Listed at 6-feet-2, 209 pounds, senior John Marshall does not present the most imposing presence on the Navy defense.

But Marshall's mastery of the "striker" position – a hybrid of defensive back and linebacker that demands high levels of versatility and football acumen – has made him an indispensable part of Navy's solid unit.

In the Mids' 20-10 loss Saturday at Cincinnati, Marshall once again was everywhere, doing a bit of everything, whether defending the run or the pass. He finished with 10 tackles, including five solo and three tackles for loss, while breaking up a pass and getting a sack.

Saturday's loss to Cincinnati marked the sixth time Navy has held an opponent to 21 points or fewer in 2022. 

The loss to the Bearcats came a week after Navy had lost junior starting quarterback Tai Lavatai to a season-ending knee injury, yet rallied behind a defensive effort fueled by Marshall's stellar performance to beat Temple in overtime.

Marshall, a tri-captain, lit up the stat sheet against Temple by producing 11 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, three quarterback hurries and another sack. He also broke up five passes – although Marshall, a former star receiver at prestigious Gonzaga College High School, let a pair of interceptions slip through his hands.

Has there been a more valuable player in a Navy uniform this year?

"John is playing off the charts," says Ken Niumatalolo, Navy's 15th-year head coach. "He's been a great leader and a great example for our team, by the way he plays and the way he attacks his job and takes his craft so seriously."

"In our system, that position needs to be productive. The nuances of our defense flow through the strikers. When [Marshall] has a good day, so do we typically as a defense," adds Brian Newberry, Navy's defensive coordinator. "If he messed something up, he fixes it the next week. He has that 'never-content' type of personality, always hungry to be better. He's really come into his own in the past few weeks."

Over the course of a typical game, Marshall, who originally converted to safety as a plebe before becoming a striker, typically needs to execute a variety of tasks.

They include zone pass coverage or man-to-man assignments against a slot receiver or a tight end. In Newberry's system, which is built on real and disguised pressure and lots of pre-snap shifts, Marshall is a wild card – showing blitz before dropping into coverage, or getting after the opposing quarterback.

Marshall also is a key supporter in Navy's run defense. That demands linebacking skills, such as sure tackling and slipping the blocks of offensive linemen or fullbacks much larger than he, before making the play or steering it inside to another defender.

The Mids entered the Cincinnati game ranked eighth in run defense in Division I, having allowed just 92 rushing yards per game.

"[Marshall] is not a real strong guy. He knows he probably shouldn't survive all of the mismatches he faces in [the American Athletic Conference]," Newberry says. "He is really slippery and athletic. He knows how to play on the edge of blocks and use leverage and space well. He understands what he can and can't do, and he takes such pride in what he does."

"[Striker] is an interesting position. You sometimes need to take people on with your hands and find your way around them to make a play," Marshall says. "I've learned a lot of ways to do that the past three years, especially against some of the offensive linemen who outweigh me by a hundred pounds or more. You find intuitive or creative ways to do it."

Notably among Navy's three captains, Marshall has remained healthy since fall camp by starting all nine games and practicing regularly. Right tackle Kip Frankland has started every game, but multiple injuries have kept him out of practice for weeks. Kicker Bijan Nichols, the other tri-captain, has yet to kick this season, after sustaining a lower body injury shortly before the season opener.

Marshall admits that, after coming from lots of winning at Gonzaga, in the formidable Washington Catholic Athletic Conference that includes DeMatha, Good Counsel and St. John's and the league's stocked, future Division I talent, it has been difficult to experience more losses than wins thus far during his three seasons as a starter at Navy.

It was a steep challenge navigating the Covid years and the pandemic-driven restrictions and protocols in 2020 and '21. Normal attrition and Covid-fueled transfer portal activity combined to strip more than 30 seniors from the Class of '23. Navy began its current season with 25 seniors on its roster. The Mids currently are starting a total of four.

"Covid was such a difficult time for everybody here at the academy, with so many restrictions," says Marshall, who saw no action as a freshman during Navy's 11-2 season in 2019. "It was kind of cool for a while, taking online classes [in 2020], which felt like any other college. But there were no fans in the stands, which kind of stunk.

"Playing college football for me for the first time in 2020 [a 3-7 finish with numerous postponements/cancellations] was a huge learning experience," he adds, noting that his nine starts included time at safety and cornerback, as well as striker, due to injuries or protocol issues.

