Ed DeChellis and the Penn State men's basketball program welcomed four new players to the family two weekends ago. Yesterday, BWI Web editor Nate Bauer had a chance to sit down with combo-guard Jermaine Marshall.

Marshall: The knee is pretty good. I'm just doing a little bit of rehab right now. It's not anything serious. I'm just trying to get back to basically 100 percent. I'm at about 90 percent right now.

Marshall: Basically I have to work on the muscle to stop my knee cap from moving around. That's about it. It's nothing really serious.

Marshall: I think it's a little there. It's kind of hard because I haven't played in so long like in a real, live game. So, until I get there, I think that's the biggest step is to really play and see what I can do and can't do. Trusting myself.

Marshall: The first night I did but right now, no, because I'm sick, so I can't play I guess until the 21st.

Marshall: Yeah, like mono. I got mono.

Marshall: Yeah. I mean, it hurt. I can't play because they said my spleen would be swollen and if I get hit, that's bad news.

Marshall: Yeah, I'm dribbling, shooting, that's about it. Lifting, I can't lift right now but J.P. has me doing some dribbling drills, shooting drills and that's about it for the workout part.

Marshall: Oh yeah, you gotta. Class is mandatory. Class is pretty easy right now. I'm not really taking any kind of serious classes. I have English 004 and then I have Theater 102 and that's about it. It's a little acting, a little movie-watching... It's nothing serious.

Marshall: It's busy. There's a lot more to do. But, you also get a lot more time, too. If I could play, I would have a lot more time to work on my game. I mean, I'm still doing that. But, there's a lot more time. On the other hand, it's busy with the education part. They have a lot for you to do and study hall. Between that and class, I think that's the biggest change is you have to be able to handle the organization part. You have to be organized.

Marshall: Oh yeah, that helps a lot. Just being around the team, that helps around too. It's not really mental that you have to get through right now but I'm sure - I talked to some guys - through the workouts is all mental.

Marshall: Yeah. I like it a lot here. Coach DeChellis was totally honest with what he was talking about and Coach Kenaskie and those are the two guys that I really talked to. Nothing really changed since we got here. I mean, obviously, they're going to be a little harder on you than when they recruit you but that's a part of the game. Everything's cool.

Marshall: Right now, he's not around because he's doing some recruiting but we talked a couple times. We were just talking about my knee. The first night I played he said I looked all right but as of right now, I can't really talk to him because he's not really around.

Marshall: It's been nice, actually. We all chill pretty much every day in the same place with each other. So, I mean, everybody is just there. The first day I came, I felt like I had been here for a while. They treat you like you're one of them and you've been here for a while. Everything with meeting the guys, that was easy.

Marshall: Yeah, defensively, when I'm playing offense, the defense is a lot more physical. But other than that, it was all right.

Marshall: Yeah, a lot faster. I mean, it's not like you're going to kill yourself but it's at a different pace, especially since I haven't played in a long time. It's a different pace but it was a good workout though.

Marshall: Pick-up games I played with them and I usually played when I was back home every Sunday but, a regular game, it was my last game my junior year of high school.

Marshall: I do well with transition. I know I can make the change but we'll see because of my knee and the trust thing. But, I think I can do it. It's just a matter of if I will do it. We'll see. Usually I do good with stuff like that though so I think I'll handle it.

Marshall: Yeah, sometimes. Some days are better than others. Sometimes I feel real good, I'll just jump in and trust myself and movements I can do. Sometimes it's different where I might fall and it might hurt a little bit. But, some days are better than others. Most of the time it doesn't really hurt. My knee doesn't hurt but sometimes I just don't trust myself because the stuff I used to do and how I hurt my knee.

Marshall: It's kind of like a pinch. It's like a pinch on top of my kneecap.

Marshall: Yeah, kind of, but it doesn't happen usually when I'm playing. Usually it's when I'm just walking. Usually not when I'm playing basketball. I mean, it hurts for like a split-second and after that I'm good. It only happens like once a week maybe. Everything after that, I'm good. Since I've been rehabbing, it's been good. I didn't really have any pain in there.

Marshall: John Salazer our trainer, he told me it was just scar tissue still in there and it's been a big change since I've been working with him. Everything is running smooth with the workouts he has me doing and the exercise he has me doing. You can feel it's there but it's not really a pain anymore. You just know it's there.

Marshall: Two times a day. So, it's probably three hours... two and a half hours. It's a lot. It's more than I was doing back home. I mean, I did a lot of rehab then but now it's more. You have more time, so.

Marshall: It was an open gym and I was going up for an ally-oop and one of my teammates had stepped in my way. I hit his foot I guess, I spun, and that's when it went.

Marshall: Yeah, the scar is pretty bad. It actually got better. It was worse than that. I had surgery about a month later. I was walking on it for a while, it didn't really hurt then but I'm fine now.

Marshall: Microfracture surgery on my right knee. That's what the surgery was but the term of what I did was I tore my patella tendon. I mean, they did a lot.

Marshall: Yeah, I guess so. I guess I had some ligament damage in there. He found a lot of things wrong. And I had a piece of my kneecap floating around in my knee and this and that. They had to take that out. They cleaned it out real good. He said he shaved down the back of my kneecap. Now I'm brand new I guess.

Marshall: I'm just happy I get to work out, just a little bit. I mean, I did workouts at home but I'm just glad to be here, to finally be here. I've waited for so long. When I start working out, I'll be ready.

Marshall: As a team, I could see us doing a lot of big things just because of the aspect that we have some tough freshmen coming in and it makes our bench that much deeper. Me personally, I think I can be a help and bring some stuff to the table like passing ability and just getting to the hole. Redshirting, I never really talked about that. Coach never really brought that up. I mean, it's still early but coach never really said anything about that. I mean, if I did have to redshirt then I think that would be a little better for me because I would get to pick up the pace of the game a little bit more and get more comfortable with my knee, get a little stronger, work on my jump shot... work on my weaknesses basically.

Marshall: I want to get better with agility, working on my footwork, a little bit more on my jump shot - I mean, it's coming around - and my handle just a tad bit more.

Marshall: Yeah, two-three. Mainly at the two. I can basically get to the hole. We can rotate with - me and Bill are going to rotate I think with Cam and Chris. That would be nice. With Tim, he's a one, quick... very quick. I mean, he is real athletic.

Marshall: He's a true point guard. He can play. He knows the game. He's real fast. He can get the ball up the floor. He can dribble it. I mean, we all have flaws but he's pretty good.

Marshall: Bill can shoot it from deep. He can shoot it. He doesn't really have to spot up, he can do it off the dribble. He can shoot from deep, he can get to the hole. He can do it all. I mean, I think our guards are pretty good. He can probably shoot better than I can and I'm probably a little bit quicker than him. Other than that, that's good, he can shoot it.

Marshall: Sasa is pretty good. He has a fundamental game down low, real smart. I haven't really seen him play defense but I've seen him play on offense a couple of times. He has a lot of moves in his arsenal. I mean, he can beat you either way to the bucket, left, right, he can shoot it from mid-range. I didn't really watch him play defense.