Rasheed's Homecoming
November 26, 2002 11:35 AM | General
November 26, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Growing up in Pittsburgh’s Hill District section, Rasheed Marshall could often see the distant glare of the Pitt Stadium lights from his front porch.
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| Sophomore quarterback Rasheed Marshall is becoming a West Virginia fan favorite after leading WVU to an upset victory at nationally ranked Virginia Tech last Wednesday. |
As a child he sometimes pedaled his bicycle up the hill to Pitt Stadium with his friends, standing outside the gates to catch a glimpse of the game going on or waiting for enough time to expire off the clock before a friendly guard would let them in.
“I can’t remember my first Pitt game, but I do remember that there was a little recreation center near my house and there was a guy who gathered up all of the kids and took us to the games sometimes,” said Marshall.
Although Marshall grew up within walking distance of Pitt Stadium he wasn’t a fan of Panther football primarily because the Pitt teams back then weren’t very good. Ten years ago was the period in Pitt football right after Paul Hackett when the Panthers posted consecutive records of 3-9, 3-8, 3-8, 2-9 and 4-7 before Coach Walt Harris pumped new life into the program in 1997.
“I wasn’t a big Pitt fan growing up,” admitted Marshall. “I liked the teams down south like Florida and Florida State. Florida State had the big-name players like Charlie Ward and Florida had all of those great receivers – it was just like an attraction.”
Marshall, meanwhile, was beginning to make a name for himself as a quarterback at Brashear High School. He threw for more than 3,000 yards in his last two seasons, earning all-city honors twice.
However, Marshall played in the shadows of Perry High School quarterback Rod Rutherford, whose left-handed laser beams helped him become one of the city’s top college prospects. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Rutherford was the state’s Associated Press player of the year and he was named a Super Prep All-American.
Rutherford’s Perry Traditional Academy rolled up a 33-6 record during his career including two city league titles. Marshall’s Brashear High School team gave Perry little opposition losing all three times Marshall was there, including one 47-0 loss.
Rutherford had several scholarship offers and choose hometown Pitt, where he was promised the chance to play quarterback. Marshall wasn’t quite as heavily recruited and only received nominal interest from the hometown Panthers.
“I got phone calls here and there from them but as a player you know how heavily you’re getting recruited,” said Marshall. “It wasn’t real heavy.”
In reality, Pitt had more of a pro passing system that requires a great understanding of the passing game. Brashear’s running offense Marshall directed really didn’t suit him well for what Harris was looking for in a quarterback.
And while Rutherford didn't play in a sophisticated passing offense either, Pitt coaches probably figured Rutherford's powerful 6-foot-3 frame could successfully be used elsewhere if he couldn't be molded into a quarterback.
Therefor, Rasheed verbally committed to West Virginia after his senior season but low SAT scores forced him to spend a year at Valley Forge Academy near Philadelphia in 1999. Marshall passed for almost 800 yards and rushed for 400 more to earn a spot on the Philadelphia Inquirer all-area team. He had scholarship offers from Iowa, Wisconsin and Kansas State but reaffirmed his commitment to West Virginia, mainly because he saw an opportunity in Morgantown.
“After weighing all of my options, (West Virginia) was close to home and I figured that this would probably be a place where I would get a chance to play the quickest,” said Marshall.
After redshirting the 2000 season, Marshall was set to see significant playing time as Brad Lewis’ backup last year but a broken wrist in the first game of the year against Boston College limited him to just five games.
Rutherford, meanwhile, played in nine games as a freshman in 2000 and 11 more as a sophomore last year backing up starter David Priestley. Used primarily as a runner to keep defenses honest, Rutherford completed just 32.2 percent of his passes while rushing for 255 yards and six touchdowns.
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| Marshall's 11 rushing touchdowns are the most by any Mountaineer quarterback in one season. |
“We were kind of in the same boat last year,” said Marshall. “He played a lot more than me because of my wrist but as far as coming into the season, not a lot of people knew about us.”
When Pitt recruited local prep All-America quarterback Tyler Palko last winter, it wasn’t a lock that Rutherford was going to earn the starting job this fall even though Palko was a true freshman.
But Rutherford held off Palko during fall practice and Rutherford’s first college start against Ohio wasn’t an impressive one. The Panthers won by only 13 points against the Bobcats. It wasn’t until a take-charge, second-half performance against Texas A&M that Rutherford earned the respect of his teammates and coaches.
Since then, he has become one of the better quarterbacks in the Big East and actually leads the conference in total offense with an average of 246.5 yards per game. He has completed 162-of-311 passes for 2,348 yards and 19 touchdowns. He completed 10-of-15 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns in a win at Syracuse, and threw for more than 200 yards in wins against Boston College and Virginia Tech.
Likewise, Marshall has developed into one of the more effective quarterbacks in the Big East. Marshall is responsible for 20 touchdowns this season and ranks among the league leaders with 11 rushing TDs. Marshall’s total offensive average of 169.6 yards per game ranks sixth, and he ranks 10th in the Big East in rushing with 588 yards.
With Marshall under center, West Virginia has one of the country’s top rushing offenses averaging 292 yards per game. The Mountaineers are 19th in total offense averaging 418.4 yards per game and 27th in scoring offense averaging 31.8 points per game.
“They have good football players and he (West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez) knows what he’s doing,” said Harris. “He knows the adjustments. And, when they have a quarterback who’s a threat to take it the distance, I think that’s the difference. Marshall is a running threat as well as a passing threat and it makes them very dangerous.”
Although Marshall’s passing touch admittedly needs more refining, he has still managed to complete 122-of-232 passes for 1,278 yards and nine touchdowns. More importantly, he’s thrown only four interceptions.
Last year Marshall played most of the Pitt game after an injury to Mountaineer starter Brad Lewis and got a first-hand taste of what the Backyard Brawl is all about.
“Before Brad got hurt, one of our offensive linemen came off the field and told me that one of their defensive linemen was saying, ‘We want Brashear – bring Brashear out on the field,’” said Marshall. “It’s kind of ironic because Brad got hurt on the next series and here I come out on the field. They were clapping saying ‘Yeah, here’s Brashear -- we’ve got him now.’ There will probably be a lot more of that this year.”
Being a Pittsburgh guy and knowing a good number of the Pitt players, Marshall could use that to talk trash and stir things up. But that’s not his nature. Marshall says he gets along fine with everyone and in fact, he sometimes talks to Rutherford when he goes home in the summertime and during off weekends.
“The last time I talked to Rod was right before the season started,” Marshall said. “Every once in a while when I go home on the weekend and I’ll see him down in Oakland we’ll talk a little bit.”
Marshall played at the same prep school as Pitt defensive backs Tyrone Gilliard and William Ferguson. Panther wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald also went to Valley Forge after Marshall left for WVU.
“He’s a good player,” said Marshall of Fitzgerald. “I had a chance to watch him against Miami and a couple of other times. His performance against Miami really put him up there to be an elite player – the type of catches he goes up and makes it’s almost like, ‘How are you going to stop him?’”
Marshall is looking forward to Saturday’s trip back to Pittsburgh to play against his hometown school and against many of the same players he faced in high school. Rasheed is also looking forward to another opportunity to play against Rutherford.
“It’s going to be a big game,” said Marshall. “It’s my hometown team so that makes it a little bit more special. I’ll have a lot of people there.”
Saturday’s Backyard Brawl features two 8-3 teams looking for a second place finish in the Big East and a spot in the Gator Bowl. The game will kick off at 1 p.m. and will be televised regionally on ABC.