"I didn't have a full, real offseason of Navy football until before my senior season. This is not an easy place [in normal times]. It can be grueling day in and day out. It shows how resilient the people who stayed are."

Marshall grew up in Howard County, Md., where he and his fraternal twin, Connor, played basketball and football together through middle school. Connor went on to be a starting quarterback and a star shooting guard at Atholton High School near Columbia, Md.

"We always competed with each other. We pushed each other in our own way, but we have always had each other's back," says Connor Marshall, who is four minutes older than John. "There were lots of arguments and battles. I think it has helped make him a strong captain and a great person. John has always wanted to be the best player on the field. I am not surprised by how much he has accomplished."

From third grade through middle school, the Marshall twins played for the Columbia Ravens club football team. It was during a Ravens game, as an eighth grader, that John Marshall was discovered by Gonzaga assistant football coach George Mitchell, who was there to scout some other talent.

"I got there early to watch the Ravens' 'A' team and the 'B' team was playing. I noticed this one kid [Marshall] running around making almost every tackle. I started charting him and came up with about 25 tackles," Mitchell recalls. 'None of the private schools knew about him. And John had no idea about Gonzaga."

That soon changed. John enrolled at Gonzaga, went on to letter twice in basketball as a shooting guard and three times in football. Early on, he played some defense but was strictly a wide receiver in his last two seasons. Mitchell recalls Marshall's competitive fire as a freshman.

"John would get so amped up. He wanted to win every snap at all costs," Mitchell says. "I had to settle him down, get him to control himself and stay more even-keel during games. His extremely competitive nature was almost detrimental."

As a senior, on a team loaded with Division I signees, Marshall shined as one of the top wideouts in the WCAC. He went out with a bang in the conference title game in 2018.

With time about to expire, Marshall sprinted to the end zone, where he caught a game-ending Hail Mary pass from quarterback Caleb Williams – now playing for USC – as Gonzaga came back from a 20-0 deficit to defeat top-seeded DeMatha, 46-43. It was Gonzaga's first WCAC championship since 2002.

"That was an out-of-body kind of experience," recalls Marshall, who graduated with a 3.80 grade point average. Early in his senior year, he had committed to Navy, which was the only Division I school to make him a formal offer. He had drawn significant interest from Holy Cross and the Ivy League.

"Nobody attracted me like Navy did, with the quality of the school and being able to play football in a high-level conference and play Notre Dame and Army and Air Force every year," Marshall adds, who grew up as a fan of the Fighting Irish and rarely missed watching Army-Navy games on television.

As a freshman, used to a significant role on a football team, Marshall had to swallow the reality that he was seventh on the depth chart at striker. By the time he was heading into the 2020 season as a sophomore, he was primed to make an impact. That year, he was Navy's third-leading tackler with 62 stops, including 10 stops in a 15-0 loss to Army.

"I was a plebe that year, and John made it very clear that he wasn't above me, that we were the same, even though he was already a starter and I was just a guy learning the defense," says junior backup striker Xavier McDonald. "John helped me learn a lot. As a captain, he makes you comfortable about coming to him to talk about whatever. He is a very good role model."

"John is one of our better athletes, one of our best players and he's an even better dude off the field," adds senior kicker Dan Davies.

"[Marshall] is a natural teacher with young guys," adds Joe Coniglio, who coaches Navy's strikers. "I lean on him all the time when I'm explaining things. He has this demanding demeanor, and he walks a fine line of being a great teacher and being someone who upholds a standard and will hold you to it as a captain."

As a junior, Marshall settled into a prominent role as striker and finished second on the team with 54 tackles, including eight in a 17-13 win over Army.  

Through nine games this year, Marshall leads Navy in tackles (72), solo tackles (30), tackles for loss (13), pass breakups (7) and QB hurries (6). He ranks second with five sacks. Having entered the fall with a 3.40 grade point average, Marshall will graduate in six months with a degree in political science and hopes to be commissioned as a Naval intelligence officer.

"The Naval Academy has presented me with a lot of opportunities – good or bad – that I don't think I would have experienced at any other school," Marshall says. "No matter what the records have indicated, or what Covid did, I love how we play football the right way."