Film Room: Jiquavious Marshall

Kentucky football has always loved long cornerbacks since Mark Stoops arrived in Lexington. That is not changing following the addition of Macon (Ga.) Westside product Jiquavious Marshall.

Defensive backs coach Chris Collins is starting to make some noise in the Peach State. After helping close on Grant Godfrey and Tavion Gadson last cycle, the third-year assistant is on the board in Georgia again after securing a commitment from Marshall on Wednesday night.

Blessed to be here💙#commited @CoachC_Collins @UKCoachStoops @UKFootball pic.twitter.com/2NOL1oS88G

— Jiquavious “Quavo” Marshall (@JiquaviousQuavo) June 21, 2023

Now it’s time to find out what Kentucky is adding in Marshall. The two-way player that also received interest from Florida State and Georgia Tech appears to be a great positional fit at boundary cornerback in Kentucky’s zone-heavy scheme.

Length in spades

If you were to look for a previous player comp in the Mark Stoops era for Jiquavious Marshall, the easy answer would be Chris Westry. Each cornerback stands at around 6-foot-4 and owns a very long reach. There are likely long speed concerns with both, but the overall length allows each to recover and minimize throwing windows.

Marshall is a bit raw as a cornerback right now, but his long arms allow him to make plays on the football and potentially give him a high ceiling in a Cover 3 scheme.

Playing boundary cornerback for Westside, these two reps show how Marshall’s length helps him recover. On the first rep, the cornerback gets beat on a release to the outside but uses his length to wall off the defender and make ball tracking more difficult. A good throw likely beats Marshall on this play, but the rep shows he does have room for era as a coverage player due to his size. In the next rep, Marshall gets lost but flips his hips and recovers on the wheel route out of the backfield. The cornerback then finds the ball in the air and has just enough length to record a havoc play.

Technique development will need some refinement at the college level, but the size is not coachable, and there are many instances where Marshall’s eyes appear to be in the right place giving him a chance to make plays on the ball in the air.

Ball skills raise the ceiling

Overall ball skills for Kentucky at the cornerback position have been an issue over the last few seasons. Outside of Kelvin Joseph, an outside cornerback has not recorded three interceptions in a season since Derrick Baity Jr. reached that mark in 2016. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen high-level ball production on the outside.

On both offense and defense, Jiquavious Marshall has a good knack for finding the ball in the air and then completing catches. Projecting that forward could allow the prospect the chance to be an interceptions over pass breakups player in college.

On offense, Marshall does a good job of finding the football in the air, keeping his eyes on the pass, and then finishing the catch to the ground. On the go ball out of the slot, Marshall finishes the play with a diving catch. As an outside receiver against tight coverage, he looks the pass in and finishes a contested catch. There are even reps of one-handed grabs in the endzone. On defense, Marshall’s eyes are again a weapon helping him recover. The defensive back knows when to break and high point the football.

Playing in Kentucky’s zone scheme, Marshall will need to be able to break on the football and close. Good eyes and instincts are required to get your hands on the football. The young defensive back flashes this on tape as well as being able to find the football on vertical throws where a one-on-one play must be made.

Traits-heavy prospect that fits Kentucky’s scheme

Jiquavious Marshall was a solid high three-star recruiting win for Kentucky in the traditional SEC footprint. The Wildcats were the only SEC school to offer the versatile defensive back who will need to be developed at the next level.

Marshall owns some intriguing traits (positional size, length, ball skills) but is a thin-framed defensive back that appears to be somewhat new to the position. On tape, there are a lot of see-ball and find-ball reps for the rising 2024 prospect. Marshall is a willing tackler, but there are questions regarding long speed and if he can thrive in a zone-heavy scheme.

Kentucky is going back to the Peach State and is taking a bet on the traits plus their staff’s development ability again similar to the Antwan Smith recruitment.

The newest commitment seems like a great potential fit as a boundary cornerback that can match up with X receivers in isolation and provide physical coverage down the field but also can support the run and clog zones as an instinctive off-man cornerback. The length and ball skills are signs that Marshall can succeed in this role. If the 2024 prospect hits, an NFL Draft projection is not an outlandish possibility.

Kentucky is still valuing length at cornerback, and Jiquavious Marshall checks that box while owning an overall intriguing skill set. A redshirt year is likely needed, but down the road, this could be a two-year starter in the SEC at a premium position who can physically matchup and potentially overwhelm outside receivers with length.