Michigan's Nate Marshall makes changes off field, becoming force on it

ANN ARBOR — Michigan edge rusher Nate Marshall wanted to change. He knew he had to. And a new football staff, determined to make him accountable off the field as well as on, gave him the push he needed.

Marshall and the Wolverines are coming off a 17-10 upset of Oklahoma last Saturday, Sept. 12, and he sealed the win with a sack of quarterback John Mateer , a moment he described as "surreal."

The last nine months have been real, though, a pivotal, make-or-break time.

"I definitely feel like I had to make some change," Marshall told reporters Tuesday night, Sept. 15, after practice. "I finally brought it within myself to make the change."

Kyle Whittingham, hired late last December as head coach after 21 seasons in the same role at Utah, was a catalyst for Marshall's change. At Whittingham's first news conference of the football season a few weeks ago, he praised Marshall's growth while alluding to some issues.

"Nate Marshall, who had some struggles in spring, some things that I wasn't real pleased with off the field, has really grown up in the last eight months," Whittingham said. "Knock on wood, hopefully he can stay on that trajectory. He's one of the best pass rushers on the team, if not the best pure pass rusher. He's got a real talent for bending the edge and getting his hips turned and getting to the QB."

Marshall is an emotional player, Whittingham said, who needed to reel that in.

"He needs to be commended, because the first few months were kind of rocky with Nate," Whittingham said. "He's really settled in and proud of how far he's come. If he can stay on the track he's on right now, he's got a very bright future."

Marshall wasn't attending class, and Whittingham wasn't having it.

"I was missing a lot of class earlier in the year, and that was just something I couldn't do, especially with this new coaching staff," Marshal said.

The previous football staff did not offer much guidance, Marshall said. Whittingham and his staff arrived with expectations the players would attend class and laid out clearly defined punishment if a player skipped.

Marshall's first missed class was punished by making him go through 6 a.m. lift in the weight room alone on a Saturday. A second miss meant not only an early morning lift for him but also for the rest of the players in his position group. A third miss, which he never had, would have punished the whole defense.

"They knew I was gonna get right," Marshall said of his teammates. "They trusted me."

And for good measure, there was always the threat of a phone call to Marshall's mother from defensive coordinator Jay Hill.

"That's what I didn't want happening," Marshall said. "I fill my parents in on everything, and they know I always have things to do better."

Marshall is majoring in psychology, attending class and proudly announced he earned Academic All-Big Ten.

While Marshall has made changes on the academic side, he also changed his approach to practice and football. He agreed with Whittingham's assessment that he's emotional and has tried to scale back. That epiphany came late in camp.

"I came a long way in terms of having to hold my tongue," Marshall said. "I used to be a guy just out there having fun, a lot of emotion, just letting it rip. But (Whittingham) has taught me, just let your game speak for itself."

Whittingham and Marshall have a closer relationship these days.

"Now that I've turned the page," Marshall said.

Marshall knew he needed to change and has worked, with some pushing, to get there. The journey has been challenging, and along the way to accountability, he has found a lot he likes about himself.

"It's been a process, I'll say for sure," Marshall said. "Had a lot of things to clean up, character-wise, but I cleaned it up now, and I feel very great about myself as a player and as a man."