James Collier
Coming into this season, the Herd’s defense had several question marks on the field. After back-to-back days of dominating performances, many of the question marks have become bold statements. Marshall spent most of its Saturday morning working under a scrimmage like atmosphere while letting the fans on hand get their first look at this year’s team. Although both units had their ups and downs, the defense won the day, and Coach Holliday was not surprised.
“It’s never as good as you think it is and it’s never as bad,” Holliday said. “Defensively we played well. We were inconsistent at times making plays but you know what, at the first scrimmage, if the defense is not ahead of the offense, then you probably have issues.”
The Doctor’s Prognosis
Doc was not happy with the receivers but saw some solid improvement in the secondary. With the style of defense the Herd plays, Holliday said it was critical to see the improvements.
“Our defense starts from outside in,” Holliday said. “We start at that corner position and those guys have to be able to cover.”
Holliday mentioned Corey Tindal, Rodney Allen, Antonio “Speedy” Howard and Keith Baxter by name of players he was impressed with today.
With Devon Johnson still out of practice, Remi Watson, Tony Pittman and Keion Davis worked out of the backfield. Watson looked solid throughout the session with Davis making a case for a move up the depth chart. Pittman struggled today, finishing with two fumbles and an unhappy coach.
“You put the ball on the ground you aren’t going to play,” Holliday said. “Pittman is a good player but he’s got to take care of the ball and Keion is still learning. They are both talented guys.”
After going eight days without throwing an interception, Michael Birdsong threw his second in as many days on the second throw in the scrimmage. D.J. Hunter made a great read on the ball for the pick. Birdsong responded the next pass, hitting Deon-Tay McManus for a 38-yd gain on first down with a perfectly thrown pass.
“The thing I thought today after watching is we need more team situations. He (Birdsong) hasn’t played in a couple of years, so he needs to play, (Chase) Litton needs to play.”
“We’ve gone with 10 or 11 straight practices, which I thought they’ve come out…normally you don’t go that many in a row without a day off. But the way the calendar fell that happened and they will get a well deserved afternoon off.”
Paint Me Into a Corner
Of all the positions on the field, this is the one I have seen the greatest improvement. Tindal, Baxter and Allen have stepped up big this week with Allen having the best week of the three. Allen had three break ups yesterday and added two more today. After a shaky start to camp, Tindal is showing he has the goods to play on the outside. He elevated the physicality of the scrimmage after up-ending Josh Knight as he made a catch. Baxter has been rather quiet in camp, but had a nice deflection of a deep ball intended for Davonte Allen.
Newcomers Chris Williams-Hall and Howard are providing Coach Heater with additional reliable bodies in the secondary by playing way above their years. Williams-Hall had two sacks—both coming on nickel blitzes—getting to the quarterback untouched. Both have worked with the twos much of the week and today, both ran at least one series with the ones.
Get a Kick Out of It
Tyler Williams showed why he might be one of the best punters in the nation with punts of 43, 45, 44 and his best of the day traveling 50 yards in the air. Williams’ punts had good hang time while limiting a possible return due to its position on the field.
Amoreto Curraj distanced himself from fellow kicker Nick Smith today after connecting on all but one field goal attempt. Curraj’s longest kick went 44 yards while splitting the uprights.
Scrimmage Notes
Let’s first survey the damage before pulling out the positives to take away from the session. When the session went into game speed, the offense at times seemed to be in slow motion. Birdsong had several passes he simply delivered too late and was eventually sacked for a safety after holding on to the ball too long from the 2 yard line. Birdsong’s biggest hurdle he must overcome is making the correct decision with the ball inside the opponents 10. Birdsong opened his final drive with a 21-yd strike to Ryan Yurachek, setting up first and goal from the four. After two failed rushing attempts behind the twos offensive line, Birdsong tried to zip a ball toward McManus that was tipped by Hyleck Foster, nearly resulting in his second pick of the day. Birdsong had both receivers boxed up in the same real estate.
The backup offensive linemen have some work to do. The running lanes failed to open for a play to develop and the defensive line collapsed the pocket. The A-Gap was closed most of the day with a great push coming up the middle from the defense.
The receivers have shown—and did again today—they can make the highlight catch but fail to make the simple routine grab. This happened on a couple of occasions today. Knight dropped a sure score after whiffing on the catch at the three. There was no one within five yards of him. Raylen Elzy struggled with many balls today as the speed of the game had him unsettled.
Johnson and Watson are the clear one and two running backs but who will emerge as a solid number three. Neither Holliday nor Barclay will tolerate fumbling the ball and Pittman’s lack of ball control is quickly putting him into a downward spiral on the depth chart.
