With no Official Visitors in town this weekend there just wasn't enough content for a full blown War Room but there are a few pieces of information we wanted to let you know about.
*** There's been much discussion about Luke Frampton on the board over the past few days - and for good reason. He's Marshall's top target in the 2017 class and a recruit most Thundering Herd fans would love to see sign with MU. As @Josh Stowers mentioned, Frampton recently took a visit to Davidson and came away very impressed with the Wildcat program. Bob McKillop, who is simply one of the most respected coaches in all of college basketball, has done an excellent job recruiting Frampton. Don't forget Davidson plays in the very competitive A10 and recently produced a guy named Steph Curry. They'll be in it until the end for Frampton's services.
All of that said, Marshall is still very much in play with Frampton. In fact, the Poca standout will be visiting Huntington next weekend for the Akron game. Frampton has yet to publicly name a leader but with early signing day quickly approaching (November 9th) things should start to become clearer about where he will end up rather quickly.
*** Speaking of basketball visitors next weekend: Frampton will be joined by Notre Dame (WV) point guard Jarrod West. According to our own @Sean Hammond, West is "really excited" about his visit to Huntington. West has only visited Winthrop and doesn't have any additional visits lined up as of right now. West told Herdnation last month he wanted to commit to his future school by October, which could mean good news is coming Marshall's way relatively soon.
*** Herdnation has learned that as of right now, Ladarius Clark is no longer a part of the 2017 recruiting class. Clark's commitment has seemed a little off from the beginning to the Herdnation staff as he has proven nearly impossible to reach. That's never a good sign, especially for a commit. According to our sources, the door is not completely shut on Clark ending up as part of this class, but for now we'll be taking him off the commitment list.
***Leftovers from Media Day
@Dick Ash caught up with a number of players on media day and asked them some off-the-wall questions to find out a little more about their personality and sense of humor. The first players Dick talked to were offensive tackles A.J. Addison, Malik Thompson and Sandley Jean-Felix as a group. Individually, he posed the 3 questions to wide receiver Nick Mathews, offensive tackle Clint Van Horn, quarterback Chase Litton, wide receiver Josh Knight, tight end Ryan Yurachek and defensive tackle Jason Smith.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about life and/or football?
Addison: My high school coach always to me to do the little things first and the big things would come after that. That’s something I’ve lived by every day.
Thompson: Focus on school. That’s all I’ve been hearing my whole life; just focus on school.
Jean-Felix: Just work hard. That’s all you can do, is work hard.
Mathews: It was probably from my dad: just to focus on myself, do what I need to do in my life, don’t worry about outside things, ignore all the noise.
Van Horn: You’ve got to be a man yourself, because no one’s going to do it for you. That was (from) my wrestling coach/offensive line coach in high school.
Litton: Dare to be uncommon. Dare to be different from everybody else. Work when nobody’s watching. Work when the lights are off. When things are getting tough, don’t give up, don’t make excuses, just get ready to go and just go.
Knight: Someone told me when I was growing up: in order to be a great leader you have to be a great follower. I try to use that in life, (by) Iooking up to guys like a head coach or guys that came before me like other great players or other great mentors that I’ve had. You have to be able to look at leaders and see the type of people that they are and the stuff (about them) that you want to model and (how) you want to be like (them).
Yurachek: On my college choice, to go where you feel the most comfortable, go where your heart takes you and that brought me here so that’s obviously turned out well.
Smith: Never give up on anything you start. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the field, in the classroom or out and about, just handle everything that you start. Once you start something you do not stop until it’s done.
What’s the weirdest or funniest thing you’ve ever seen on a football field – in a game or a practice?
Addison: I saw a lot of them in the 2014 season. With (Rakeem) Cato there was a lot of things that happened; good things. The thing I remember was when he was over here (gestures toward the east sideline) and he put the ball behind his back and caught it with his left hand. That was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.
Jean-Felix: That’s the only time we’ve seen weird stuff happen is when Cato was here. Cato did a lot of crazy stuff happened that wasn’t supposed to happen.
Mathews: When I was little we had this trick play: I’d run over to the sideline and just try to act like I was on the sideline. At the snap I’d just run downfield and they’d launch it to me. It worked all the time. It was pretty cool.
