The Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the Calgary Stampeders in CFL action on August 19, 2018 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, SK. Liam Richards/Electric Umbrella
In 2014, Nick Marshall spent a whole season trying to get the football to D’Haquille (Duke) Williams.
On Monday — for the second time in the 2018 CFL regular season — Marshall will do his utmost to keep Williams from touching the pigskin.
Four years ago, Marshall was the starting quarterback for the Auburn University Tigers and Williams was one of his main receiving targets. This season, Marshall is a starting cornerback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Williams is the leading receiver for the Edmonton Eskimos.
Their teams are to meet Monday (2 p.m., CKRM, TSN) at Mosaic Stadium.
“Going from throwing to him to covering him is kind of weird, but it’s life,” Marshall said after the Roughriders practised Saturday at Mosaic Stadium. “He’s just like any other guy I cover except I know him and he’s more physical than other receivers.
“He’s got a dog in him and I’ve got the same in me. It’s just a good matchup between us and we’ll see what happens Monday.”
“It’s crazy (to go against Marshall),” Williams noted from Edmonton. “He was not only my quarterback, he was basically my brother. We spent a lot of time together off the field — probably more than we spent on the field.
“It’s amazing playing against him. If anybody knows my game, it’s him.”
Marshall was in his second (and final) season with Auburn when Williams was in his first. While the two bonded as offensive teammates, Williams also became aware of Marshall’s abilities on defence.
Marshall was a star quarterback in high school, but he started his college career as a cornerback at the University of Georgia in 2011. After he was dismissed from the team for a violation of rules in February of 2012, he spent the ’12 season as a quarterback at Garden City Community College.
The following season, he transferred to Auburn and played quarterback — while doing some moonlighting.
“Sometimes when we were just running routes, he’d come guard us and mirror us,” Williams said of the Tigers’ receivers. “That’s when I knew he was going to be a good cornerback …
“He’s an athlete. You can put him at centre and he’s going to hike it. You can put him at D-tackle and he’s going to rush the quarterback. He can do it all. He’s a special player. He’s going to do whatever it takes to be great.”
Having thrown passes to Williams — and having occasionally covered him — at Auburn can only help Marshall when their teams meet on the CFL field.
“I know his strong points, what he likes to do and what he doesn’t like to do,” Marshall said. “Seeing him in college just gives me better anticipation against him.”
The contest Monday will be the second time Marshall and Williams have tangled in the CFL.
On Aug. 2, Williams was targeted six times, but Marshall helped limit his former teammate to two catches for 41 yards in Edmonton’s 26-19 victory at Commonwealth Stadium. Marshall, who had missed the Roughriders’ previous five games while recovering from hand surgery, finished with three tackles and a knockdown.
As their second meeting approached, Williams went into the week as the CFL leader in receiving yards (1,337), touchdown catches (10) and average per catch (19.1) and he was tied for the league lead with eight 100-yard games.
Marshall, on the other hand, entered the week leading the league in interception returns for touchdowns (two), he was second in interception-return yardage (133) and he was tied for third in pass knockdowns (seven).
The two men haven’t spoken this week.
“He’s going to be guarding me in the game, so we know what it is,” Williams said. “He’s a competitor and I’m a competitor. I don’t like to lose and I know for sure that he doesn’t like to lose, so I don’t have anything to tell him until after the game.
“The first game we played, he got the best of me, so I’ve got it on my mind that I’ve got to get him back.”
The Roughriders have been pleased with Marshall’s progress throughout his first CFL season.
After the 2014 season, Marshall decided to move from quarterback to defensive back in hopes of giving himself a better chance of playing in the NFL. He wasn’t drafted, but signed as a free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The 6-foot-1, 207-pounder played 21 games in the NFL with the Jags and New York Jets before his career in that league ended after the 2016 season. In 2018, he impressed the Roughriders at their off-season mini-camp in Bradenton, Fla., and then won a starting job at training camp in Saskatoon.
He thus became the latest in a long line of big-bodied cornerbacks who have played for Chris Jones, joining the likes of Brandon Browner and Patrick Watkins.
“He’s probably a better overall cover guy than most of those guys, if not all of them,” said Jones, who’s now the Roughriders’ head coach and GM. “He’s certainly got better hands and the ability to make plays on the football.
“He’s probably on the other end as far as aggressiveness. He’s more like (Watkins). He’d rather make a play on the ball than make a tackle. It’s not like he’s not a willing tackler; if he has to make one, he will.”
Roughriders defensive backs coach Jason Shivers gave Marshall a B-plus as a grade, suggesting he has improved his physicality and his work against the waggle.
Shivers said Marshall still has to improve some aspects of his game, but noted “he comes in every day, he’s locked in and he brings his lunchpail. That’s what I appreciate about him.”
“I’m just trying not to take steps back in what I’ve been doing and trying to get better every week …,” Marshall said. “My job is to lock down receivers and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