Now for the positives, Watson had only one negative carry today, a loss of one on a great push by the D-line and Raheim Huskey. Watson evaded the blitzing linebackers, and made something out of nothing numerous times. Watson’s best run went for 21 on second down and consistently got four or five yards with each handoff.
The slot receiver position looks to be well in hand with Foster leading the way. Although the sophomore did not do anything spectacular, he did not do anything foolish either. Foster’s best play came on a bullet from Birdsong for an 8-yd gain on first down. The completion moved the offense from its own two. Knight has looked solid as well as Nick Mathews. Even though they are listed as tight ends, Yurachek, Emanuel Byrd and Kaleb Harris work as a hybrid slot at times. All three have simply did their jobs while providing a solid target for their quarterback.
Rock started a style of running last season that simply put was to punish the defense. It appears that Watson has jumped aboard that ship as well and so has Davis after rolling off 32 yards on second down, with 25+ coming after contact. Davis has the ability to gain 300+ yards this season in a back up role and is showing what the future holds for the Herd running game.
Justin Hunt displayed his ability to go get a ball on a floater from Litton for a 35-yd hookup. Hunt was completely horizontal to the ground to make the catch.
Two of the best plays today came on plays that were ruled incomplete but in a game, would have easily drawn a booth review. After being flushed from the pocket, Birdsong scrambled to the sideline and while diving out of bounds, threw a 20-yd bullet to Deandre Reaves for a possible score. The officials (team managers) ruled the pass incomplete, but my angle suggests otherwise. Either way, it was an unbelievable play.
Birdsong threaded the needle to Allen into tight double coverage for what appeared to be a highlight reel catch, but a big hit by A.J. Leggett freed the ball at some point after the catch. Allen went to the ground hard, but we could not tell when the ball dislodged from the receiver. It certainly warranted another look.
The best moment of the scrimmage came on the final play of the day. Doc placed the ball on the one and let the big boys up front settle the score. The defense came away with the stop and a celebration by the entire unit in the endzone. Seemed fitting for the way the entire session had gone.
Media and Fan day begins at 4 p.m. with gates opening at 3:30 p.m. Fans are asked to remain in the stands until after the team photo is complete at which time the players will be available to sign autographs. The event is scheduled for two hours.
Coming into this season, the Herd’s defense had several question marks on the field. After back-to-back days of dominating performances, many of the question marks have become bold statements. Marshall spent most of its Saturday morning working under a scrimmage like atmosphere while letting the fans on hand get their first look at this year’s team. Although both units had their ups and downs, the defense won the day, and Coach Holliday was not surprised.
“It’s never as good as you think it is and it’s never as bad,” Holliday said. “Defensively we played well. We were inconsistent at times making plays but you know what, at the first scrimmage, if the defense is not ahead of the offense, then you probably have issues.”
The Doctor’s Prognosis
Doc was not happy with the receivers but saw some solid improvement in the secondary. With the style of defense the Herd plays, Holliday said it was critical to see the improvements.
“Our defense starts from outside in,” Holliday said. “We start at that corner position and those guys have to be able to cover.”
Holliday mentioned Corey Tindal, Rodney Allen, Antonio “Speedy” Howard and Keith Baxter by name of players he was impressed with today.
With Devon Johnson still out of practice, Remi Watson, Tony Pittman and Keion Davis worked out of the backfield. Watson looked solid throughout the session with Davis making a case for a move up the depth chart. Pittman struggled today, finishing with two fumbles and an unhappy coach.
“You put the ball on the ground you aren’t going to play,” Holliday said. “Pittman is a good player but he’s got to take care of the ball and Keion is still learning. They are both talented guys.”
After going eight days without throwing an interception, Michael Birdsong threw his second in as many days on the second throw in the scrimmage. D.J. Hunter made a great read on the ball for the pick. Birdsong responded the next pass, hitting Deon-Tay McManus for a 38-yd gain on first down with a perfectly thrown pass.
“The thing I thought today after watching is we need more team situations. He (Birdsong) hasn’t played in a couple of years, so he needs to play, (Chase) Litton needs to play.”
“We’ve gone with 10 or 11 straight practices, which I thought they’ve come out…normally you don’t go that many in a row without a day off. But the way the calendar fell that happened and they will get a well deserved afternoon off.”
Paint Me Into a Corner
Of all the positions on the field, this is the one I have seen the greatest improvement. Tindal, Baxter and Allen have stepped up big this week with Allen having the best week of the three. Allen had three break ups yesterday and added two more today. After a shaky start to camp, Tindal is showing he has the goods to play on the outside. He elevated the physicality of the scrimmage after up-ending Josh Knight as he made a catch. Baxter has been rather quiet in camp, but had a nice deflection of a deep ball intended for Davonte Allen.
