IU football: Curt Cignetti impressed with Nick Marsh’s toughness — “He’s like a warrior”

Whenever IU coach Curt Cignetti saw Michigan State wide receiver Nick Marsh, he came away impressed.

That includes watching Michigan State film to prepare for the Spartans, and to prepare for other Big Ten teams.

Oh, and on the field against Indiana too.

Marsh scored touchdowns against Indiana in each of the last two seasons. He had seven catches for 64 yards and a score in Bloomington this past season, and five catches for 78 yards and a score in 2024 in East Lansing.

“I’ve seen Nick Marsh two years in a row, up close and personal,” Cignetti said last week on the Bison Drops podcast. “Then when you’re getting ready to play whoever, sometimes you get Michigan State in the exchange (to watch film). I still remember his Maryland game in 2024, when he would’ve been a true freshman, catching a couple posts. That guy’s always been very impressive.”

As a former consensus 4-star recruit out River Rouge H.S. in the Detroit area, it wasn’t a major surprise to see Marsh produce right out of the gate in college. But the splash he made as a true freshman at MSU was a clear outlier.

The 2024 Maryland contest was just Marsh’s second college football game — and he was still just 17 years old. On the road in College Park, he posted eight catches for 194 yards and a touchdown. A few weeks later he caught eight passes for 113 yards in a win over Iowa. In total he caught 41 passes for 649 yards and three scores. It was the most yards ever by a Michigan State true freshman receiver.

Marsh doesn’t turn 20 until Oct. 1. So he’s still just beginning to tap into his potential.

And while he has NFL size, skill athleticism, it’s Marsh’s intangibles that really appealed to Cignetti.

There are certain must-haves to play receiver at IU under this staff, and Cignetti sees what he needs in Marsh.

“The tape speaks for itself because with a receiver sometimes, you want to see how they block,” Cignetti said. “They all want to catch the ball — do they have good ball skills, can they separate, can they make the big play? Are they out there every play, every game, are they durable?

“But you watch Nick Marsh block, he’s like a warrior. Then you watch him catch a slant in the low red, break three tackles to score, it’s impressive.”

Marsh arrives in Bloomington with two years of eligibility remaining.

In 2025 he had 59 catches for 662 yards and six touchdowns. He led MSU in all of those categories and was named honorable mention All-Big Ten.

He’ll now step into the void left by Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper, Jr., who are both expected to be early-round NFL Draft picks in April. And there’s a good chance Marsh will be following them down that path.