Not surprisingly, Florida State will be without a key piece of its defensive secondary when it opens the season with its highly-anticipated matchup with Alabama.
In the second half of FSU’s Orange Bowl win over Michigan, Seminoles’ starting safety Trey Marshall was ejected for targeting. A second-half ejection for targeting carries a further penalty of a suspension for the first half of the next game as well. Despite the fact that the next game for Marshall is the following season, it was assumed that the defensive back would have to sit out the first game of 2017; Monday, at the ACC spring meetings, Jimbo Fisher confirmed that Marshall will sit the first two quarters of the game against the Crimson Tide -- although the head coach indicated that his conference will be looking to have that part of the rule addressed by the NCAA.
From 247Sports.com:He will,” Fisher said when asked if Marshall would miss the first half. “And we’re trying to vote on that too [at the ACC Spring Meetings]. I think that’s crazy. No other sport, I don’t know a sport, you have those red cards in soccer, they don’t follow you year-to-year. But it is what the rule is now.”
The rule of a half-long suspension carrying over to the following season is, according to Fisher, not thought out well. He said that the ACC is looking to bring up the rule to be reviewed by the NCAA Football Rules Committee.
The senior has started 17 games during his three years in Tallahassee, with 11 of those starts coming last season. His 58 tackles in 2016 were third on the Seminoles.