Unfortunately, Recruitnik's success in showing what the outcome of a game could be, was accurate last week. ECU was rated much higher than the Herd in terms of Rivals recruiting rankings. Depth appeared to grab the Herd. Marshall's defense appeared tired at the end of both halves. Marshall's strong defensive line wore down, but continued to try to get upfield to the quarterback. This enabled the offensive lineman to get to the second level and really lean on the smaller Marshall linebackers. This can be seen in the lack of production numbers from players like Eli Neal and Abraham Beauplan.
Tonight's game shows the Herd on a much more level playing field. Appalachian State has a ton of talent. They return 27 of the 44 players listed on last years depth chart. They have brought in three transfers from P5 schools, including their starting quarterback Chase Brice who is a transfer from Clemson. Like Marshall, they also brought in four transfers from lower level schools. These types of players often end up better than those that transfer down. Refer to Marshall with Cory McCoy and LeAnthony Williams.
The rules of Recruitnik are simple. We take the two deep depth chart for both teams from the most recent Game Notes put out on their respective Official Athletics Site. We use the Rivals ratings, to the best of our ability, and simply add up the numbers and divide it by the number of players. Who ever has the highest ratings wins. We compare Marshall's offense against the opponents defense, and Marshall's defense against the opponents offense.
A couple of notes. Marshall lists an extra defensive player so their rating will be divided by 24 position spots compared to the 22 position spots of Appalachian State
Time to jump right in.
MARSHALL OFFENSE VS Appalachian State DEFENSE
(Same as last week) Marshall's offense is returns a ton of talent. The offense has three 3 star players on the two deep roster in Corey Gammage, Xavier Gaines and Sheldon Evans. Marshall's overall ranking is pulled down due to a plethora of former walkon along the offensive line that have battled to earn spots on the two deep. Marshall has 7 unranked players out of the 22 who have earned a spot on the two deep. This includes six walk ons in Stone Scarcelle, Ethan Driskell, James Magee, Logan Osburn, Kendrick Sartor, and Luke Zban. Two star Jack Murphy is also a former walk on.
MARSHALL DEFENSE VS APPALACHIAN STATE OFFENSE
(Same as last week) Marshall's defense is loaded with talent. The talent includes former recruits and a couple highly rated transfers from P5 schools. The defensive depth chart has two former four stars, Shane Simmons and LeAnthony Williams. The defense has two other transfers from FCS schools who were unrated via Rivals out of high school, Brian Cavicante and Cory McCoy. McCoy is expected to start at nickel.
OVERALL MATCHUP
MARSHALL WIDE RECEIVERS VS APPY DEFENSIVE BACKS
Clearly Marshall wants to run as many plays as possible. The ability for the wide receivers to make plays to extend drives will be crucial again tonight. Below is a look at the matchup of Marshalls wide outs against the Appy secondary
MARSHALL DEFENSIVE LINE VS APPY OFFENSIVE LINE
Like mentioned before. The defensive line has to have an impact. They have to figure out a way to keep the lineman from getting up the field to block the Marshall linebackers. @Josh Stowers mentioned all off season that we needed bodies at linebacker, and that reared its ugly head last week against ECU.
The game is set for a 730 at Kidd Brewer Stadium on ESPN
Tonight's game shows the Herd on a much more level playing field. Appalachian State has a ton of talent. They return 27 of the 44 players listed on last years depth chart. They have brought in three transfers from P5 schools, including their starting quarterback Chase Brice who is a transfer from Clemson. Like Marshall, they also brought in four transfers from lower level schools. These types of players often end up better than those that transfer down. Refer to Marshall with Cory McCoy and LeAnthony Williams.
The rules of Recruitnik are simple. We take the two deep depth chart for both teams from the most recent Game Notes put out on their respective Official Athletics Site. We use the Rivals ratings, to the best of our ability, and simply add up the numbers and divide it by the number of players. Who ever has the highest ratings wins. We compare Marshall's offense against the opponents defense, and Marshall's defense against the opponents offense.
A couple of notes. Marshall lists an extra defensive player so their rating will be divided by 24 position spots compared to the 22 position spots of Appalachian State
Time to jump right in.
MARSHALL OFFENSE VS Appalachian State DEFENSE
| Marshall Offense | 1.50 |
| Appy Defense | 1.81 |
| ADVANTAGE | APPY DEFENSE |
MARSHALL DEFENSE VS APPALACHIAN STATE OFFENSE
| Marshall Defense | 2.20 |
| Appy Offense | 1.86 |
| ADVANTAGE | MARSHALL |
OVERALL MATCHUP
| Marshall Overall Rating | 1.86 |
| Appy Overall Rating | 1.84 |
| ADVANTAGE | MARSHALL |
MARSHALL WIDE RECEIVERS VS APPY DEFENSIVE BACKS
Clearly Marshall wants to run as many plays as possible. The ability for the wide receivers to make plays to extend drives will be crucial again tonight. Below is a look at the matchup of Marshalls wide outs against the Appy secondary
| Marshall | Wide Receivers | APPY | Defensive Backs | ||
| Corey Gammage | 3 stars | WR | Steven Jones Jr. | 2 stars | CB |
| Stone Scarcelle | 0 stars | WR | Donte Small | 2 stars | CB |
| Willie Johnson | 3 stars | WR | Ryan Huff | 2 stars | S |
| EJ Horton | 2 stars | WR | Ronald Clarke | 2 stars | S |
| Talik Keaton | 2 stars | WR | Nick Ross | 3 stars | S |
| Shadeed Ahmed | 2 stars | WR | Madison Cone | 3 stars | S |
| Xavier Gaines | 4 stars | TE | Shaun Jolly | 2 stars | CB |
| Devin Miller | 2 stars | TD | Travis McNichols Jr | 2 stars | CB |
MARSHALL DEFENSIVE LINE VS APPY OFFENSIVE LINE
Like mentioned before. The defensive line has to have an impact. They have to figure out a way to keep the lineman from getting up the field to block the Marshall linebackers. @Josh Stowers mentioned all off season that we needed bodies at linebacker, and that reared its ugly head last week against ECU.
| Marshall | DE | Shane Simmons | 4 | APPY | LT | Anderson Hardy | 2 |
| Marshall | DE | Sam Burton | 2 | APPY | LT | Jayden Ramsey | 2 |
| Marshall | DT | Jamari Edwards | 3 | APPY | LG | Damion Daley | 2 |
| Marshall | DT | Esaias Carpenter | 3 | APPY | LG | Luke Smith | 2 |
| Marshall | DT | Rodney Croom | 2 | APPY | C | Baer Hunter | 2 |
| Marshall | DT | TJ Johnson | 3 | APPY | C | Troy Everett | 0 |
| Marshall | DE | Koby Cumberlander | 3 | APPY | RG | Isaiah Helms | 0 |
| Marshall | DE | Owen Porter | 3 | APPY | RG | Seth Williams | 0 |
| APPY | RT | Cooper Hodges | 2 | ||||
| APPY | RT | Craig McFarland | 2 |
The game is set for a 730 at Kidd Brewer Stadium on ESPN
