plays for Kell High School in metro Atlanta and for Game Elite’s AAU squad.

Despite how his size jumps off the screen, Marshall also shows a lot of promise as a back the basket scorer and as a rim protector. For his age and size, Marshall displays promising footwork, good hands, good timing and instincts, and other skills in addition to his size.

If Auburn’s big man development trends continue, Marshall could be a special player on the Plains.

Recruitment recap

Marshall, checking in at 7-0, 310 pounds as a junior in high school, was seen as a heavy Auburn lean early on. He visited the Tigers along with 2024 priorities Ace Bailey and Tahaad Pettiford this summer.

Marshall also took visits to Missouri and Penn State and received interest from LSU before making his commitment to the Tigers.

On3’s Joe Tipton said Marshall is also a “good friend” of Bailey, and Marshall was an AAU teammate of 2026 Auburn target Caleb Holt – who projects as a high ceiling instate prospect.

Program fit

Auburn has made it known over the last several seasons that the Tigers will slow down and play through big men and not just its point forwards. Marshall is the kind of player who can anchor an offense from the paint if the speed of the game and fouls don’t catch up to him.

So, Marshall fits at Auburn as a talented post scorer. He also fits because of the work he needs to do to reach his potential. 

Marshall will be the ultimate test for Auburn’s coaching staff. If Marshall progresses at the rate Anfernee McLemore, Dylan Cardwell, and other bigs have at Auburn, then Auburn’s newest commitment has a chance to be an All Conference center at Auburn and a pro prospect.

Marshall shows a good foundation with his footwork and size, so there’s reason to think he can climb towards that potential once coupled with Auburn’s ability to develop bigs.

The big man is also good at running ball screen offense and shows great instincts on shot blocking, two attributes that Auburn has priotized in bigs over the years.

Marshall projects as a multi-year player. He shows more promise as a two-way player at this point in his career compared to McLemore, Cardwell, and Auburn’s other developmental bigs, but his ceiling is probably also farther away. That probably works in Auburn’s favor as Johni Broome and Cardwell could have overlap years with Marshall, and Auburn has recruited bigs from the portal as well as anyone.

Marshall’s offense, starring his post-up game

Auburn’s newest commitment is much more than a big body. Marshall can catch the ball with his back to the basket and has several moves he uses to score buckets. A few of his moves are even surprisingly nimble for his size.

Marshall needs to work on his ball control to do the same moves in college but showing that he has these building blocks in place at his size and age is very promising.

Marshall also flashes an ability to face-up in the mid range on offense. This is mostly reliant on his handle and his ability to move defenders, but he has several dribble moves and a shot that could translate if improved on. It will be something to watch if he develops a shot.

Marshall knows how to leverage his size for rebounds and in ball screen offense, has good hands in the post, and has good touch around the rim. Obviously Marshall has to improve his skills and his athleticism, but he shows plenty of ability to outplay his recruiting ranking in college.

Marshall shows promise as more than a scorer

Auburn’s newest commitment also has good vision and good touch. This lets him find teammates when defenses collapse on him.

On defense, Marshall is a formidable rim protector at his age due to size alone, but the big man also offers good shot blocking instincts. He follows the ball well and gets his hands up quick.

Marshall also uses his size well as a space-eating rim protector. His size won’t be as big of an advantage at the next level, but it causes problems even against teams with elite recruits in the post becaue of Marshall’s instincts, power, and aggression.

SEC readiness, areas of improvement

When looking at potential pro prospects and first year impact guys, I like to look for immediately translatable skills. Marshall doesn’t have many of those at this time, besides his size and power, but he has the building blocks in place for me to think he’ll develop them by the time he leaves Auburn and maybe even develop s few before he arrives.

He has some obvious areas of needed improvement that can make him a bigger day one impact player at Auburn — if the roster makeup allows for it.

Marshall needs to add agility and muscle. This will help him as a defender and shot blocker when getting off the ground quickly and will bring his size up to its true potential by filling Marshall out with muscle.

If Marshall wants to play a lot of minutes at Auburn, he’ll also need to run the floor better. I think he’s fine instinct wise, and Auburn has been willing to slow things down and play through its bigs in the half court, but Broome, Walker Kessler, and even Austin Wiley were all solid floor runners at their worst. Marshall can get there, but he’ll have to put in some work.

Marshall has a decent handle, but it needs to improve for his scoring to translate. 

There are also times when Marshall is too aggressive and gets into foul trouble. He’ll need to work on body control and staying vertical to overcome that. Auburn’s ability to develop shot blockers and rim protectors is also promising there.

Adding a reliable jump shot would also be beneficial to Auburn’s big man, especially towards being a pro prospect, but it isn’t necessary for him.