Now that Michigan football has had four weeks of play and a week off, there are a few players who are stepping up who perhaps have seen scant playing time. But Sherrone Moore is particularly excited about one at a position of need.
The Wolverines have struggled catching the ball in periods, but Moore has seen true freshman wideout Andrew Marsh really start to emerge coming out of the bye week. Marsh was an early enrollee and has been on campus since December. He got his first touchdown on a run play and his first catch — both in Week 3. But now, Moore says, the time is for Marsh to consistently show that he’s capable so that he can be inserted into games.
“The guy that stands out the most of that in phases is Andrew Marsh,” Moore told Jon Jansen on the Inside Michigan Football radio program. “He’s a guy that’s — he had a touchdown, his first touchdown in the Central game, his first catch. I think then, and made plays throughout that. So I look forward to seeing what he does the rest of the week and really challenging him and pushing him because he’s a younger guy with a lot of talent, but you’ve got to go do it on the practice field.”
Of course, playing wide receiver isn’t just about catching the football. Michigan asks a lot from its receivers, as they need to block as well as anything else. And for a first-year player, sometimes it just takes some time for them to get acclimated.
Moore explained more about the process, noting that Marsh has the talent and the ability, and now is about the time that younger players start to become more consistent.
“It changes by guy. He’s been here since spring,” Moore said. “So it’s helped that he’s had the time where those guys that have been here in the summertime. And what I’ve seen in my experiences, guys on defense — it’s always guys that are farther away from the ball that play earlier, and the ones that play early that are close to the ball are pretty special. Those are usually guys that are here for three years and gone. But the guys that play farther from the ball usually get a chance to play earlier because of their skill set.
“You’re fast, you’re fast. You can go catch it, you can catch it. You get separation, get separation. So for a guy like him, it’s taken a little time. He’s had spring, summer, and now fall camp, and the season. So it takes some time. We always say like Week 6 or 7 is that sweet spot of when the freshmen start peaking. But he’s starting to do that right now. So I want to go see what he does this week.
We’ll see if Marsh gets an increased workload on Saturday as the Wolverines host Wisconsin at The Big House for a noon EDT kickoff.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Andrew Marsh could see more action as Michigan searches for answers at wide receiver
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
