Cal Sports Report

Tennessee Tight End Ben Marshall Commits to Cal for 2023

He represents just the second offensive player to commit to the Bears for next season

Jake Curtis

In this story:

The tight end has been an important part of the Cal offense since Bill Musgrave became the Bears offensive coordinator and Cal landed another one on Friday when Ben Marshall of Murfreesboro, Tenn, announced he has committed to Cal for the class of 2023.

It's Cal 10th commitment for next year's freshman class, but just their second on the offensive side of the ball.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Marshall is rated a three-star prospect and picked Cal after also getting offers from Mississippi, Indiana, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Washington State, among others.

The 247 Sports Composite rankings rated him the 58th-best tight end prospect in the nationa and the 39th-best prospect in the state of Tennessee.

As a junior at Blackman High School, Marshall had 65 receptions for 834 yards and seven touchdowns in just nine games.

.


"The coaches were fired up when I committed. Coach Geep (Chryst) thinks I'm a special player and he's always willing to coach me," Marshall told Rivals.com. "Also, I'm the first tight end in their class, so he was really fired up about it."

"I like the way they run their offense. They use three tight ends. All of the coaches have good NFL experience and they are talking about me playing early, so I think it will be a great opportunity for me. The coaches there really care about you. They don't have any egos or anything. They make sure you are mentally right and physically right."

Here is what Rivals said about Marshall:

RIVALS REACTION: With Marshall, Cal is getting a versatile tight end that can line up along the line as an extra blocker and flex out wide and be a deep receiving threat. He's got soft hands and is a precise route-runner that can burn you deep and use his size to be a threat over the middle of the field. The Murfreesboro, Tennessee also has the frame to put on good weight in a college strength program. Regardless, he's already got a ton of physicality to his game.

.

Cal's other nine commitments for 2023 are defensive end Ryan McCulloch, defensive lineman Zurich Ashford, wide receiver Nyziah Hunter, safety RJ Jones, linebacker Cade Uluave, cornerback Sai Vadrawale, defensive tackle Ashton Sanders, punter Ethan Baxter, and defensive lineman Tiumalu Afalava.

Published
Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

Home/Football