Some recruitments are pretty straightforward. Others follow a series of twists and turns with commitments, de-commitments, videos, visits, and more. In the case of Peyton Marshall, his journey was more like the second variety. It’s been a journey, but tonight that journey is over as Marshall made his commitment to Missouri official on 247sports.com’s live feed on YouTube.

Dennis Gates offered Marshall very early on after being hired as the head coach at Missouri, on April 11th. Then Missouri showed Marshall he was a priority by getting him onto campus last October for an official visit. Marshall grew up in St. Louis before moving to Georgia so his familial connections in St. Louis were even invited up for the trip.

But it didn’t take long before Marshall hopped on another offer when he committed to Auburn in December. However, when the offseason coaching carousel sent Marshall’s primary recruiter, Wes Flanigan, to Ole Miss. it led to Marshall decommitting from Auburn and opening his recruitment back up.

Once the recruitment opened up a lot of experts seemed to think Marshall would follow Flanigan to Ole Miss. But the Rebels have some depth on the interior already and then pivoted hard recently by taking a commitment from former Mizzou target John Bol. It is likely their pivot was due to where Missouri was sitting in the race to land Marshall.

Let’s Meet Peyton Marshall

• From: Marietta, Ga.
• High School: Kell
• Position: Post
• Ht/Wt: 7-0 / 300
• 247Composite Ranking: 4-star, 71st (0.9718)
• Total announced offers: 16
• Offers to note: Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Georgetown

As usual, we’ll task Matt Harris with a full scouting breakdown of Marshall, but a few things here stand out. One, he is big. You don’t need to be a scout to tell that much. Standing 7-feet and tipping the scales at 300 pounds is usually a recipe for having an impact on the basketball game at the high-school level.

If Marshall gets you on his back with a drop step pivot to the rim, consider yourself in trouble. That’s not an exaggeration. During Kell’s run to a Class 5A title, the Longhorns could keep offense simple: dump the ball to Marshall on the right block and watch defenders hold on for dear life.

That approach, however, became more difficult once Marshall reached the grassroots season with Game Elite, which plays on an Adidas-backed circuit. Unsurprisingly, Marshall ran into bigs capable of fronting him to deny entry passes and tough enough to deny him a deep seal. And when he made a catch, finishing against length posed a test.

Opponents also rolled out obvious countermeasures. Because Marshall prefers drop-stepping toward the baseline, a help defender would wait until the big man began to spin and darted across the lane for a hard double. Or teams alternate between sending that hard double, having a guard dig down from the free-throw lane, or coming from the wing.

Now, Marshall can handle the extra attention, raise the ball, and scan for passes. He’s got a knack for options on the weak side of the floor, whether it’s a teammate making an angle cut or drifting to the corner. Meanwhile, Kell and Game Elite occasionally stationed Marshall at the top of the key and elbows to make passing reads, which overlaps with Mizzou’s scheme. He’s flashed promise in that role.

Marshall lurks as an intimidator around the restricted area as a defender, backstopping teammates that are switching almost every screen. Kell tended to play a bit more in gaps, while Game Elite was a bit more assertive. Either way, Marshall wasn’t asked to hedge and recover back. When caught in mismatches, he tends to sag off and rely on his length to create complications.

Marshall is not a finished product, but he has the raw talent most coaches look for in a player that size. He’s got soft hands and good footwork, two things you can build upon with any development plan.

What that plan looks like will be fascinating. On the surface, Marshall doesn’t fit the template Dennis Gates used for his big men. And make no mistake, modern offenses will hunt Marshall and pull him away from the rim. Developing counters in the paint, cleaning up passing reads, and slimming down are all on the agenda and will go a long way toward helping Marshall find a role.

What they’re saying: