By Josh Stowers
It had been 94 days since the Thundering Herd football team took the field and the wait finally came to an end today for Herd Nation. Head coach Doc Holliday opened his seventh spring practice today at Joan C. Edwards Stadium on this beautiful March afternoon. “That’s the first time in seven years that I haven’t been yelling and screaming to get them off the field so that says something about these guys,” Holliday said of the first day.
With the sun beaming down and the temperatures hovering around 65 degrees, the Marshall football team took the field in helmets and shorts (mandated by NCAA) for the first time this spring. “I thought the winter conditioning was really good and carried over into today. The older players have set the example the last four years about how go about their business on the field, off the field and in the weight room,” Holliday added.
New Players
Defensive backs CJ Reavis, Chris Jackson, and Jeremiah Maddox all took the field for the first time today for the Thundering Herd. It should be no surprise that Reavis is a specimen at 215 pounds. It looks like the coaching staff is going to bring him along slowly, but he looks like he’ll be everything we hoped him to be physically. Jackson looks like a clone of Daryl “Swagg” Roberts as a freshman. He’s long and athletic with above average speed. Maddox is just long, plain and simple. He looks like a young Taj Letman out there with his length.
Offense
With freshman sensation Chase Litton back for a second year, the belief within Herd Nation is that the offense will take a step forward. Litton looked fairly crisp today for the most part. He had a few balls sail on him and the chemistry is a work in progress, but you could see some growth on his part. Physically speaking, he’s lost that baby faced look and is rocking a goatee and some added weight that will definitely help him throughout the season.
Also back this season is sixth-year senior offensive lineman Clint Van Horn. Van Horn looked fresh and was in great spirits following his first action in what seems like forever. “I feel good. My range of motion is back and I’m just working to get back to where I was. For me, it’s about getting better every day. In my mind, I’m working to get my spot back and I plan on leaving my mark on this university,” Van Horn said. With Van Horn on one side and red-shirt junior Sandley Jean-Felix on the other, I’m not sure Marshall has ever had a bigger set of tackles.
I’m going to go ahead and put C-USA on warning that the combination of red-shirt junior Deon-Tay McManus and red-shirt sophomore Michael Clark could be something to deal with.
McManus was apparently listening when Holliday called him out during his pre-spring press conference yesterday. McManus made numerous grabs today in traffic and on the sideline.
Clark, basically an unknown, could make Litton a legend. “He’s a guy that showed up here as a walk-on and basketball player. He decided that football was in his future and I’m glad he did. He made plays against our best defensive backs last year and I’m excited about him. He’s added some weight and gotten in the weight room. He had never lifted weights before so the winter has been good to him. Chase came to me and told me he had a guy. He told me that he was a hell of a player and he was right. He has a fast twitch which is something you don’t really see in a guy that’s 6’7 too often,” Holliday said of Clark.
One thing that was noticeable today was the concerted effort to get the ball to the running backs on the edge. Look for the Coach Bill Legg to take a page out of Western Kentucky’s playbook and get the ball to the running backs in space this fall.
The biggest plays of the day from the offense belonged to a pair of sophomores. Red-shirt tight end Kaleb Harris caught a Michael Birdsong pass down the seam for a 49-yard touchdown and then red-shirt running back Keion Davis took a hand-off and out ran the defense down the sideline for a 60-yard touchdown.
Defense
With the losses of Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year Evan McKelvey and fellow senior DJ Hunter, Coach Adam Fuller’s biggest job is to replace 186 tackles and 14 tackles-for-loss.
Returning seniors Shawn Petty and Devontre’a Tyler look to fill those rolls, but don’t count out red-shirt sophomores Frankie Hernandez and Chase Hancock either. Tyler and Petty both provide larger presences in the middle while Hernandez and Hancock have the ability to make plays on the edge.
Figure in former JUCO four-star Davon Durant and the cupboard is anything but bare for Fuller. Speaking of Durant, the man is as wide as he is tall, and that’s not a negative comment at all. He’s just a large, powerful man.
