Doug Marsh

Douglas Walter Marsh (born June 18, 1958) is a former professional American football player who played tight end for seven seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1980 to 1986. He also played college football at the University of Michigan from 1976 to 1979. He was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten Conference tight end at the end of the 1979 season.

Doug Marsh
No. 87, 80, 82
Position:Tight end
Personal information
Born: (1958-06-18) June 18, 1958
Akron, Ohio
Height:6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:236 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school:Akron (OH) East
College:Michigan
NFL Draft:1980 / Round: 2 / Pick: 33
Career history
Career NFL statistics
Receptions:167
Receiving yards:2,140
Touchdowns:19
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Early years

A native of Akron, Ohio, Marsh played high school football for Akron East High School. In August 1976, he played for the Ohio all-star team in the Big 33 Football Classic, known as the "Super Bowl of High School Football", against the Pennsylvania all-stars.[1]

Michigan

Marsh accepted a football scholarship from the University of Michigan and played for the Michigan Wolverines football team under head coach Bo Schembechler from 1976 to 1979.[2] During his time at Michigan, Marsh caught 57 passes for 947 yards and 10 touchdowns.[3] His longest reception at Michigan was a 71-yard reception against Wisconsin in 1979.[2] He also scored two touchdowns on passes from Rick Leach in Michigan's 1978 victory over defending national champion Notre Dame in the first game between the two schools since 1943.[4] As a senior in 1979, Marsh was regarded as one of the two best tight end in the Big Ten Conference.[5][6] started all 12 games at tight end for Michigan and was the Wolverines leading receiver with 33 receptions for 612 yards; Anthony Carter was the second-leading receiver with 17 catches for 462 yards.[2] At the end of the 1979 season, Marsh was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten player, a third-team All-American, and a player in the January 1981 Hula Bowl.[3]

Professional football

Marsh was selected by the Cardinals in the second round (33rd overall pick) of the 1980 NFL Draft.[7] He signed with the Cardinals in May 1980.[8][9] His contract was for seven years and was "estimated to be worth $1.3 million."[10]

As a rookie in 1980, Marsh was the Cardinals' starting tight end in all 16 regular season games.[7] In his first three NFL games, he caught nine passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns.[3] Marsh's playing time was limited in his second year in the NFL. On August 29, 1981, he sustained an injury to knee ligaments during the last preseason game and missed the first four games of the 1981 season.[11] Marsh returned to the Cardinals as their starting tight end in early October 1981,[12] but he dislocated a hip while pursuing an onside kick during the Cardinals' 30-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on October 25, 1981. As a result of the injuries, Marsh missed 12 games during the 1981 season.[11][13] He returned in 1982 as the team's starting tight end and held that position for the next five seasons.[14] His best year was 1984 when he caught 39 passes for 608 yards and five touchdowns.[7][14] In June 1987, Marsh was released by the Cardinals. The team's head coach Gene Stallings noted that Marsh was the only quarterback, tight end or receiver who did not attend the entirety of an eight-day passing game school conducted by the team and added, "When that happened, I just could not go to bat for him."[14] Marsh noted at the time that he had felt that for the prior two years he had been "in between a rock and a hard place with the Cardinals."[14]

Marsh played a total of seven season for the Cardinals from 1980 to 1986. He appeared in 92 games, 90 of them as the team's starting tight end. Over the course of his NFL career, he caught 167 passes for 2,140 yards and 19 touchdowns.[7]

Marsh signed a contract with the Atlanta Falcons in July 1987,[15] reuniting with former Cardinals head coach Jim Hanifan who had taken over as the Falcons' offensive coordinator.[16] Marsh was released by the Falcons after the first week of September 1987,[17] and he did not appear in any regular season games for the team.[7] In November 1987, he tried out for the New England Patriots.[18] Marsh signed with the Indianapolis Colts in the spring of 1988 and played with them through the preseason,[19][20][21] but he was cut at the end of August.[22]

References
  1. Joe Juliano (August 7, 1976). "Ohio does it to Pennsylvania again". Beaver County Times (UPI story).
  2. "Michigan Football Statistic Archive Query Page". MGoBlue.com. University of Michigan. Archived from the original on November 12, 2007. Retrieved December 5, 2012.(To retrieve Marsh's statistics, enter "marsh" in the space for "Enter last name" and "doug" in the space for "Enter first name.")
  3. Larry Mishkin (September 25, 1980). "Big 10 to big time: Marsh pays dividends for Cardinals". The Michigan Daily. p. 13.
  4. "Michigan Upends Irish". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. September 24, 1978.
  5. "Who's Best Tight End, Brammer Or Marsh ...?". Ludington Daily News (AP story). September 28, 1979. p. 9.
  6. Dan Perrin (October 4, 1979). "Marsh out for revenge: Tight end vows to prove he's best". The Michigan Daily. p. 10.
  7. "Doug Marsh". pro-football-reference.com.
  8. "Big Red signs Marsh". The Southeast Missourian (AP story). May 15, 1980.
  9. "Cardinals sign Marsh". Chicago Tribune. May 15, 1980. p. C2.
  10. "Michigan's Marsh inks Cards contract". Lawrence Journal-World (AP story). May 15, 1980.
  11. "Cards lose Marsh". Southeast Missourian (AP story). October 25, 1981. p. 9.
  12. "Cardinals Activate Receivers Gray, Marsh". Schenectady Gazette. October 3, 1981. p. 26.
  13. Bob Pfeiffer (June 26, 1986). "Big Red, Marsh eye better times". Southeast Missourian, Cape Girardeau, Missouri. p. 7.
  14. "Marsh gets pink slip from Big Red". Southeast Missourian (AP story). June 2, 1987. p. 5B.
  15. "Agent says Flowers to miss opening of Falcons camp". The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. July 25, 1987. p. C3.
  16. "Miscellaneous". Orlando Sentinel. July 25, 1987.
  17. "It's 'antsy' time in Falcons camp". The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. September 7, 1987. p. F8.
  18. Mark Blaudschun (November 20, 1987). "Franklin: Stress Fracture?". Boston Globe.("Former Cardinals tight end Doug Marsh worked out for the Patriots yesterday.")
  19. "Irsay reaches out, touches up Colts". USA Today. May 17, 1988. p. 10C.
  20. Don Pierson (July 24, 1988). "Young Irsay Pins Colts' Super Bowl Hopes on Golden Oldies". Chicago Tribune. p. 12.("Doug Marsh, 30, used to play tight end for the St. Louis Cardinals. He's a Colt.")
  21. "N.O. sputters in 18-6 loss to Indianapolis". The Advocate, Baton Rouge. August 21, 1988.("Hogeboom had a 37-yard completion to tight end Doug Marsh on the drive.")
  22. "Several With Area Backgrounds, Including 'Bubba' Baker, Waived". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. August 30, 1988.("the Indianapolis Colts cut former Big Red tight end Doug Marsh")
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