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View Full Version : TheOrlandoSentinel:Hard lessons for Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall



Skinny
09-22-2007, 09:20 AM
Alan Schmadtke Sentinel Staff Writer
September 22, 2007

Decisions, decisions.

It's what life is all about, Brandon Marshall has decided. Trying to make good ones, surviving the bad ones and making sense of all the others.

At 23, Marshall lives the dream he had as a child in Pittsburgh. Six years removed from Lake Howell High and two years gone from UCF, he stands as a receiver for the Denver Broncos.

Not just any receiver, but one upon whom coaches, teammates and media hang much promise. He's tall, fast and possesses soft hands -- attributes the NFL adores in pass catchers.

He'll start against Jacksonville on Sunday, a week after catching a game-securing pass late in the fourth quarter, one that set up the Broncos' winning field goal.

And yet, he said, "Every day there's something to learn. Football now, we all love it, but it is definitely a business. It's not just playing for the big bucks but the way you handle yourself, how you handle things, is important, too."

Denver's season is only two games old, but 2007 already has been a year Marshall never will forget.

A season-ending New Year's party turned tragic, and Marshall found himself in the middle of it. At closing time in a downtown Denver club, Marshall and his cousin argued with two men who earlier had been asked to leave the club, Broncos receiver Javon Walker recently told HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

Witnesses later told police the two men flashed gang signs and accosted Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams. Later, Williams was killed in a limousine after a drive-by shooting. He died in Walker's arms.

The unidentified suspects are at large. Police are investigating.

"It's sad that HBO will broadcast something like that and the case hasn't even gone to trial yet," said Marshall, who declined to discuss details of that evening. "It's a lot of he-said, she-said. I was asked to do the HBO interview, but I felt there was nothing for me to say.

"I felt like it's time to sit back and remember Darrent, remember the good things he brought to us and our lives. It's not about who's right and who's wrong. No matter what happened, no guns should have been involved. There were no punches exchanged. There was nothing physical. For those guys to take it to gun violence, it was crazy. Sad and definitely tragic."

The Broncos honor Williams' memory and that of running back Damien Nash, who also died in the offseason after a congenitally bad heart failed him during a charity basketball game, by wearing their jersey numbers on the back of their helmets.

Marshall wears a blue rubber band around his right wrist as a reminder. In block orange lettering, it says: "Williams 27. 1982-2007."

"He was a great guy all around," Marshall said. "We were alike in a lot of ways. Some people in Orlando and around UCF know me and how I play football with a lot of emotion. Sometimes that can hurt you if it's out of control. But if it's under control, it can take you a long way. Football wasn't a job to Darrent. It was fun, like when we were little."

When the Broncos finally got back to the practice field after the April draft, Marshall's travails turned personal. He tore a quadriceps muscle. When he returned during minicamp a few weeks later, he hurt the leg again.

When training camp started two months later, Marshall found himself on Denver's physically unable to perform list. He was running through drills on the side with the club's strength and conditioning coach when another painful tug caught him in the same spot.

He asked for a magnetic resonance imaging. Next thing he knew, Broncos Coach Mike Shanahan was telling him to ignore the pain. He was cleared to practice, so practice he would.

"You know what? He [Shanahan] was right," Marshall said. "That feeling I had wasn't reinjuring my leg, it was scar tissue. From the first day I went back to practice, I was a totally new person. I felt fine."

Said Shanahan: "I don't think a guy with his size has ever really been hurt before. He worked through it, and he's just done a great job. Brandon is as good as he wants to be."

That much is evident in his progression from his junior season at UCF to his predraft workouts two years later. After George O'Leary arrived in Orlando, he wanted all 40-yard dash times on his new players. Marshall ran the 40 in 4.68 seconds, a pedestrian time for a major-college receiver.

Two years later when he ran the 40 for scouts, they hand-timed him at 4.44. That speed, combined with his size (6 feet 4, 230 pounds) and hands, lured Denver into making him a fourth-round pick last year.

At UCF, Marshall was the Knights' go-to possession receiver. Mike Walker was their deep receiver.

Marshall is making a mark in Denver as a stretch-the-field threat. As a rookie he caught 20 passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns, including a 71-yard catch-and-run scoring play against Seattle that caught people's attention. They had no idea he could run away from faster cornerbacks.

In two games this year, he is quarterback Jay Cutler's second-favorite target. He has 10 receptions for a team-leading 13.4-yard average and a touchdown.

"He can make plays. Any time he's got the ball in his hands, he can break tackles and go the distance," Shanahan said. "Any time you have a set like that [as a coach], you feel pretty lucky."

As a senior at UCF, Marshall was the heart of a team that made the school's only bowl appearance. He finished his college career with an 11-catch, 210-yard, three-touchdown game in the Knights' 49-48 loss to Nevada.

His reputation in Denver is as a player with some swagger. Teammates nicknamed him "Baby T.O.," because of his big-play ability. The hope is it doesn't apply to his off-field persona.

Marshall was arrested in March on domestic violence and false imprisonment charges in a dispute with a girlfriend. He blocked her taxi cab's exit with his car. Both charges were dismissed two months later.

Broncos and even friends in Orlando wonder if Marshall comprehends how much he has in his hands now and how much more he could have soon.

"Amazing talent," All-Pro Denver cornerback Champ Bailey said. "He hasn't even scratched the surface of what he can do. He has such strong hands, and when he catches the ball, he tries to make more and score. He always feels like he can score. I like that about a guy."

Sean Beckton recruited Marshall to UCF and was his position coach for three years. He tries to catch up regularly with his former players, even ones getting coaching in the NFL.

Like others, he has high hopes for Marshall. They talked on Tuesday. Football was a minor part of the discussion.

"I told him to make sure he's taking care of his business off the field," said Beckton, now a receivers coach for the Orlando Predators. "That's the only thing I can see that can hold him back. I told him, 'You're big-time now. You're in the public eye. Good or bad, whatever you do will get made into a story.' "

It was much like the message Marshall received two years ago from former NFL receiver Cris Carter. Marshall met the former Vikings star through Carter's brother four years ago, and he considers Carter a mentor.

Carter turned around his own life as a young NFL receiver, overcoming drug and alcohol addictions to enjoy for a good career. He was a mentor to Randy Moss during their days in Minnesota and was named the NFL's Man of the Year in 1999.

The summer before Marshall's senior season at UCF, he was cited for driving with a suspended license. He left Orlando for a summer semester and went to Fort Lauderdale to work out and clear his head. Carter told him he could make life easy on himself if he'd make better decisions, but it was up to him.

Carter did not return phone messages for this story.

"He told me things he went through in college and in the NFL and how to be a better person," Marshall said. "That said, we still go through our problems and our bad days. I'm still learning you've got to make better decisions."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/local/orl-marshall2207sep22,0,5890330.story?page=2

TXBRONC
09-22-2007, 09:27 AM
That's a great article Skinny thanks man.

broncosinindy
09-23-2007, 05:21 PM
B marsh is ripping it up today. And imagine people wanted to doubt him.