Up front for the Thundering Herd, everybody knows about Gary Thompson, Blake Keller, and Ryan Bee, but it’s the freshman trio of Ty Tyler, Milan Lanier, and Damien Dozier that could surprise people this fall. Tyler is a compact, powerful end while Lanier and Dozier both possess length and athleticism.
On the interior, Tomell One and Nyquan Harris will man the tackle spots, followed by Jason Smith, Joe Massaquoi (moved from end) and Malik Thompson. In the secondary, Rodney Allen and Tiquan Lang are definitely the leaders. Allen was flanked by sophomore TJ Griffin on the first-team with Michael Johnson (back from injury) and D’Andre “Chocolate” Wilson playing behind them.
Antavis Rowe and Chris Williams-Hall are both on the sidelines with injuries for spring ball so it’ll be up to the younger guys to step up.
Biggest mover in the secondary in my opinion may very well be Kendall Gant. Gant looks like he’s filled out and took on a leadership role as a third-year player.
Special Teams
Red-shirt juniors Nick Smith and Amoreto Curraj will be battle all spring long to take over the first-team kicking duties. On the day, both kickers finished 4/5 (both missing from 42 yards out). Kaare Vedvik will be the punter. Although he shanked a few punts today, he boomed a couple as well. It should be noted, Vedvik looks like he took after Tyler Williams in the weight room. Kid looks like a legit player, not a kicker. Zach Wood, Eli Gates, and Shawn Petty all worked on long-snapping today. Early on, Wood seems to have the edge there.
Summary
In my few years covering Marshall football, this was the best “first day” of practice I’ve ever witnessed. Doc seemed very pleased and the coaching staff seemed to just pick up where they left off last season. Like Doc said, the upperclassmen in recent years have done an excellent job of setting examples and you can see it rolling over into the younger players who are seeing the field now.
The Thundering Herd returns to the field Thursday afternoon at 3:00pm.
It had been 94 days since the Thundering Herd football team took the field and the wait finally came to an end today for Herd Nation. Head coach Doc Holliday opened his seventh spring practice today at Joan C. Edwards Stadium on this beautiful March afternoon. “That’s the first time in seven years that I haven’t been yelling and screaming to get them off the field so that says something about these guys,” Holliday said of the first day.
With the sun beaming down and the temperatures hovering around 65 degrees, the Marshall football team took the field in helmets and shorts (mandated by NCAA) for the first time this spring. “I thought the winter conditioning was really good and carried over into today. The older players have set the example the last four years about how go about their business on the field, off the field and in the weight room,” Holliday added.
New Players
Defensive backs CJ Reavis, Chris Jackson, and Jeremiah Maddox all took the field for the first time today for the Thundering Herd. It should be no surprise that Reavis is a specimen at 215 pounds. It looks like the coaching staff is going to bring him along slowly, but he looks like he’ll be everything we hoped him to be physically. Jackson looks like a clone of Daryl “Swagg” Roberts as a freshman. He’s long and athletic with above average speed. Maddox is just long, plain and simple. He looks like a young Taj Letman out there with his length.
Offense
With freshman sensation Chase Litton back for a second year, the belief within Herd Nation is that the offense will take a step forward. Litton looked fairly crisp today for the most part. He had a few balls sail on him and the chemistry is a work in progress, but you could see some growth on his part. Physically speaking, he’s lost that baby faced look and is rocking a goatee and some added weight that will definitely help him throughout the season.
Also back this season is sixth-year senior offensive lineman Clint Van Horn. Van Horn looked fresh and was in great spirits following his first action in what seems like forever. “I feel good. My range of motion is back and I’m just working to get back to where I was. For me, it’s about getting better every day. In my mind, I’m working to get my spot back and I plan on leaving my mark on this university,” Van Horn said. With Van Horn on one side and red-shirt junior Sandley Jean-Felix on the other, I’m not sure Marshall has ever had a bigger set of tackles.
