by Dick Ash
Spring practice session #11 for the Herd fell on birthday #59 for Head Coach Doc Holliday. Practice took place outdoors under fair skies and a temperature near 80 degrees. Practice ended with a spirited but not very melodic version of ‘Happy Birthday’ by the team.
The first present Doc got was from the placekickers, as Nick Smith and Amareto Curraj had much better days Thursday. The field goal attempts were from 29 yards (center of the field), 35 yards and 36 yards (both from the right hash marks) and 40 yards just left of center. Smith hit all four with solid kicks, while Curraj missed only from 36 yards. It appeared from the press box that holder KaareVedvik gave Curraj the laces on that miss.
In last Saturday’s scrimmage and Tuesday’s practice the defense was ahead of the offense. Thursday saw the Herd offense assert itself and perform much better, which Holliday was happy to see. ‘That’s normally the way it is in the spring, that when you get your ass kicked if you’ve got any competitive blood in you you’ll come out in the next practice and compete and find a way to win. Offensively we did that.’
This was despite a few regulars missing from the offensive line.Tackle Sandley Jean-Felix missed team drills for the second straight practice and guard/center Cody Collins was not on the field.
The line combination that Offensive Line Coach Alex Mirabal used most of the time was (L to R) A.J. Addison, Fred Binot, Levi Brown, Michael Selby and Alex Locklear. Clint Van Horn alternated with Locklear, while Ryan Riedel and Matt Harless filled in at guard and Joey Maddox backed up Brown at center.
Van Horn said after practice that versatility was important for the linemen. ‘We have some guys that are battling some injuries (which is) part of football. That’s just the way it is in spring, summer, (fall) camp – that’s the nature of the beast. So whenever somebody goes down, we need to be able to make the adjustment. It’s good that we have guys that can play multiple positions on the o-line. Last season it was a huge thing for us to have multiple guys moving around.’
A lot of the practice took place inside the 20. Holliday calls this the ‘score zone’ instead of the red zone, and the offense got several scores.
During the 7-on-7 passing drill, a lot of plays began at the 15 or 10 yard lines. Tight end Emanuel Byrd and wide receivers Deon-Tay McManus, ‘Gator’ Green, Nick Mathews and Josh Knight made nice catches for touchdowns.
During the full scrimmage, the offense had several big plays, especially when sophomore QB Chase Litton was at the controls. Knight made four catches of passes from Litton of 10 to 15 yards. Litton also hit Michael Clark twice on medium length passes. A third throw to Clark was incomplete but likely would have resulted in a pass interference penalty on cornerback Rodney Allen.
One play worked to perfection but the celebration afterwards left something to be desired. Litton hit tight end Ryan Yurachek for about a 15 yard touchdown, but the chest bump that followed resulted in Yurachek falling down. WMUL’s James Collier talked to Yurachek after practice and reported that the rising junior had no comment on the failed chest bump.
The best running play of the day would have resulted in a long touchdown run by Hyleck Foster had it been allowed to continue. Van Horn threw the key block on safety Kendall Gant to open up the outside for Foster.
Quarterback Michael Birdsong had an up and down day. He was ‘sacked’ at least twice and had four passes deflected. Three of those tips were by defensive end Ty Tyler and linebackers ‘Tre’ Tyler and Raheim Huskey.
Birdsong also suffered the only interception of the day but it wasn’t his fault. A pass to sophomore Nick Mathews bounced off the receiver’s chest and was caught by linebacker Shawn Petty who likely would have had a touchdown on the return had the play continued. Birdsong missed out on another completion when Raylen Elzy dropped a well-thrown pass.
Mathews did catch two passes from Birdsong, with one being a nice diving catch of a low throw. Birdsong’s completions including one to Green for 10 yards and an out pattern to Elzy that saw the sophomore make a good move to get around corner ‘Chocolate’ Wilson for a 15-yard gain. Birdsong’s biggest completion of the day went to Green for 25 yards down the left sideline. The redshirt sophomore made a nice diving catch of the throw after getting behind corner T.J. Griffin.
A big defensive play was a breakup of a pass to McManus by true freshman corner Chris Jackson, who continued his quality play. Jackson has been the biggest defensive story of the spring and is solidly entrenched as the starter at the corner position opposite Allen.
The only extracurricular activity came after Durant made a rough tackle of Elzy after a reception. The young receiver got up and started a heated skirmish with the junior linebacker. After it appeared to be over, Durant tried to get it going again. As it died down the second time, walkon defensive lineman Aaron Dopson tried to get something started but cooler heads finally prevailed.
Next up for the Herd is a scrimmage Saturday morning at 9:30. The scrimmage will be officiated by conference officials. It is only open to Marshall students, Big Green members and season ticket holders and booths will be set up at Gate B to allow fans to join the Big Green.
