Practice Report: 3/29/18

Players practiced outdoors at the Joan in t-shirts, shorts and helmets and no pads for Marshall’s second spring practice of 2018.

Walk-on WR Daniel Darko wore #81 instead of #2, which he sported in the first spring practice.

***Picking up where he left off last season, RB Tyler King continued his stellar showing. The 5-11, 193-pound redshirt sophomore showed his speed and agility as he took handoffs from Morrel against a full defensive line. It was a non-contact drill but on his third rep, King burst through the middle and showed off his speed. “You kind of forget sometimes that he was a freshman playing a year ago,” Holliday said of King.

***On special teams, the kicking competition continues, as K/P Robert LeFevre, K/P Shane McDonough and K Justin Rohrwasser took reps before and at the beginning of practice. LeFevre, punting from his own 45-yard line, consistently placed the ball within the opposing 10-yard line. He did so using traditional and rugby styles. McDonough took the same reps, but didn’t have as much distance. From a placekicking standpoint, Rohrwasser took a few reps at the beginning of practice He only took about 10, 30-yard chip shots from different angles on the field. All 10 were through the uprights.

***OL Alex Mollette seems to be coming into his own thus far. He continuously overpowered his DL counterparts in limited contact drills. All he had to do was push, and push he did. He made it look easy.

***Obviously, a lot of mystery surrounds the QB position as the Herd awaits the arrival of Alex Thompson in May. QB’s Garet Morrell, Jackson White and Isiah Green shared reps today. Morrell seemed to receive a majority of the snaps amongst the three, especially during live, scrimmage style drills. His arm is strong, but there’s work to be done. Regardless, his arm has a lot of potential.

***DB Chris Jackson was the only non-QB dressed in a no-contact red jersey today. He participated in some drills. But towards the end, he shed his helmet and jersey to do sideline drills.

***DB Nahzeeh Johnson wore a jersey, but only participated in non-contact, individual sideline drills. Him and Jackson did light weight pulls and ran short, easy routes.

***CB Jestin Morrow might have been working with Johnson and Jackson on the sidelines and undressed. It was hard to tell, though, without a number. Whomever it was, he was fast.

***Four big men (most-likely DL) did not dress in helmets and numbers and did not participate in team drills today. DL Ryan Bee was, as far as I could tell, included in that group. Instead, the group worked on strength and conditioning on the sidelines. A lot of weight pulls, tire flips and railroad tie lifts were visible throughout the entire practice. They were putting in work.

***The running game looks good, almost deadly. Once again, since it was a no-pad practice, it was hard to judge how plays would have actually transpired in-game. But, Tyler King and Keion Davis both had great runs. King has the speed, Davis the power. Combined with Anthony Anderson, Marshall’s ground game will be a threat.

***Wide receivers are crucial to this team’s success. And for good reason, there’s a truckload of wide out talent. WR Tyre Brady made some acrobatic catches. The same can be said for Marcell Williams, Obi Obialo and Nick Matthews. All looked fast and seemed to run effective routes. Additionally, RS SO Brandon Tibbs caught a low pass in between two defenders during 11-on-11 drills.

***There were questions surrounding the TE slot after the departure of Ryan Yurachek. Ask no more, though. The Herd is set with talent from that position. There are five listed on the current roster, four of whom may see playing time this season (TE Jacob Kirkendoll is a RS FR). RS SO Cody Mitchell, who played some last season, is seemingly the go-to guy this season. He ran some tight routes, got ahead of defenders and, most importantly, caught a lot of balls: Devin Miller, Xavier Gaines, Armani Levias are also threats at TE.

***LB’s are fast and get to the QB quickly. Artis Johnson and Chase Hancock made me feel bad for the tackle dummies. They wrapped their arms well, too. 11-on-11 drills were most impressive, though. They got to the QB quick and flushed him out of the pocket or forced a bad throw multiple times. Looking forward to what they can do in pads on Saturday.

***Defense won the 11-0n-11 drills today, by far. Much of this was attributed to the secondary. RS SR CB Dontrelle Johnson broke up a few passes and Malik Gant looked good, as always. Additionally, RS SO S Brandon Drayton had a pick-six off of an errant pass by Morrell. It was hard to tell if he read the QB or the offense miscommunicated. Great play, nonetheless.

***There’s not much to say about RS JR DL Ty Tyler other than: he looks good, really good.

***Displayed on both scoreboards throughout practice was the word “consistency” with a photo of the a team huddle in the background. Speaks for itself, from a football standpoint.

***Athletic Director Mike Hamrick was on the sidelines for a majority of practice. At one point, he playfully pushed the shoulder of Jaquan Yulee as he walked by. Let’s just say, Yulee didn’t budge. Made for a good laugh from both parties.

***Futures: RS FR WR Stone Scarcelle looked fantastic today. He is fast, fluid and low to the ground as he runs, until the ball comes his way—he can get vertical. He will be great for the herd in a year or two…or three. There’s a lot of WR talent on this roster.

On practicing without projected starting QB Thomson:

“We like all three of those guys that are here right now. They’re competitors. We’ll add Alex (Thomson) to the mix when he gets here in May. I like Alex and I like the three guys we got. At the end of the day, we’re going to find out who our quarterback is.”

On what came out of the day’s practice:

“(Nothing) really. Everybody looks good in shorts. Fortunately, Saturday rolls around and we’ll put the pads on and have a better idea with these kids.”

On talent of tight end position after losing Yurachek:

“Yurachek was such a special player and a special kid and he’s going to be missed, there’s no doubt. What he did for this program was just amazing, of and off the field. With that being said, we like the four guys that are here. Spring is very important at that position for those guys because they haven’t played a lot of football. But I think by the time we tee it up against Miami, we’ll have a couple of guys ready to go.”

On Tyler King:

“He’s another young guy. You saw him develop throughout his freshman year and he’s gotta be more consistent with everything he does. He’s up around 200 pounds now, which is a bigger version of what he was a year ago. You kind of forget sometimes that he was a freshman playing a year ago.”

On the secondary:

“We got a lot of guys that have played a lot of football. Unfortunately, two or three of those guys aren’t out there a lot. Chris Jackson is a two-year starter that you don’t see there and you’ve got Nazeeh Johnson and (Jestin) Morrow. You wish you had those three guys out there. But (we’ve got) Johnson, it’s his time to carry on and (Jaylon McClain) Sapp are going to get a lot of reps in the spring, which is good. I think there’s a talented group back there, they just have to continue to get better and I’m sure they will.”