TodayRed Land's Marshall rehabbing after surgery
Star will officially sign with Penn State on Friday
Print
Share
Email to a friend
Add This
Feeds
Local Sports
Article RatingRed Land’s Jermaine Marshall has to be going through an array of emotions.
On one hand, his college future is secure. He will officially sign and fax his letter of intent to Penn State basketball coach Ed DeChellis on Friday.
On the other hand, his senior season is up in the air.
Marshall, the Sentinel's reigning Player of the Year, who hopes to get the Patriots back to the PIAA tournament, could miss a majority of the season with a knee injury.
“Right now I’m doing therapy, I’m doing really good," Marshall said. "It looks like I may be back. They didn’t give me a timetable but told me if I keep doing therapy, I’ll be alright.”
Marshall suffered the injury to his right kneecap during an open gym “about a month ago.”
During a drill where he was backing up, he tripped over a teammate's foot. He said he felt something twist the wrong way in the knee.
Marshall already had the surgery to repair the injury at Hershey Medical Center. He consulted with Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, who performed the operation. Sebastianelli, part of Hershey Medical Group, and also the Penn State team physician, performs surgeries for non-Penn State athletes and employees on a regular basis. Sebastianelli was the choice of the Marshall family.
At no time did Penn State ever say they would rescind the scholarship offer to Marshall according to his father, Jerome. Both Jermaine and Jerome explained the Penn State coaches also encouraged Marshall to play this season if he is able to.
“Hopefully he will be able to get back and finish his senior year and if he doesn’t, he had a great career,” Jerome Marshall said. “We wished (the injury) never happened. But it was something that was needed, so we’ve got to do what’s best for him physically and for his longevity.”
Marshall said the injury was a repeat of something that happened when he was a sophomore. He did not undergo surgery then, only rehab.
Marshall, who averaged 18.5 points per game a season ago, verbally committed to the Nittany Lions earlier this year. He went up to State College and informed DeChellis in person.
“It’s exciting,” Jermaine Marshall said of his signing. “They have guys like Talor Battle, Jeff Brooks who are young, but they got a lot of experience going into this season. They played a lot at the end of last year. Me coming in, hopefully I’m another addition to this team. They have two freshman now that are coming in and will help the program.”
Should Marshall be unable to play, Red Land will still be in good hands under the direction of Scott Slayton. Despite losing Kyle Otstot and Kendall Hinze to graduation, Slayton will return Nick and Max Liddell and 6-foot-8 center Stephen Zack.
Marshall is currently Red Land’s all-time leading scorer and enters his senior year with 1,425 career points.
