Saturday night’s Michigan vs. Michigan State football game will be the first rivalry matchup in some players’ college careers. One such player who figures to play a critical role in the outcome on Saturday night in Ann Arbor is Nick Marsh.
The 6-foot-3, 209-pound athletic specimen at wide receiver for the Spartans happens to be a true freshman so this will be his first Paul Bunyan Trophy game and he’s playing an important role. He’s the Spartans’ leading receiver this year and he’s been more effective than any pass-catcher on either side.
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In fact, there’s a wild stat that surfaced on Friday afternoon from a preview article that proved just that.
According to Matt Sheehan who previewed this game on Rivals, Marsh has recorded 91 more receiving yards (433) than all seven of Michigan’s receivers who have caught at least one pass this season (342). That is insane.
On the year, Marsh has 24 receptions for 433 yards and a touchdown while all of Michigan’s wide receivers combined have 38 receptions for 342 yards and two touchdowns. A touchdown for Marsh on Saturday night pulls him even with all of Michigan’s wideouts on the season. Insane.
If you eliminate Colston Loveland from Michigan’s offense, there really is no passing game. A lot of that has to do with the struggles of the quarterback room and less about the receivers, but it goes to show that the brightest young star in Saturday’s rivalry game will be on the good side. If Will Johnson can’t go for Michigan, expect Marsh to have a monster game. If he does go, that’s going to be a Aaron Burbridge vs. Jourdan Lewis type of battle.
First off, shoutout to Sheehan for crunching the numbers and revealing this wild stat. And second, shoutout to Marsh for being one of the brightest young stars in the country and living up to the hype early on in his Spartan career. He’s going to be fun to watch for years.