Very few athletes make the transition from high school to college or college to professional ranks seamlessly. The obvious example is the Heisman Trophy winners. The award is given to the best college football player in the nation annually. In a five-year stretch from 1989 to 1993 quarterbacks Andre Ware, Ty Detmer, Gino Torreta and Charlie Ward won the Heisman. Detmer and Torreta, who never started an NFL game, weren’t selected in the NFL draft until the 230th and 192nd picks, Ward went to the NBA and Ware was selected seventh but would start just six games in the NFL.
That’s an example for effect. Not all five year stretches of Heisman winners is that unsuccessful. But the point is success at one level doesn’t equate to the same success at the next level. A new way to measure your success has to be applied or a player is going to be quickly frustrated.
Montana State’s Talon Marsh has lived through that experience from high school to college. He’s had to revise his gauge of success in order to see the fruit of his labor.
Marsh came to the Bobcats after guiding Helena Capital to a state championship that included one of the most prolific pass rushing careers in state history. His selection as the Gatorade Player of the Year was a mere formality as his ability on the field was as overwhelming as it was obvious. His senior year, the defensive tackle piled up 85 tackles, 25 tackles for loss and an absurd 23 sacks for the Bruins.
Marsh, playing for arguably the best football program in the state over the past 47 years, re-wrote the record book at Helena Capital and it was no small task. As a junior defensive tackle – a position not known for its ability to get to the quarterback – Marsh broke the school record for sacks. The record was held by former MSU star Brad Daly, who went on to win the Buck Buchanan Award given to the best defensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision during Daly’s senior season at Montana State in 2013. A year later, Marsh would break his own record.
“The biggest thing is he could play however he wanted in high school and wreak havoc, and he did,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “He played his tail off on both sides of the football. You don’t get Gatorade Player of the Year being a lineman not being a force.”
The typical defensive tackle in the Big Sky Conference usually looks a lot like Marsh’s senior teammate Paul Brott, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 300 pounds. Marsh came to MSU at 6-1 and 260 pounds and is now at 280.
“Talon doesn’t have prototypical size,” Vigen said. “Height for sure (isn’t prototypical). He had to put on the right type of weight. He was plenty strong. He’s one of our stronger guys pound-for-pound. But learning how to play within who he is at the college level and being very refined and not doing whatever you want to do. For him understanding I am my height, I have these arms that are this length, how do I do this?”
Despite all the success in the prep ranks, Marsh would have to remold himself if he was ever going to crack the lineup for the Bobcats. It wasn’t going to be easy, but Marsh had mentors, especially in Brott, who despite his size still had a lot to learn and adaptations to make to get on the field.
“He’s become a real trusted guy who’s playing behind one of the better players in our conference in Paul,” Vigen said. “Paul and all our inside guys have had that issue of I gotta play different than I did in high school.
“It’s taking that coaching and seeing (the need to change) too, seeing the challenges (Marsh) has and seeing the advantages he has. He has the leverage advantage; he’s certainly a strong guy relatively speaking. He’s quick. That’s a transition for a lot of guys. What allowed me to dominate at the high school level; I’ve got to be able to fine tune. That takes some time, and it takes the opportunity of getting out there and living it a little bit.”
Marsh, who’s just a sophomore, picked up on that aspect quickly.
“First you get here and you gotta learn from the older guys until you start to pick it up and I feel like that’s what I’ve been doing,” Marsh said. “A lot of young guys have been doing it, too. (Defensive tackle) Hunter Sharbono has been really stepping up in that also. They’re making mistakes that you’re also going to make, and you can talk about it and work it out better and move forward faster.”
Marsh won’t be recording 25 sacks a season in the Big Sky like he did in high school. He won’t be coming close to that number. If a defensive tackle gets a couple sacks in a season, it’s noteworthy.
“Measuring your contribution especially for our interior guys, it’s challenging,” Vigen said. “Paul doesn’t have astronomical numbers but he’s affecting the game each week. What do I have to do to make this defense work instead of what do I do to get my stat numbers up? Making an impact is felt in a lot of different ways. Learning to play within the scheme is the most effective way to make an impact.”
When you hear the name Talon Marsh and it’s followed by defensive tackle your expectation from the name and position is a guy with long, straggly hair, a beard and at least a few neck tattoos if not a couple on the face. A talon is a claw on a large predatory bird and a marsh is an inhospitable place where you might find an osprey or hawk with long claws readying itself to pounce on prey. That may be what Marsh does on the field but what you get in person with Talon Marsh is a baby-faced, polite, mild-mannered young man.
Marsh, the record-setting, Gatorade Player of Year winner out of perennial powerhouse Helena Capital, has now worked himself into a key spot on Montana State’s formidable defensive line. He’s part of four-man rotation that spells Bobcat’ starters on nearly half of the defensive snaps. The unit is a big reason why MSU leads or is near the top of the Big Sky Conference in numerous defensive statistical categories.
Asked if he thought his team was on the verge of shifting gears as it prepared for the November stretch run of the season, Marsh didn’t waiver.
“No, I think we’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing,” Marsh said. “1-0 every day and just swarming to the ball and just doing our best to get better. I don’t think we’ll ever get stagnant around here. I really think we all need to take a step forward. The coaches, us, the whole program we’re all biting at the bit to get better.”
Marsh credits his coaches’ abilities to mesh with the players and his teammates on the defensive line for a lot of his and his team’s success.
“As d-lineman we speak (defensive coordinator Shawn Howe’s) language obviously,” Marsh said. “He’s been our D-line coach and now he’s our coordinator, it’s really nice to have him around. When you have a fearless leader like that leading from the top, then going down from Paul to (defensive end) Kenny (Eiden IV) and everyone else. It really helps a defense and motivates us to do our best every single play.”
“Paul is what you want in a leader,” Vigen said. “His example is one thing of what he’s become. His ability to pour back into his teammates. He’s genuine about it and has to look back and say this (former player) really helped me out. He’s really involved with all those defensive line guys.”
Marsh is part of a second defensive line unit that gets on the field constantly and shows little drop off from the starting unit that is made up of all seniors (Brott, Eiden IV, Hunter Parsons and Alec Eckert). Rotating into the game with Marsh are defensive tackle Zack Black, and defensive ends Zac Crews and Dominic Solano. Sharbono is also rotating in at defensive tackle.
“We take a lot of pride in it,” Marsh said of giving the starters a break. “When those guys get tired and we get to go out there and keep the standard exactly how it was when they’re out there. It’s really respect to them. Kenny, Paul, Hunter, Alec. Just showing them that if they need a break we can go in there and make a difference in the game.”
Marsh and the Bobcats have what has become a formidable task this week when they travel to Greeley, Colo. to face Northern Colorado for their fifth league game. The Bears only won one game in each of the past two seasons, but head coach Ed Lamb has them playing inspired football this season as they’ve tested and beaten what were considered some of the top teams in the Big Sky this season. They’ve already surpassed the win total of the past two campaigns sitting at 3-5 overall.
“I’ve never been there but from what I’ve heard they’re going to give us their best shot and we’re going to give them ours, so that’s kind of where I’m at right now with that,” Marsh said.
The Bobcats and Bears kickoff at noon Saturday.
