Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/94528
"I think it was right after the season. I just said I was going to change my diet," he said. "I felt a big change. I just had way more energy. You can't eat that stuff and feel good. I felt like it was slowing me down. "I just tried to do anything I could to become a better player and be the best player I could be. Cutting that out had a big effect on it. I just felt tired all the time, too. I felt like I was drained and didn't have a lot of energy to bring it every day." Sluggish or not, Marshall was one of the Nittany Lions' breakout performers last season. Battling through some ac- ademic difficulties early in the year, he eventually emerged as the Nittany Lions' most reliable second scorer be- hind Tim Frazier. Starting with a 20- point effort against Indiana early in the Big Ten season, Marshall strung together 11 double-digit scoring per- formances in 15 games, capping the conference slate with a career-high 27 points against Michigan. Still, when he looks back on last sea- JAM SESSION Marshall was Penn State's second-leading scorer last sea- son, but he's ex- pecting even bigger things this year after improving his diet and working to refine his game. "I just tried to do any- thing I could to become a better player and be the best player I could be," he said. son, he can't help but feel disappoint- ed. "I kind of got on myself. Even through the accolades and double-digit scoring games, I wasn't really satisfied with how I played," he said. "I felt like I was inconsistent." Teammate and close friend D.J. New- bill witnessed Marshall's frustrations firsthand. Following the breakout game against the Wolverines, Marshall pri- vately tried to shoulder blame for the team's loss. His reasoning? By scoring even a few more points, he might have been able to transform the Nittany Li- ons' 71-65 loss into a win. It's a personal sense of responsibility that, at times, has hampered Marshall's comfort level on the court. "I think last year was a big eye- opener for him because he was one of the leaders of the team, and he felt like he didn't perform to where he would want to perform," Newbill said. "So he took the time this summer to work on everything and go as hard as he can to prevent that from happening this year." Marshall began focusing on his diet, and he enlisted Newbill to help him. Tim Owen Every day after workouts, the pair made their way to Subway. Said Newbill, "It got to the point where we tried everything on the menu. Well, I would say I tried everything on the menu. Jermaine, he kind of stuck to his basics." Marshall's physical transformation is immediately noticeable. He used to appear somewhat shapeless on the court but is decidedly more muscular these days. "I changed habits," he said. "Hitting the weights a little bit more, I took weight training definitely more seriously. It was a different approach to everything that I did, and basically, just listening to Coach Pat and what he preaches every day on your mentality and ap- proach to everything that you do. "I think it's helped a lot, not only as a basketball player, but as a person." Coaches and teammates say that Marshall's physical transformation is a sign of a broader change, a growing maturity. He's in his fourth year on Penn State's campus and is not so vulnerable to the social distractions that can detract from athletes' per- formance both on the court and in the classroom. "You know, when you get to be 21, 22, things start to slow down for you. You start to understand what the coaches are trying to do for you," Chambers said, acknowledging that the message hadn't been completely understood initially. "We love Jermaine. We are trying to help him, and he un- derstands that now." Chambers noticed some of the changes taking effect toward the end of last season, but the light bulb really went on for Marshall in the summer, he said. Challenged by an intermediate-level statistics course during the summer semester, Marshall attended his study halls, worked hard at the class and ul- timately did well. Chambers said that accomplishment only furthered his be- lief that Marshall was taking the nec- essary steps to have a successful sea- son, not only as an impact performer for the Nittany Lions but as a team leader. Said Chambers, "It all came together,