Litton: In practice yesterday, Garet (Morrell) went in and overgripped the ball a little bit and it flung out of his hand, so we had a good little laugh about it. Xavier (Gaines) went in and the ball flew out of his hand twice; he fumbled twice. Then I went in and on the second play, I did the same thing. We were all just looking at each other, and it wasn’t funny at the time obviously with Doc sitting there, but it’s just something you can’t control. It’s just football, and for all three of us to do the exact same thing, it’s just funny.
Van Horn: It wasn’t funny at the time, but in 2012 when we were playing UAB, I got blindsided. (It was funny) just to see my feet fly up because I’m not used to being hit. (Also) in the Conference USA Championship game in 2014, Cato was running down the right hash facing the (Shewey) Building and the ball pops out of his hands and he catches it while he’s going forward. I was mad; I was screaming running down the field chasing Cato as he’s running down the sideline and he ends up catching it and I was yelling for no reason.
Knight: It was during my sophomore year here. We were doing a 7-on-7 (drill) and I forget who the quarterback was, but I was running a slant and he threw the ball and it was a little off target and it hit one of the defenders right in the facemask.
Yurachek: We’ve had some weird stuff happen in practice. We’ve had coaches get run over on the sidelines (and in practice), just little stupid stuff that they show in team meetings and everybody gets a good laugh out of.
If you could try another football position (including being the appropriate size and body type for that position) what other position would you like to try?
Thompson: Linebacker. I’d like to hit people. That’s what I do now but it would be different.
Mathews: Linebacker. Those guys, they’re big, they’re strong, they’re fast, they can do it all, they hit; I think it’d be pretty cool to be like that. It would be a fun position, just hitting everybody.
Litton: Defensive end. I’d probably come around and rock Xavier and rock Garet a couple of time just to do it. It’d be pretty fun to be this huge end, dominating the line of scrimmage.
Knight: I’d definitely say quarterback. I know there’s a lot of pressure on those guys, but at the end of the day it’s got to be great just leading a group of guys.
Yurachek: I used to play quarterback in the day. I didn’t have the arm for it, and I think everybody played quarterback, but I really liked it. It turned out there were people that were better than me so I went a different way. I kinda liked being in control of things. I think that would be fun.
*** As always, we'll keep our eyes and ears open for any news regarding visitors (basketball and football) and should anything change, you'll be the first to know.
*** There's been much discussion about Luke Frampton on the board over the past few days - and for good reason. He's Marshall's top target in the 2017 class and a recruit most Thundering Herd fans would love to see sign with MU. As @Josh Stowers mentioned, Frampton recently took a visit to Davidson and came away very impressed with the Wildcat program. Bob McKillop, who is simply one of the most respected coaches in all of college basketball, has done an excellent job recruiting Frampton. Don't forget Davidson plays in the very competitive A10 and recently produced a guy named Steph Curry. They'll be in it until the end for Frampton's services.
All of that said, Marshall is still very much in play with Frampton. In fact, the Poca standout will be visiting Huntington next weekend for the Akron game. Frampton has yet to publicly name a leader but with early signing day quickly approaching (November 9th) things should start to become clearer about where he will end up rather quickly.
*** Speaking of basketball visitors next weekend: Frampton will be joined by Notre Dame (WV) point guard Jarrod West. According to our own @Sean Hammond, West is "really excited" about his visit to Huntington. West has only visited Winthrop and doesn't have any additional visits lined up as of right now. West told Herdnation last month he wanted to commit to his future school by October, which could mean good news is coming Marshall's way relatively soon.
*** Herdnation has learned that as of right now, Ladarius Clark is no longer a part of the 2017 recruiting class. Clark's commitment has seemed a little off from the beginning to the Herdnation staff as he has proven nearly impossible to reach. That's never a good sign, especially for a commit. According to our sources, the door is not completely shut on Clark ending up as part of this class, but for now we'll be taking him off the commitment list.
***Leftovers from Media Day
@Dick Ash caught up with a number of players on media day and asked them some off-the-wall questions to find out a little more about their personality and sense of humor. The first players Dick talked to were offensive tackles A.J. Addison, Malik Thompson and Sandley Jean-Felix as a group. Individually, he posed the 3 questions to wide receiver Nick Mathews, offensive tackle Clint Van Horn, quarterback Chase Litton, wide receiver Josh Knight, tight end Ryan Yurachek and defensive tackle Jason Smith.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about life and/or football?
