Green & White Scrimmage Report

Players practiced with full pads outdoors at the Joan.

Weather info: 63º and partly cloudy with 16 mph winds from the northwest. It was the first Green-White Game of Doc Holliday’s Marshall tenure in which there was no rain.

Doc Holliday opening statement in post-practice media address:

“It was a great day,” Holliday said. “We finally got a nice day in and there was a great turnout. I thought the kids went out and competed. That was what needed to happen today.”

***Practice was only an hour long, as opposed to the usual two-and-a-half hour practices we’ve seen throughout spring. It was scrimmage-style—as the offense and defense lined up and made medium-to-full contact (quarterbacks were still no-contact)—and the team periodically split into smaller groups to practice drills. Scoreboards were displayed on both videoboards, however, the score itself remained 0 for both sides for the duration of the game. Despite the short duration, I saw some interesting things.

***This fall’s projected starters, such as redshirt senior WR Trye Brady, redshirt sophomore RB Tyler King and redshirt senior RB Keion Davis, did not play in scrimmage. We’ll see a lot of them in the fall. Additionally, redshirt junior OL Levi Brown, did not play. However, after missing a few practices with minor injury, redshirt sophomore OL Will Ulmer got some playing time.

***Both sides of the ball had a good showing today. On defense, the secondary broke up some well-thrown passes, and the linebackers had a couple sacks and tackles for loss. On offense, there were some explosive plays at the receiver and quarterback position, with a couple of solid touchdowns (more detail below).

***First and foremost, redshirt sophomore QB Isaiah Green did what he’s done all spring: play really well. Green went 4-for-5, passing for 120 yards and two touchdowns. In one of the first plays from scrimmage, he threw one of his best passes all spring and placed a perfect ball in the arms of senior WR Marcel Williams, who steamed into the end zone for a 74-yard touchdown. Green’s second touchdown came via redshirt sophomore WR Brennon Tibbs, who burned Merrell on a route for a 12-yard score.

“(Green) is very consistent,” Holliday said. “It seems like the game slows down for him, which is good. That’s good at the quarterback position. We’ll add Alex (Thomson) to the mix here in a couple of weeks and there will be some competition here in the fall.”

***There was a good showing at the tight end position, as well. Redshirt sophomore TE Xavier Gaines looked healthy and mobile after recovering from injury. He had two receptions for 33 yards on the day. Additionally, redshirt junior TE Armani Levias caught a short touchdown pass from redshirt sophomore QB Jackson White. The TE’s played well and Holliday said he likes what he sees.

“All four of those guys bring a lot of different things to the table and they’re all really good players for us,” Holliday said. “(Gaines) has made tremendous strides this spring, learning the position.”

***In a stock up, stock down report from a couple weeks ago, we (Kieran and I) placed redshirt sophomore S Chad Clay in the stock down portion of the piece. Since then, he’s been a different player. It was almost like clockwork. He continued his improved performance today, as he jumped a pass route and had nothing but green pasture in front of him for a 46-yard pick six. He made some textbook tackles today, too. Holliday said Clay’s performance is a good sign for the coaching staff.

“He needed to step up and show us this spring he could become a player and I thought he’s had a good spring,” Holliday said. “He made a nice play on the interception today, which is great to see.”

When redshirt freshman RB Brenden Knox avoided a tackle in an attempt to carry through the middle, he cut right and seemingly had room to run down the sideline. That was, however, until Clay came out of nowhere stuffed him before he crossed the line of scrimmage. We stand corrected, “Stock Up” Clay. Keep up the good work.

***In keeping with the secondary, it’s worth noting that redshirt senior DB Kereon Merrell also had an interception, which he returned for 33 yards. Redshirt junior DB Trent Wilderbrathwaite and redshirt freshman DB Nirion Washington looked solid in pass coverage. They both stuck to receivers and broke up passes on multiple occasions. Redshirt senior S Terence Ricks showed Herd fans what he can do, with two solid tackles in two-straight plays. He had a team-high six tackles today. Once junior DB Chris Jackson and redshirt senior DB Dontrell Johnson are back in the mix, Marshall’s secondary should be much improved from last year.

“I thought the effort was tremendous today,” Holliday said about the defense. “I liked our format today. I thought guys got to run around a little bit and some young players got some reps.”

Doc Holiday -- on overall feelings post-spring practice:

“(I’m happy) overall. The critical thing was, I wanted to get out of here and these guys come back here in two weeks ready to go, and they’re all healthy. That was a good thing. (We’ll) come back and get ready for that third phase, which is the summer conditioning, and we gotta go back to work.”