New season, same ole Recruitnik coverage. In recent years, Recruitnik almost always correctly predicts the winner. Rarely is it wrong, however last year it did miss twice. It just continues to prove the fact that more often than not it is more about the Jimmy's and the Joe's than the X's and the O's.
This week Marshall takes on the 8th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Recruitnik is 1 - 0 on the season.
Although Notre Dame has several highly rated players, both teams have the same amount of five star guys on the two deep....ONE. Notre Dame has right tackle Blake Fisher, and Marshall has running back Khalan Laborn.
** - Same as last week - Some off the wall numbers before we dive into things: Below is a quick look at the last few recruiting classes, per Rivals, and how they are represented on the depth chart. Note, this does NOT include the transfers.
- 2017 - Only Devin Miller remains
- 2018 - 7 players remain, Corey Gammage, Steven Gilmore, Sam Burton, Talik Keaton, Caleb McMillan, Owen Porter and Dalton Tucker
- 2019 - 9 players still on the roster, 8 on the two deep (Daniel Foster is not listed, but will play) those remaining are Jayshawn Coffman, Esaias Carpenter, Elijah Alston, Micah Abraham, J'coryan Anderson, Eli Neal, Tristen Bittner and EJ Jackson.
-2020 - 9 players remain, 5 on the two deep. Those remaining are Abraham Beauplan, Daytione Smith, Josh Bowers, Charlie Gray and Kerion Martin.
- 2021 - 6 players on the two deep. Charles Montgomery, Cam Fancher, Eric Meeks, Tyshawn Hurst, Ethan Payne and John McConnell.
- 2022 - 1 player on the two deep. There is no chance that anyone would have guessed that the one player to crack the two deep off that star studded class would have been offensive lineman, two star Tariq Montgomery.
**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. Both Marshall and Notre Dame list 11 positions on their depth chart. In recent years Marshall used to list 12 positions, they would add NICKEL. Although not listed, the nickel will most likely be held down by McNeese State transfer Andre Sam. I would expect to see Isaiah Norman, Andre Sam and Jadarius Green-McKnight to be on the field together the majority of the time.
Time to jump right in. The first section will show the unit matchups. Listed below that will be a little more in depth look at a couple important positions.
MARSHALL OFFENSE VS Notre Dame DEFENSE
Marshall is averaging well over 2 overall stars across the offense this season. This includes three former unranked walk on's along the offensive line, all three of which are starting in Ethan Driskell, Logan Osburn and Kendrick Sartor. If those starters were re ranked and came in at two stars then the Herd offense would push an overall 2.5 rating. Marshall's overall offensive rating is being bolstered by former 5 star Florida State running back transfer Khalan Laborn. Four star transfer, also from Florida State, Bryan Robinson helps in that average as he came in with a four star rating.
MARSHALL DEFENSE VS Notre Dame OFFENSE
A former Florida State recruit also helped the defense's overall star rating as Marshall obtained the services of former four star safety Jadarius Green-McKnight. The rest of the defense is fairly consistent with several three star recruits. Like the defense, the overall score includes three transfers from the FCS levels who were unrated out of high school. Two of those players, Andre Sam and Isaiah Norman project as starters and Jace Bobo expects to back up superstar linebacker Abraham Beauplan.
OVERALL MATCHUP
MARSHALL WIDE RECEIVERS VS Notre Dame DEFENSIVE BACKS
Marshall's starting wide receivers and tight ends average 2.75 stars across the board. This will be a strength of this team throughout the season. This unit is one of the deeper room on the team and comes in with a lot of experience.
MARSHALL DEFENSIVE LINE VS Notre Dame OFFENSIVE LINE
The deepest, and strongest unit on the team has to be the Marshall defensive line. Coach Huff has said multiple times that we went into the bowl game late last season with only 6 healthy defensive lineman. He vowed that would not happen again and the depth chart is a strong indication of that. In addition to the 8 guys listed below, Marshall also lists Emmanuel Balogun, Purdue transfer Anthony Watts, Immanuel Bush and Jordan Calomese. All 12 players should play each week.
This week Marshall takes on the 8th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Recruitnik is 1 - 0 on the season.
Although Notre Dame has several highly rated players, both teams have the same amount of five star guys on the two deep....ONE. Notre Dame has right tackle Blake Fisher, and Marshall has running back Khalan Laborn.
** - Same as last week - Some off the wall numbers before we dive into things: Below is a quick look at the last few recruiting classes, per Rivals, and how they are represented on the depth chart. Note, this does NOT include the transfers.
