Cougar defies his Ute heritage

There are 14 BYU players from Salt Lake Valley. And there are four Utah players from Utah Valley. These players all traversed from enemy territory to their present teams, but one player in particular had to change his entire culture to play for the Cougars: Matt Marshall.

Marshall was raised a Ute. In fact, his father and brother both played for Utah. He played quarterback at Skyline high school and was an all-state selection his senior season. He then waited to hear from Utah about playing football for the Utes, but that opportunity never came.

“(Coach Whittingham) kind of gave me the cold shoulder, like ‘come try out here and we’ll see if we can find you a spot.’” Marshall said.

The call that did come was from an unexpected source: BYU quarterbacks coach Brandon Doman, who also happened to play quarterback at Skyline when he was in high school. Doman told Marshall that BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall wanted him to come play for BYU.

“That was enough for me,” Marshall said. “Having him search me out, I got persuaded pretty easily to play here. It just felt right.”

After spending his first season on the scout team, Marshall has earned a starting spot on special teams, where he has six tackles and one blocked punt this season. He is also Mitch Payne’s holder for field goal and extra-point attempts.

When asked if he feels any regrets about changing his allegiance, Marshall didn’t hesitate.

“Honestly? No,” he said. “This is the best decision I could have made … I’m full-Cougar now. I don’t even have an ounce of Ute in me.”