The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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Lawrence Marshall grew tired of looking at his phone, text message after text message referencing Michi- gan State's Rose Bowl win over Stan- ford and questioning his allegiance to U-M. Every response he offered was the same, "I'm a Michigan Man." "If I didn't before, I developed a hatred for Michigan State because af- ter they won the Rose Bowl, I got all these texts telling me I should be go- ing to Michigan State — and I found the hate within me," he said, laugh- ing. "That was a great win for them and the Big Ten, but I hate Michigan State, and I can't wait until next year and during my career to play these guys. "I want to be at Michigan when we turn it around against Michigan State and want to be a big reason why we start beating those guys, and win the Big Ten and go to our own Rose Bowl." The 6-4, 230-pound Marshall com- mitted to U-M May 11 after previ- ously pledging to Ohio State in Feb- ruary 2013. "With that situation, Lawrence had never had the opportunity to come here and spend time with us, see what we were going to do as a staff and how we saw him fitting into our program," said U-M director of player personnel Chris Singletary, who wasn't surprised when Marshall flipped. Marshall hasn't looked back since deciding to don the winged helmet, focusing less on the past and more on what he believes will be an excit- ing future in Ann Arbor over the next four or five seasons. "We have big-time recruits coming in like Jabrill Peppers at cornerback, and we have a lot of really good linebackers and defensive tackles coming in, and then me at defensive end," he said. "I feel we will have the best defense in the Big Ten by my sophomore year. "I can't wait until I get there. Our re- cruiting class is crazy good, and when we get there, we know what we have to do to get us to the Rose Bowl and play for a national championship." Marshall spent his winter break in Florida, participating in the Offense- Defense Bowl Jan. 3 in Orlando, Fla. Rivals.com named Marshall one of the game's top performers, noting he recorded two tackles for loss and a QB hurry. "There's no doubt he's athletic," Rivals.com Southeast recruiting ana- lyst Woody Wommack said. "And in a game like that, where it was pretty apparent things weren't being man- aged correctly, he could have just half-hearted it, but he kept playing hard the whole game and that really made an impression on me. It was good to see him get after it and make his presence felt." Marshall enjoyed the opportunity, and not only because the weather was significantly warmer than in Detroit. "I loved it down there," he said. "It LAWRENCE MARSHALL IS EAGER TO LEAD U-M BACK TO PASADENA