‘Be the Best’ – Marshall Part of Elite Receiving Group

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Miles Marshall knows the truth. In Indiana's receiving room, it starts with Ty Fryfogle, the reigning Big Ten Receiver of the Year, and then everybody else.

But truth can't limit Marshall, a 6-4, 212-pound redshirt junior. His coach won't allow it. His talent demands it.

"I wake up every morning and tell myself I want to be the best receiver on the field," he says. "It is no disrespect to Ty or anyone else in our group. I just want to be the best receiver on the field. I want to go to the next level and for me to go to the next level, I have to be the best receiver on the field.

"That is how we compete with each other. Ty wants to be the best receiver on the field, as well. We just compete and get better that way."

Marshall seems poised for big things after a sophomore season in which he averaged 15.3 yards for his 19 catches (including a 68-yard reception against No. 3 Ohio State). That average ranked second on the team to Fryfogle's 19.5.

Marshall's elite potential has him following receivers coach Grant Heard's blueprint for success, and if it seems like coaching cliché, that doesn't make it any less true.

"I am working on getting one percent better every day," he says. "Coach Heard has us write things that we are going to do to get better that day, so whether it has been releases or contested catches or getting separation down the field or blocking. He has everybody write down one thing. I focus on a lot of things, because I want to get better as a whole."

Friendly competition with Fryfogle (who caught 37 passes for 721 yards with a pair of 200-yard receiving games last season), Marshall adds, makes them both better.

"We have been here a couple of years together, so we have a good relationship. Both of us know that we are elite players at our positions, so we hold ourselves to a higher standard than maybe some of the younger guys. We push each other that way."
Heard sees big things for Marshall if he buys into the embrace-the-contact approach necessary for elite receiving success.

"He needs to be more physical on contested catches," Heard says. "He can do it, but he needs to be more consistent doing it.

"The great thing with Miles is he can play any position. If somebody goes down, and I need to flip somebody, he knows the whole play book inside and out. I feel comfortable moving him around and put him in different spots and use the skill sets that best suit him."

As for that best-receiver mentality, Heard adds, "I hope he embraces that he's the No. 1 receiver.

"Ultimately, Ty made a bunch of plays last year. He's not going to sneak up on anybody. We have to have a bunch of No. 1 receivers out there.

"Ole Miss took Ty away last year (in the Outback Bowl). We have to make sure we have players across from him who can make plays, and who feel they are the first option on every route. We want them to have that mindset, so when the ball comes to them, they're not surprised. They expect the ball to come to them every play."

Making contested catches is a big point of emphasis for Heard, who understands the benefits for a team with title-winning expectations.

"The defenses in this conference are good," he says. "Corners and DBs are good. You look at a game, most catches are contested. Very rarely do you get a wide-open dude unless (the defense blows) a coverage. We put a big emphasis on that. The ball is thrown to you, you have to attack the ball."

IU has plenty of receivers willing to attack balls beyond Marshall and Fryfogle.

D.J. Matthews Jr. has emerged as the starting slot receiver, which is what was expected after he transferred from Florida State. He caught 84 passes for 809 yards and five touchdowns as a Seminole.

"The good thing with our system is we have the ability to move people where we want them and when we want to do that," Heard says. "There will be different people (at slot receiver), but starting off, it would probably be D.J. He is a quick little jitterbug that gives us some juice that we need on this offense."

Matthews, who was brought in to replace standout slot receiver Whop Philyor, has caught as many as 10 passes for 133 yards in a game.

"He is full go," Heard says. "He's a sharp kid, very intelligent. Good to go with the playbook. Now it's just more trying to refine some of the stuff and getting it to the way we want it done.

"Every once in a while, he reverts back to those Seminole ways and I've got to remind him, 'You're a Hoosier now' and we do it this way.

"He's done awesome. The first day I saw him, he did some stuff route-wise that (Florida State) didn't do that he naturally knows how to do, so he's making my job easier."
IU landed another grad transfer receiver in Camron Buckley out of Texas A&M. The 6-2, 198-pounder totaled 62 catches for 877 yards (a 14.1-yard-per-catch average) and four touchdowns for the Aggies.

The key to adjusting to a new system, he says, starts by forgetting.

"I had to forget where I was before and forget those rules, realize I am in a new place and there are new rules," he says. "Once I did that, I corrected those mistakes and moved on from them. Now, it is all coming natural and I am an Indiana Hoosier.

As far as learning new plays, he says, "The playbook has become second nature. I am not even thinking about it. I hear the play and I am going, so I would say it is second nature now. The playbook just came natural."

Heard, as you might expect, wants more.

"I recruited Cam out of high school. I know a lot about him. He's played a lot of football in a good league (the SEC).

"He's still trying to figure out the nuances of the offense. He has a good grasp of what we're trying to get done. Now it's a matter of refining the nuances.

"Sometimes it's handicapping him a little bit because he's thinking rather than just playing. He knows what to do, but there's still that little slight doubt of how to do it. As weeks go on, he'll calm down, and start connecting with (quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr. and Jack Tuttle)."

Receiver is probably IU's deepest position (veterans Jacolby Hewitt and Javon Swinton are also in the mix), and Heard and offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan plan to take full advantage.

"Depth-wise, I feel good," Heard says. "There are six or seven guys that we could put in there and feel comfortable that they can make a play and know what we are doing.

"It's awesome because every year I've been here, I've lost one for a game or a season. Big Ten football is rough. It's called Big Ten football for a reason.

"We are going to have to have depth and you're always going to have to be on alert and ready to jump in there and make a play. It just makes me feel better because if something happens, if someone is tired, someone is dinged up, whatever the case may be, I don't have to scramble about who's going in next."

Buckley, for one, has noticed.

"Our receivers room is very talented," he says, "and that brings nothing but value to our entire team. One guy goes deep and the other guy can jump in; everyone just compliments each other.

"That is a receivers dream. We don't want to run 10 go balls back-to-back-to-back, so to have that depth in the receivers room, it helps us out a lot."

Indiana University Athletics

‘Be the Best’ – Marshall Part of Elite Receiving Group

Related News

Players Mentioned

Camron Buckley

Ty Fryfogle

Jacolby Hewitt

Miles Marshall

D.J. Matthews Jr.

Michael Penix Jr.

Whop Philyor

Javon Swinton

Jack Tuttle

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