Newcomers Chris Williams-Hall and Howard are providing Coach Heater with additional reliable bodies in the secondary by playing way above their years. Williams-Hall had two sacks—both coming on nickel blitzes—getting to the quarterback untouched. Both have worked with the twos much of the week and today, both ran at least one series with the ones.
Get a Kick Out of It
Tyler Williams showed why he might be one of the best punters in the nation with punts of 43, 45, 44 and his best of the day traveling 50 yards in the air. Williams’ punts had good hang time while limiting a possible return due to its position on the field.
Amoreto Curraj distanced himself from fellow kicker Nick Smith today after connecting on all but one field goal attempt. Curraj’s longest kick went 44 yards while splitting the uprights.
Scrimmage Notes
Let’s first survey the damage before pulling out the positives to take away from the session. When the session went into game speed, the offense at times seemed to be in slow motion. Birdsong had several passes he simply delivered too late and was eventually sacked for a safety after holding on to the ball too long from the 2 yard line. Birdsong’s biggest hurdle he must overcome is making the correct decision with the ball inside the opponents 10. Birdsong opened his final drive with a 21-yd strike to Ryan Yurachek, setting up first and goal from the four. After two failed rushing attempts behind the twos offensive line, Birdsong tried to zip a ball toward McManus that was tipped by Hyleck Foster, nearly resulting in his second pick of the day. Birdsong had both receivers boxed up in the same real estate.
The backup offensive linemen have some work to do. The running lanes failed to open for a play to develop and the defensive line collapsed the pocket. The A-Gap was closed most of the day with a great push coming up the middle from the defense.
The receivers have shown—and did again today—they can make the highlight catch but fail to make the simple routine grab. This happened on a couple of occasions today. Knight dropped a sure score after whiffing on the catch at the three. There was no one within five yards of him. Raylen Elzy struggled with many balls today as the speed of the game had him unsettled.
Johnson and Watson are the clear one and two running backs but who will emerge as a solid number three. Neither Holliday nor Barclay will tolerate fumbling the ball and Pittman’s lack of ball control is quickly putting him into a downward spiral on the depth chart.
Now for the positives, Watson had only one negative carry today, a loss of one on a great push by the D-line and Raheim Huskey. Watson evaded the blitzing linebackers, and made something out of nothing numerous times. Watson’s best run went for 21 on second down and consistently got four or five yards with each handoff.
The slot receiver position looks to be well in hand with Foster leading the way. Although the sophomore did not do anything spectacular, he did not do anything foolish either. Foster’s best play came on a bullet from Birdsong for an 8-yd gain on first down. The completion moved the offense from its own two. Knight has looked solid as well as Nick Mathews. Even though they are listed as tight ends, Yurachek, Emanuel Byrd and Kaleb Harris work as a hybrid slot at times. All three have simply did their jobs while providing a solid target for their quarterback.
Rock started a style of running last season that simply put was to punish the defense. It appears that Watson has jumped aboard that ship as well and so has Davis after rolling off 32 yards on second down, with 25+ coming after contact. Davis has the ability to gain 300+ yards this season in a back up role and is showing what the future holds for the Herd running game.
Justin Hunt displayed his ability to go get a ball on a floater from Litton for a 35-yd hookup. Hunt was completely horizontal to the ground to make the catch.
Two of the best plays today came on plays that were ruled incomplete but in a game, would have easily drawn a booth review. After being flushed from the pocket, Birdsong scrambled to the sideline and while diving out of bounds, threw a 20-yd bullet to Deandre Reaves for a possible score. The officials (team managers) ruled the pass incomplete, but my angle suggests otherwise. Either way, it was an unbelievable play.
Birdsong threaded the needle to Allen into tight double coverage for what appeared to be a highlight reel catch, but a big hit by A.J. Leggett freed the ball at some point after the catch. Allen went to the ground hard, but we could not tell when the ball dislodged from the receiver. It certainly warranted another look.
The best moment of the scrimmage came on the final play of the day. Doc placed the ball on the one and let the big boys up front settle the score. The defense came away with the stop and a celebration by the entire unit in the endzone. Seemed fitting for the way the entire session had gone.
Media and Fan day begins at 4 p.m. with gates opening at 3:30 p.m. Fans are asked to remain in the stands until after the team photo is complete at which time the players will be available to sign autographs. The event is scheduled for two hours.
