Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – For most high school football players the first two years are about development.

Players spend those seasons getting used to the high school game, growing, learning.

In that regard Marshall Sheldon is no exception.

The City High junior linebacker spent his first two seasons getting acclimated to the speed and physicality of high school football while studying schemes and picking up on strategies.

Where Sheldon differs than most high school football players is while he was learning during those first two seasons he also crammed in a full career worth of production.

Sheldon has put together as good as a two-year start to a career as any in City High history racking up 143.5 tackles in his freshman and sophomore seasons combined.

Even with that early season success there is no complacency from Sheldon who enters his junior season chasing even more.

“I just think you can never have enough tackles, that’s how I look at it, you just get out there and try your hardest,” Sheldon said. “You can never get enough tackles or enough yards, you always want more.”

It was evident early that Sheldon was a special talent.

He was a starter from day one as a freshmen, leading City High with 69 tackles in 2024 while helping the Little Hawks to a 6-4 record and a spot in the 5A quarterfinals.

Sheldon was even better a year ago.

He had 74.5 tackles, including a team-high 19 for loss and two sacks and forced a pair of fumbles.

“He never just says hey I’m satisfied with what I’m doing,” City High coach Mitch Moore said. “He has an unbelievable humbleness about him too. He has this threshold of he doesn’t live in fear and he plays with a relentless energy and when you add all those things up, he’s a special kid.”

While last season was a success for Sheldon statistically it was a let down for the Little Hawks in the win-loss column.

After four consecutive winning seasons City High lost its first six games and finished 2-7 last fall.

Moore met with Sheldon in early November following the final regular season game and his message was simple – next year’s success starts now.

“Our meeting in November was really pointed and very matter of fact and it was you have to have a hard-core regimen in the weight room,” Moore said. “You can be a four-sport guy, you can be a competitor, but now you have to start practicing like a professional and you have to have a regimen to your offseason and he bought into the weight room hook, line and sinker. It was full on intentional on what his program needed to look like and it’s changed him.”

Sheldon has added more than 20 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-1 frame during the offseason.

After playing at 173 pounds as a sophomore Sheldon enters his junior season at 195.

“I think it’s a lot of the small detains – eating better, lifting better,” Sheldon said. “I feel like it’s just my consistency. I try to show up every day and work hard and it shows. It shows up on the field.”

With two years of experience and nearly 150 tackles to his credit Moore expects Sheldon to continue to climb this fall.

That all starts with his passion for the game.

“He just loves to play,” Moore said. “The word play is so symbolic for him because, he loves to play. He loves to practice, he loves to do anything where there is a competitive edge to it.”

Sheldon is always chasing more.

More tackles, more yards (he rushed for 261 yards last season) and more wins.

This season Sheldon is focused on more leadership.

“I’m trying to show guys around and making sure that everyone knows what they are doing,” Sheldon said. “Helping the younger guys, the freshman and sophomores, it makes my job easier because I know what I’m doing.”

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