I’m going to go ahead and put C-USA on warning that the combination of red-shirt junior Deon-Tay McManus and red-shirt sophomore Michael Clark could be something to deal with.
McManus was apparently listening when Holliday called him out during his pre-spring press conference yesterday. McManus made numerous grabs today in traffic and on the sideline.
Clark, basically an unknown, could make Litton a legend. “He’s a guy that showed up here as a walk-on and basketball player. He decided that football was in his future and I’m glad he did. He made plays against our best defensive backs last year and I’m excited about him. He’s added some weight and gotten in the weight room. He had never lifted weights before so the winter has been good to him. Chase came to me and told me he had a guy. He told me that he was a hell of a player and he was right. He has a fast twitch which is something you don’t really see in a guy that’s 6’7 too often,” Holliday said of Clark.
One thing that was noticeable today was the concerted effort to get the ball to the running backs on the edge. Look for the Coach Bill Legg to take a page out of Western Kentucky’s playbook and get the ball to the running backs in space this fall.
The biggest plays of the day from the offense belonged to a pair of sophomores. Red-shirt tight end Kaleb Harris caught a Michael Birdsong pass down the seam for a 49-yard touchdown and then red-shirt running back Keion Davis took a hand-off and out ran the defense down the sideline for a 60-yard touchdown.
Defense
With the losses of Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year Evan McKelvey and fellow senior DJ Hunter, Coach Adam Fuller’s biggest job is to replace 186 tackles and 14 tackles-for-loss.
Returning seniors Shawn Petty and Devontre’a Tyler look to fill those rolls, but don’t count out red-shirt sophomores Frankie Hernandez and Chase Hancock either. Tyler and Petty both provide larger presences in the middle while Hernandez and Hancock have the ability to make plays on the edge.
Figure in former JUCO four-star Davon Durant and the cupboard is anything but bare for Fuller. Speaking of Durant, the man is as wide as he is tall, and that’s not a negative comment at all. He’s just a large, powerful man.
Up front for the Thundering Herd, everybody knows about Gary Thompson, Blake Keller, and Ryan Bee, but it’s the freshman trio of Ty Tyler, Milan Lanier, and Damien Dozier that could surprise people this fall. Tyler is a compact, powerful end while Lanier and Dozier both possess length and athleticism.
On the interior, Tomell One and Nyquan Harris will man the tackle spots, followed by Jason Smith, Joe Massaquoi (moved from end) and Malik Thompson. In the secondary, Rodney Allen and Tiquan Lang are definitely the leaders. Allen was flanked by sophomore TJ Griffin on the first-team with Michael Johnson (back from injury) and D’Andre “Chocolate” Wilson playing behind them.
Antavis Rowe and Chris Williams-Hall are both on the sidelines with injuries for spring ball so it’ll be up to the younger guys to step up.
Biggest mover in the secondary in my opinion may very well be Kendall Gant. Gant looks like he’s filled out and took on a leadership role as a third-year player.
Special Teams
Red-shirt juniors Nick Smith and Amoreto Curraj will be battle all spring long to take over the first-team kicking duties. On the day, both kickers finished 4/5 (both missing from 42 yards out). Kaare Vedvik will be the punter. Although he shanked a few punts today, he boomed a couple as well. It should be noted, Vedvik looks like he took after Tyler Williams in the weight room. Kid looks like a legit player, not a kicker. Zach Wood, Eli Gates, and Shawn Petty all worked on long-snapping today. Early on, Wood seems to have the edge there.
Summary
In my few years covering Marshall football, this was the best “first day” of practice I’ve ever witnessed. Doc seemed very pleased and the coaching staff seemed to just pick up where they left off last season. Like Doc said, the upperclassmen in recent years have done an excellent job of setting examples and you can see it rolling over into the younger players who are seeing the field now.
The Thundering Herd returns to the field Thursday afternoon at 3:00pm.