Addison: My high school coach always to me to do the little things first and the big things would come after that. That’s something I’ve lived by every day.
Thompson: Focus on school. That’s all I’ve been hearing my whole life; just focus on school.
Jean-Felix: Just work hard. That’s all you can do, is work hard.
Mathews: It was probably from my dad: just to focus on myself, do what I need to do in my life, don’t worry about outside things, ignore all the noise.
Van Horn: You’ve got to be a man yourself, because no one’s going to do it for you. That was (from) my wrestling coach/offensive line coach in high school.
Litton: Dare to be uncommon. Dare to be different from everybody else. Work when nobody’s watching. Work when the lights are off. When things are getting tough, don’t give up, don’t make excuses, just get ready to go and just go.
Knight: Someone told me when I was growing up: in order to be a great leader you have to be a great follower. I try to use that in life, (by) Iooking up to guys like a head coach or guys that came before me like other great players or other great mentors that I’ve had. You have to be able to look at leaders and see the type of people that they are and the stuff (about them) that you want to model and (how) you want to be like (them).
Yurachek: On my college choice, to go where you feel the most comfortable, go where your heart takes you and that brought me here so that’s obviously turned out well.
Smith: Never give up on anything you start. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the field, in the classroom or out and about, just handle everything that you start. Once you start something you do not stop until it’s done.
What’s the weirdest or funniest thing you’ve ever seen on a football field – in a game or a practice?
Addison: I saw a lot of them in the 2014 season. With (Rakeem) Cato there was a lot of things that happened; good things. The thing I remember was when he was over here (gestures toward the east sideline) and he put the ball behind his back and caught it with his left hand. That was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.
Jean-Felix: That’s the only time we’ve seen weird stuff happen is when Cato was here. Cato did a lot of crazy stuff happened that wasn’t supposed to happen.
Mathews: When I was little we had this trick play: I’d run over to the sideline and just try to act like I was on the sideline. At the snap I’d just run downfield and they’d launch it to me. It worked all the time. It was pretty cool.
Litton: In practice yesterday, Garet (Morrell) went in and overgripped the ball a little bit and it flung out of his hand, so we had a good little laugh about it. Xavier (Gaines) went in and the ball flew out of his hand twice; he fumbled twice. Then I went in and on the second play, I did the same thing. We were all just looking at each other, and it wasn’t funny at the time obviously with Doc sitting there, but it’s just something you can’t control. It’s just football, and for all three of us to do the exact same thing, it’s just funny.
Van Horn: It wasn’t funny at the time, but in 2012 when we were playing UAB, I got blindsided. (It was funny) just to see my feet fly up because I’m not used to being hit. (Also) in the Conference USA Championship game in 2014, Cato was running down the right hash facing the (Shewey) Building and the ball pops out of his hands and he catches it while he’s going forward. I was mad; I was screaming running down the field chasing Cato as he’s running down the sideline and he ends up catching it and I was yelling for no reason.
Knight: It was during my sophomore year here. We were doing a 7-on-7 (drill) and I forget who the quarterback was, but I was running a slant and he threw the ball and it was a little off target and it hit one of the defenders right in the facemask.
Yurachek: We’ve had some weird stuff happen in practice. We’ve had coaches get run over on the sidelines (and in practice), just little stupid stuff that they show in team meetings and everybody gets a good laugh out of.
If you could try another football position (including being the appropriate size and body type for that position) what other position would you like to try?
Thompson: Linebacker. I’d like to hit people. That’s what I do now but it would be different.
Mathews: Linebacker. Those guys, they’re big, they’re strong, they’re fast, they can do it all, they hit; I think it’d be pretty cool to be like that. It would be a fun position, just hitting everybody.
Litton: Defensive end. I’d probably come around and rock Xavier and rock Garet a couple of time just to do it. It’d be pretty fun to be this huge end, dominating the line of scrimmage.
Knight: I’d definitely say quarterback. I know there’s a lot of pressure on those guys, but at the end of the day it’s got to be great just leading a group of guys.
Yurachek: I used to play quarterback in the day. I didn’t have the arm for it, and I think everybody played quarterback, but I really liked it. It turned out there were people that were better than me so I went a different way. I kinda liked being in control of things. I think that would be fun.
*** As always, we'll keep our eyes and ears open for any news regarding visitors (basketball and football) and should anything change, you'll be the first to know.
