Today's featured player was one of many brought in by Danny Hope as a quarterback, but after falling to fourth in the competition to start this year and knowing that David Blough is coming he recently moved to wide receiver.
Bilal Marshall - Fr. (RS)
Pembroke Pines, Florida (Dade Christian HS)
6'3" 182 pounds
Wide Receiver
2013 Projection: Contributor at wide receiver
Marshall was quite the offensive weapon in high school, as his team did the traditional, "let's put our best guy at quarterback so he gets the ball every play," strategy. Even then, he was a good passer by completing 64% of his passes as a senior with 17 touchdowns and five interceptions on 1,296 yards. He was also a great runner with 675 yards and eight scores. As a junior he threw for 1,358 yards and ran for 971 with a combined 23 touchdowns.
Marshall gives Purdue some nice blazing speed in a tall receiver. He ran a 22.1 second 200 as a junior in track and field and he is his school's record holder in the 400. Coaches have noted his speed in practice so far, which is more than good enough to get him on the field.
Will Marshall play this year? The fact that he has already redshirtted, he has great speed, and Dan Monteroso is injured means it is possible, but he is also only a handful of practices at receiver. I think he will get a look, maybe somewhere in the return game. Don't count him out on an occasional trick play, either.