Marshall enjoys Stanford junior day

Byron Marshall has been to Stanford before but he thought this past weekend's visit was extremely valuable because the San Jose (Calif.) Valley Christian running back and other recruits got a chance to talk with current players about the program, the school and a lot more during a junior day.

It was another good trip for Marshall, a 5-foot-10, 195-pound prospect who is considered one of the best running backs on the West Coast. Rivals.com includes him in its top 250 to watch list for 2012.

"I thought it was really good," Marshall said. "I had a lot of fun. I met a lot of guys there. I've been to Stanford before but some of the stuff was different. We got to sit down with some of the players, all the recruits and their parents, and there were five players that we talked to.

"Everyone was asking them questions about the school, what it's like, and I thought that was good because everyone has this misconception that Stanford is just for nerds but it's nothing like that. It was good learning more about the school and learning more from them."

Since Marshall has been to Stanford before, he's seen how the program was run under former coach Jim Harbaugh and now under new coach David Shaw. Although he said there are minor differences, he believes the groundwork is in place for future success.

Stanford has a lot to offer and Marshall said it will definitely be considered moving forward in his recruitment.

"Coach Harbaugh put everything in place," Marshall said. "He turned the program around tremendously and now with coach Shaw there, he's doing an excellent job and he's just keeping the wheels rolling. It wasn't much different and I still liked it a lot.

"Stanford is a great school, it's just a school that has a really good football program now and the education is even better. It's one of those schools that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity meaning not many schools have the former secretary of state as a professor there. The chance to get a degree there is a lot to offer."

Next up for Marshall, who rushed for 1,360 yards and 18 touchdowns in his junior season, is a stop at Cal's junior day this weekend.

The Northern California standout who lists offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, BYU, Cal, Idaho, Oregon State, San Jose State and Stanford along with interest from across the country said he's also close to trimming some schools off his list and is waiting for the camp season to get underway.

"I'm just waiting," Marshall said. "I'm not going to necessarily narrow down my list but weeding out the schools that won't make my list. It's a little bit tougher but I'm not worried too much about that."