He'll do just fine

September 21, 1964

Mike Marshall of Baylor faces perhaps the toughest job of any sophomore in the nation, that of replacing the No. 1 passer of the past two seasons, Don Trull. But if the nation's No. 1 receiver, Larry Eikins of Baylor, is a judge Marshall will do just fine. Says Eikins, "In the spring game he threw me a 50-yard pass on a straight line, like flicking a fly off his ear." Another judge is Baylor Coach John Bridgers. He says, "Mike is faster than Don and shiftier. Potentially, he has the best arm we've seen at Baylor. Mike's also a worker. He's played freshman ball and he's spent a red-shirt year studying Trull." If Marshall (6 feet 1, 190) is not immediately a splendid passerin the Baylortradition, he will at least be a busy one, because Bridgers is going to have a passing team regardless, something that classifies Bridgers as a rebel in the Southwest Conference. Marshall likes the system. He says, in fact, "I like to run [10.1 in the 100] but we'll use the run to set up our passing." "Did he say that?" says Assistant Coach Chuck Purvis. "Oh, that's lovely." While Mike Marshall will be the SWC's Sophomore of the Year, others well worth observing will be SMU's Linebacker Billy Bob Stewart and Guard John LaGrone; Texas' elusive back, Jimmy Helms, and Tackle John Elliott; and Texas Tech End Joe Hurley.