Southfield 7th grade standout gets U-M football scholarship offer

(FOX 2) - Southfield A&T High School is where 7th grader Isaiah Marshall will be playing in a couple of years - and a few years after that - Ann Arbor?

"This was at Ford Field and we were losing by like 10, we scored and got the ball back," said Marshall. "There was like seven seconds left and I threw a game-winning touchdown."

Meet the 13-year-old Southfield kid with a cannon for an arm who's also one of, if not the youngest ball player to receive a scholarship offer from Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh. 

He was at Southfield A&T for a recruiting visit Tuesday. Harbaugh rwatched footage of Isaiah playing for the Southfield Lathrup Falcons Football Club.

"He ended up checking out some film of Isaiah," said Brian Marshall, his father. "He liked what he saw and he liked the things he was doing especially for his age and he gave me a call."

It is too much too soon? It's a fair question. Even so, Isaiah's parents are keeping him grounded.

His mom, Yolanda, was a scholarship basketball player at DePaul University. His dad, Brian, played football at Northwestern and was an All-American running back at Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice.

And then there's the host of uncles, cousins and other relatives who played Division 1 college football and even professional football. 

"He is around a lot of people who are going to keep him on track," said dad Brian Marshall. "If he slides off track they will be around to straighten him up because they know what is necessary and what needs to be done. 

Ryan Ermanni says while this is not yet a trend in college football, more and more coaches are offering scholarships to tweens.

"It's just one of those things where you see a kid who you think is really good or projects to be really good and you want to be that coach come a couple of years ahead and say I was with you from the beginning," Ermanni said.

"I'm proud of him, he works hard, if anybody deserves it, he definitely does because he's a great kid," said mother Yolanda Marshall.

"Nothing changes," his dad said. "He will have the same routine - he'll be going to church Sunday, he'll be doing his same workouts, he'll be going to hang with his friends."

Harbaugh has offered a scholarship to a 7th grader before, back in June it was Dante Moore.

Also receiving an offer today - Southfield A&T quarterback Anthony Romphf.