Marshall Thundering Herd

Head Coach

Mark Snyder	4th year
07-08	3-9
C-USA	3-5
FCR	102

Previous Season Wins

Head Coach - Mark Snyder will be entering his 4th year at his alma mater and he’s still in search of his first winning campaign. The Herd has seventeen returning starters and did improve as the season progressed but in order to make a move above the .500 mark they will need to reduce their turnovers as they were ranked 107th last season.

Quarterback - Coming out of spring practice the leader in the quarterback battle is redshirt freshman Mark Cann, as he showed maturity and has quickly pick up the West Coast attack. He’ll be pushed by sophomore Brian Anderson and Georgia Tech transfer Jonathan Garner in fall practice.

Running Backs - At running back sophomore Darius Marshall returns following a year where he earned All-C-USA Freshman honors, he rushed for 631 yards, had a 5.1 average per carry and 3 TD’s. Seniors Chubb Small, Kelvin Turner and redshirt freshman Terrell Edwards will provide depth.

Receivers - At tight end Marshall has Cody Slate, the junior had 66 receptions or 818 yards and five scores, look for Slate to garner All-American honors at years end. On the outside Marshall returns three starters in seniors Emmanuel Spann at the A position, Darius Passmore at the X and E.J .Wynn at the Z slot. The trio combined for 101 receptions, 1,920 yards and 12 TD’s, and all three have the speed to stretch the field.

Offensive Line - The offensive line struggled in pass protection allowing 38 sacks last season; they return three starters led by sophomore left guard Josh Evans. Also returning are sophomore left tackle Brandon Campbell and at center senior Brian Leggett, newcomers will be junior right tackle Daniel Baldridge and senior right guard Matt Altobello. The O-Line did a good job opening holes for the running attack but will need to give the new QB more time to throw.

Defensive Line - At defensive end Marshall will start senior Ian Hoskins and junior Albert McClellan, Hoskins was solid and McClellan was the conference Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore but missed last year, it he’s healthy he brings a dimension that was lacking from the Herd defense last season. The defensive tackles will be a pair of sophomores Shane Moore and Johnny Jones, senior Montel Galsco will also be returning from injury and if he’s healthy Marshall will have a solid rotation.

Linebackers - Senior Maurice Kitchens is the only returning starter and he’ll man the man where he recorded 90 tackles and 3 ½ sacks for the Thundering Herd. Sophomore Corey Hart will be on the strongside and junior Mario Harvey will start on the weakside, with improved play upfront look for the linebackers to be asked to help more in pass defense.

Defensive Backs - This is an experienced group with four returning starters led senior free safety C.J. Spillman, who earned 2nd team All-C-USA honors last season. He’ll be joined senior strong safety C.J. Spillman who had 38 tackles in six starts. At cornerback senior J.J. Johnson and junior Zearrick Matthews return but look for redshirt freshman Dequan Bembry to be on the field, junior Ashton Hall also returns and will add dept at the safety spots.

Special Teams - Craig Rantanamorn was a member of the Marshall soccer team last year and the junior is the front runner to be the placekicker this season, sophomore Cody Ochoa will handle the punting. Emmanuel Spann is solid a solid return man as sophomore running back Darius Marshall.

Schedule - The Herd faces a challenging non-conference slate with games at Wisconsin and West Virginia and a home match up with Cincy. Add in the fact that they must face both West powers Houston and Tulsa and the elusive .500 mark might have to wait another year. They’ll be better but the W-L may not reflect it, Marshall will win only 3 games this year.