Spring practice session #11 for the Herd fell on birthday #59 for Head Coach Doc Holliday. Practice took place outdoors under fair skies and a temperature near 80 degrees. Practice ended with a spirited but not very melodic version of ‘Happy Birthday’ by the team.
The first present Doc got was from the placekickers, as Nick Smith and Amareto Curraj had much better days Thursday. The field goal attempts were from 29 yards (center of the field), 35 yards and 36 yards (both from the right hash marks) and 40 yards just left of center. Smith hit all four with solid kicks, while Curraj missed only from 36 yards. It appeared from the press box that holder KaareVedvik gave Curraj the laces on that miss.
In last Saturday’s scrimmage and Tuesday’s practice the defense was ahead of the offense. Thursday saw the Herd offense assert itself and perform much better, which Holliday was happy to see. ‘That’s normally the way it is in the spring, that when you get your ass kicked if you’ve got any competitive blood in you you’ll come out in the next practice and compete and find a way to win. Offensively we did that.’
This was despite a few regulars missing from the offensive line.Tackle Sandley Jean-Felix missed team drills for the second straight practice and guard/center Cody Collins was not on the field.
The line combination that Offensive Line Coach Alex Mirabal used most of the time was (L to R) A.J. Addison, Fred Binot, Levi Brown, Michael Selby and Alex Locklear. Clint Van Horn alternated with Locklear, while Ryan Riedel and Matt Harless filled in at guard and Joey Maddox backed up Brown at center.
Van Horn said after practice that versatility was important for the linemen. ‘We have some guys that are battling some injuries (which is) part of football. That’s just the way it is in spring, summer, (fall) camp – that’s the nature of the beast. So whenever somebody goes down, we need to be able to make the adjustment. It’s good that we have guys that can play multiple positions on the o-line. Last season it was a huge thing for us to have multiple guys moving around.’
A lot of the practice took place inside the 20. Holliday calls this the ‘score zone’ instead of the red zone, and the offense got several scores.
During the 7-on-7 passing drill, a lot of plays began at the 15 or 10 yard lines. Tight end Emanuel Byrd and wide receivers Deon-Tay McManus, ‘Gator’ Green, Nick Mathews and Josh Knight made nice catches for touchdowns.
During the full scrimmage, the offense had several big plays, especially when sophomore QB Chase Litton was at the controls. Knight made four catches of passes from Litton of 10 to 15 yards. Litton also hit Michael Clark twice on medium length passes. A third throw to Clark was incomplete but likely would have resulted in a pass interference penalty on cornerback Rodney Allen.
One play worked to perfection but the celebration afterwards left something to be desired. Litton hit tight end Ryan Yurachek for about a 15 yard touchdown, but the chest bump that followed resulted in Yurachek falling down. WMUL’s James Collier talked to Yurachek after practice and reported that the rising junior had no comment on the failed chest bump.
The best running play of the day would have resulted in a long touchdown run by Hyleck Foster had it been allowed to continue. Van Horn threw the key block on safety Kendall Gant to open up the outside for Foster.
Quarterback Michael Birdsong had an up and down day. He was ‘sacked’ at least twice and had four passes deflected. Three of those tips were by defensive end Ty Tyler and linebackers ‘Tre’ Tyler and Raheim Huskey.
Birdsong also suffered the only interception of the day but it wasn’t his fault. A pass to sophomore Nick Mathews bounced off the receiver’s chest and was caught by linebacker Shawn Petty who likely would have had a touchdown on the return had the play continued. Birdsong missed out on another completion when Raylen Elzy dropped a well-thrown pass.
Mathews did catch two passes from Birdsong, with one being a nice diving catch of a low throw. Birdsong’s completions including one to Green for 10 yards and an out pattern to Elzy that saw the sophomore make a good move to get around corner ‘Chocolate’ Wilson for a 15-yard gain. Birdsong’s biggest completion of the day went to Green for 25 yards down the left sideline. The redshirt sophomore made a nice diving catch of the throw after getting behind corner T.J. Griffin.
A big defensive play was a breakup of a pass to McManus by true freshman corner Chris Jackson, who continued his quality play. Jackson has been the biggest defensive story of the spring and is solidly entrenched as the starter at the corner position opposite Allen.
The only extracurricular activity came after Durant made a rough tackle of Elzy after a reception. The young receiver got up and started a heated skirmish with the junior linebacker. After it appeared to be over, Durant tried to get it going again. As it died down the second time, walkon defensive lineman Aaron Dopson tried to get something started but cooler heads finally prevailed.
Next up for the Herd is a scrimmage Saturday morning at 9:30. The scrimmage will be officiated by conference officials. It is only open to Marshall students, Big Green members and season ticket holders and booths will be set up at Gate B to allow fans to join the Big Green.
