He's received nearly 20 college offers, including a coveted one from USC last week. The Trojans, hit hard by sanctions for improper benefits to (among others) Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo, lost 30 scholarships over a three-ear span starting in 2011.
Marshall is the second offer to a 2012 running back by the Trojans. The other is
Keivarae Russell (
Mariner HS, Everett, Wash.), Lemming's No. 9 tailback in the country.
USC would be an interesting choice considering one of Marshall's best friends, training partner and true freshman tailback
Amir Carlisle has already made a big impression on the Trojans.
Byron Marshall has run a 10.67
100-meter dash, bench presses 325 and
owns vertical jump of 33 inches.
Photo by Brad Kupper
Then again, so would Arizona State where his brother started the final seven games of his sophomore year.
Cameron Marshall has been projected by some as a first-day NFL pick following his junior year.
Byron Marshall, whose current final list is Arizona State, Cal, Notre Dame, Oregon, USC and Washington, said friendship or bloodlines won't play a part of his decision.
"I'm not going to neglect a good offer based on that or be swayed by it either," he said. "That would be dumb."
Marshall said he's enjoying the recruiting process thus far. It helps that he's the youngest of three and that his older siblings Dahlys – a female sprinter and hurdler at Arizona – and Cameron went through the wringer.
His father Greg, a trainer for the USFL's Sabercats and Santa Clara University, and mother Tammie were college athletes. Tammie is the track and field coach at Valley Christian.
Greg and Byron are taking four unofficial trips the next two weeks, to Notre Dame, Purdue, Washington and Oregon.
"Honestly, right now my recruiting is wide open," Byron said. "When I was younger, I wanted to leave the area and go far away. That's changed. I could definitely stay in California now. … So far the recruiting process has been cool. I'm having a lot of fun with it."
He hopes to have fun this season erasing a couple bitter Central Coast Section Open Division title-game losses from the last two years.
The Vikings are young and return just six starters, but two of them will be filled by Byron, who is also a lockdown cornerback not to mention a lethal kick returner.
Returning punts and kicks is where Byron gets to truly show his vast physical gifts – he was a starter on the varsity basketball team as a freshman and won the CCS 100 meters as a sophomore (his best time is 10.67) – and creativity.
He'll likely get more touches than the last three seasons – just 305 carries and 22 catches - when the Warriors had more weapons to spread it around.
"Whatever it takes for us to win is all I care about," he said. "After losing the last two years I'm very hungry. I'm very motivated not to lose our final (championship) game three years in a row. Last year I was really, really mad after that loss.
"But you can't go through life angry. I know it's just football and it's a game. No matter what, I'm still always going to be laughing and smiling. I just try to attack life every day and have fun in everything I do."