- 2017 - Only Devin Miller remains
- 2018 - 7 players remain, Corey Gammage, Steven Gilmore, Sam Burton, Talik Keaton, Caleb McMillan, Owen Porter and Dalton Tucker
- 2019 - 9 players still on the roster, 8 on the two deep (Daniel Foster is not listed, but will play) those remaining are Jayshawn Coffman, Esaias Carpenter, Elijah Alston, Micah Abraham, J'coryan Anderson, Eli Neal, Tristen Bittner and EJ Jackson.
-2020 - 9 players remain, 5 on the two deep. Those remaining are Abraham Beauplan, Daytione Smith, Josh Bowers, Charlie Gray and Kerion Martin.
- 2021 - 6 players on the two deep. Charles Montgomery, Cam Fancher, Eric Meeks, Tyshawn Hurst, Ethan Payne and John McConnell.
- 2022 - 1 player on the two deep. There is no chance that anyone would have guessed that the one player to crack the two deep off that star studded class would have been offensive lineman, two star Tariq Montgomery.
**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. Both Marshall and Notre Dame list 11 positions on their depth chart. In recent years Marshall used to list 12 positions, they would add NICKEL. Although not listed, the nickel will most likely be held down by McNeese State transfer Andre Sam. I would expect to see Isaiah Norman, Andre Sam and Jadarius Green-McKnight to be on the field together the majority of the time.
Time to jump right in. The first section will show the unit matchups. Listed below that will be a little more in depth look at a couple important positions.
MARSHALL OFFENSE VS Notre Dame DEFENSE
| Marshall Offense | 2.27 |
| Notre Dame Defense | 3.36 |
| ADVANTAGE | NOTRE DAME OFFENSE |
MARSHALL DEFENSE VS Notre Dame OFFENSE
| Marshall Defense | 2.09 |
| Notre Dame Offense | 3.63 |
| ADVANTAGE | NOTRE DAME DEFENSE |
OVERALL MATCHUP
| Marshall Overall Rating | 2.18 |
| Notre Dame Overall Rating | 3.5 |
| ADVANTAGE | NOTRE DAME |
MARSHALL WIDE RECEIVERS VS Notre Dame DEFENSIVE BACKS
Marshall's starting wide receivers and tight ends average 2.75 stars across the board. This will be a strength of this team throughout the season. This unit is one of the deeper room on the team and comes in with a lot of experience.
| Marshall | Wide Receivers | Notre Dame | Defensive Backs | ||
| Corey Gammage | 3 stars | WR | Cam Hart | 3 stars | CB |
| Bryan Robinson | 4 stars | WR | Tariq Bracy | 3 stars | CB |
| Charles Montgomery | 3 stars | WR | Joseph Brandon | 3 stars | S |
| Caleb McMillan | 2 stars | WR | Ramon Henderson | 3 stars | S |
| Talik Keaton | 2 stars | WR | DJ Brown | 3 stars | S |
| Jayden Harrison | 3 stars | WR | Houston Griffith | 4 stars | S |
| Devin Miller | 2 stars | TE | Clarence Lewis | 3 stars | CB |
| Stacey Marshall Jr | 3 stars | TE | Cam Hart | 3 stars | CB |
MARSHALL DEFENSIVE LINE VS Notre Dame OFFENSIVE LINE
The deepest, and strongest unit on the team has to be the Marshall defensive line. Coach Huff has said multiple times that we went into the bowl game late last season with only 6 healthy defensive lineman. He vowed that would not happen again and the depth chart is a strong indication of that. In addition to the 8 guys listed below, Marshall also lists Emmanuel Balogun, Purdue transfer Anthony Watts, Immanuel Bush and Jordan Calomese. All 12 players should play each week.
| Marshall | DL | Koby Cumberlander | 3 | NS | LT | Joe Alt | 3 |
| Marshall | DL | Sam Burton | 2 | NS | LT | Tosh Baker | 4 |
| Marshall | DL | TyQaze Leggs | 3 | NS | LG | Jarrett Patterson | 3 |
| Marshall | DL | Jayshawn Coffman | 3 | NS | LG | Andrew Kristofic | 4 |
| Marshall | DL | Esaias Carpenter | 2 | NS | C | Zeke Correll | 4 |
| Marshall | DL | Isaiah Gibson | 3 | NS | C | Pat Coogan | 3 |
| Marshall | DL | Owen Porter | 2 | NS | RG | Josh Lugg | 4 |
| Marshall | DL | Elijah Alston | 2 | NS | RG | Andrew Kristofic | 4 |
| NS | RT | Blake Fisher | 5 | ||||
| NS | RT | Michael Carmody | 4 |
