Across his tenure at Florida State, Mike Norvell has continually failed to evaluate and develop high-end quarterback talent out of high school. That’s left him to constantly dip into the transfer portal to find answers at the position, and not just as QB1 but to fill out the rest of the room as well.
This season, Ashton Daniels arrived from Auburn to replace Tommy Castellanos, but Norvell and general manager John Garrett also found another veteran option in JuCo transfer Malachi Marshall. Despite arriving in the summer, Marshall is pushing second-year former three-star Kevin Sperry for the backup job, and according to Mike Norvell’s first game-week press conference, he’s cleared one of the two biggest hurdles to making the jump to the ACC.
Last season at Iowa Western, Marshall was listed at 6-foot-2, 170 pounds on the initial FSU roster; he is listed at 168 pounds, which is unplayably light in the Power 4. On Monday, Norvell told the assembled media in Tallahassee that Marshall has gained 18 pounds, presumably up to 186.
That’s still light for a QB in the ACC, but as Norvell put it, “he’s put himself in a position to play,” not only with his strong fall camp, but also by adding extra strength to take hits if he’s forced into action this year. Now, assuming the physical questions are answered, getting up to speed mentally is the next challenge for Marshall.
Malachi Marshall’s abridged offseason shouldn’t stop him from taking the QB2 job
Last season, Sperry went 12-17 across three games for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Those games, however, came against East Texas A&M, Kent State, and Stanford (which FSU lost to, but was one of the worst teams in the ACC). His QBR in those appearances was a whopping 43.9.
Simply put, Sperry didn’t do enough to lock himself into the QB2 job. He didn’t do enough to prevent Norvell and Garrett from adding Daniels as the starter and adding Marshall as a potential backup. So, if Marshall, who led Iowa Western to a national championship last year, did what he needed to in the preseason, he should get the nod if Daniels goes down.
For a player who has bounced from Stony Brook to Iowa Western, Marshall has impressive arm talent, good movement ability, and appears to be rapidly improving now that he’s in a Power 4 environment. It’s not rare for a player to move up a level or two and start to put on good weight with better training facilities and nutrition.
The mental side of the game could be a question mark for Marshall, specifically his ability to pick up Norvell’s offense. However, Malzahn was the OC last offseason, so it’s not as though Sperry’s advantage with the offense is 1.5 years; it’s really only about one spring. You would imagine that a player who is as experienced as Marshall, even if it’s at the JuCo level, could close that gap.
Mike Norvell's QB struggles make it hard to believe in Kevin Sperry
Then there’s the fact that Norvell has never developed a homegrown quarterback during his six years at Florida State. Not a single one. Why would Sperry suddenly be different? It’s more likely he’ll follow the path of Chubba Purdy, Tate Rodemaker, AJ Duffy, Brock Glenn, and Luke Kromenhoek than he’ll finally be the one that Norvell & Co. got right.
So, if Daniels goes down, now that you know he won’t get hurt the first time he gets hit, it should be Marshall trotting out there. The same goes for a blowout in Week 0. It’s better to get Marshall up to game speed because there’s a better chance he can adjust to it than Sperry suddenly making the leap that no FSU quarterback has in years.
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