Marshall Cherrington Returns to Cal as Director of Player Personnel
After a stint as USC's Director of Recruiting Strategy
Marshall Cherrington comes back to Cal as the new Director of Player Personnel, after spending a year at USC under HC Clay Helton.
Marshall continues his rise in the support career ladder since graduating from USC in 2018. Previously he served as:
2017 USC’s head student manager,
2018 recruiting analyst at Cal,
Began 2019 as a player personnel analyst at UW,
And ended 2019 as the Director of Recruiting Strategy at Cal,
Where he was key in recruiting the best Wilcox recruiting class so far.
In 2021 he reprised that role at his alma mater.
But it looks like he has seen the light and is returning to Cal again!
Players are endorsing the move:
To reiterate the impact that Marshall had on the 2019 recruiting Class (one that included aforementioned Derek Wilkins, J.Michael Sturdivant, Mavin Anderson et al.)
There was a time when USC quarterback signee Miller Moss was leaning to Cal and that was in large part to his relationship with Cherrington.
“Marshall was honestly a huge reason as to why Cal was so high and even a leader at a point in time during my recruitment,” Moss said. “He’s without a doubt one of the best in his business and recruits on the basis of relationships, which is huge in my mind.
“I think you saw what he did with Cal in them having a top 25 class this year and his effect will be felt even more so at USC. I can’t wait to see what he can do here with the rest of our recruiting staff.”
[…]
247Sports national recruiting editor Brandon Huffman has known Cherrington since he first got his feet wet in the recruiting world.
“The work he did at Cal, helping them to their first Top 25 class in a decade, the way recruits spoke so highly about him, and the efforts Cal put forward in the region, not just in the Bay Area, but in Southern California, the Northwest, Hawaii and the Rocky Mountain region, you could see his handiwork at play. He’s got a bright future running recruiting operations and already plenty of experience to bolster that future.”
Blair Angulo, a national recruiting analyst at 247Sports also raved about Cherrington as well.
“Arizona has been a major pipeline state for Cal the last few recruiting cycles and Cherrington was a big part of that effort, with many prospects pointing to his involvement and persistence in their processes,” Angulo said. “It wasn’t just the Grand Canyon State either, Cherrington has connections up and down the coast that could certainly help USC in its aim to ‘Take Back the West.’
What is a Director of Player of Personnel anyhow?
Per Chron:
The Director of Player Personnel is a frequently overlooked, but vitally important management position on both professional and college sports teams. Sports management has evolved so that the position has a dual role, as he is typically involved in both player recruitment and in ongoing player support. However, player recruitment is a DPP's primary role, especially at the college level.
[…]
Recruitment is a core responsibility for college DPPs, and they are responsible for everything from carefully complying with all NCAA rules on recruitment to arranging recruitment visits for coaches or campus visits for potential recruits. According to ESPN, winning a championship heavily depends on the efforts of the team's DPP, sometimes called a general manager in college football.
This is very big news. Marshall was a huge lift on our recruiting efforts, having him in the program will hopefully rebolster our ability too land top talent next year.
Heck yeah! Glad he and Wilcox stayed on good terms, and happy we're giving him a bigger opportunity.
The timing seemed to work out, too – with Riley bringing in his own staff to USC, and Cal/Wilcox negotiating larger football resources post-Oregon interview. Not the first time timing has worked in our favor for hiring (don't think we'd've landed Greatwood if Helfrich wasn't canned post-2016 season, or DeRuyter either).