Justin Rohrwasser

With the departure of senior Kaare Vedvik, I’m not sure there was a more important addition to the Thundering Herd’s roster than Rhode Island transfer Justin Rohrwasser. In two seasons at Rhode Island, Rohrwasser connected on 15 of 20 field goal attempts and 39 of 40 extra-point attemtps. Those numbers include a freshman season in which he connected on 9 of 13 field goals that led to him being named Freshman All-American. Marshall has exited the last three springs with questions of who their placer kicker may be. With the lack of depth on the roster, it’s imperative that Rohrwasser solidify himself as the starter as he continues to build chemistry with the rest of the special teams unit. Holliday preaches about the importance of special teams every year in regards to his “plan to win.” Marshall will need Rohrwasser to have a big spring and season to continue with that narrative.

Xavier Gaines

Let me preface this by saying that I firmly believe Cody Mitchell will be the starting tight end when September’s road matchup with Miami (OH) rolls around. With that said, it’s time. It’s time for Gaines to start living up to the expectations that came to Marshall with him and his ridiculous athleticism. At 6 feet – 2 inches and 215 pounds, Gaines provides a skill set that no other player at the tight end position can even come close to matching. With a similar background to former Marshall tight end Gator Hoskins, Gaines’ provides speed and athleticism to a position that Marshall has historically had great success with. Gaines’ unfamiliarity with the position may be the only thing holding him back from becoming the type of player Marshall fans expected. After spending his first year in Huntington in the quarterback room, Gaines transitioned to tight end during the 2017 pre-season. With newly hired offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey’s up tempo style of play, it’s important for the tight end coach Todd Goebbel to develop depth behind Mitchell. As it stands now, Mitchell is the only player to see meaningful snaps at the tight end position. If Gaines can take a step forward this spring and fend off red-shirt junior Armani Levias, he could provide a different element to the Marshall offense this fall.

Quarterbacks

No position will have more spotlight on it this spring than the quarterback position. Garet Morrell and Isaiah Green will go head-to-head prior to Wagner transfer Alex Thomson’s arrival in May. With Chase Litton’s early departure to the NFL, Marshall is left with two quarterbacks that combine for a total of 67 passing attempts (belonging to Morrell) this spring. As I mentioned above though, it’s a clean slate with Cramsey being hired this off-season. With a little more than six months before Marshall travels to Oxford, OH, Morrell and Green can help themselves this spring with the elevated number of snaps they’ll see. Morrell and Green both present different skill sets for Cramsey to look at. Morrell is more of your prototypical drop-back passer while Green provides more athleticism and make plays with his feet. No matter how they perform this spring on the field, it may be what happens behind closed doors that matters most. Leadership and playbook comprehension are both deciding factors coaches to look at when deciding on a quarterback. Both can be displayed on or off the field so it’ll be interesting to see how each player responds to being the “guy” in the quarterback room. No matter who the starter is this fall, this spring is important for depth reasons. If Thompson is able to grab the starting job when he arrives in May, Holliday will still need Morrell or Green to vie for the back-up job.

Chris Jackson

I’m not sure there’s a player on Marshall’s roster that’s seen more highs and lows throughout their career than Jackson. After a rocky 2016 season, Jackson returned last season to start 12 of 13 games for Marshall at the field corner to lead Marshall in pass break-ups (10) and interceptions (3). Heading into his junior season, Jackson’s development needs to take another step for Marshall’s defense to continue to rise to the top of C-USA. The comparisons to Daryl Roberts have been made ever since Jackson’s arrival and it was Roberts junior season when he finally turned the corner. If Jackson is able to provide that type of production and limit teams to one side of the field, then Marshall’s defense can be one of the nation’s best. A new dynamic to Marshall’s defense this season will be whether newly promoted defensive coordinator Adam Fuller desires to play as much man-to-man as Chuck Heater did. I haven’t spoken to Fuller or heard him talk about his scheme yet, so that’s something else I’m excited about this spring. Back to Jackson though, newly hired cornerbacks coach Mike Treier will look for leadership this spring. Jackson can provide that and will need to with a younger group in that room.

Robert LeFevre

Much like the place kicker situation, Marshall is currently looking for their starting punter following Vedvik’s graduation. Vedvik leaves Marshall as one of its most decorated punters of all-time. His legend really came to fruition last fall when he ripped off a 92-yard punt against Old Dominion. Enter Robert LeFevre, the red-shirt sophomore from Hilliard, Ohio. To date, LeFevre’s only game experience is limited to five kickoffs where he averaged 62.2 yards per kickoff (compared to Vedvik’s 63.6). Watching LeFevre in practice last season, he reminded me a lot of Tyler Williams early on in his career. Both have the ability to boom deep kicks, but consistency is an issue. This spring will be huge for LeFevre in regards to fine tuning his mechanics and timing with long snapper Matt Beardall. During Vedvik’s time at Marshall, he helped keep Marshall’s special teams unit inside the Top 5 of efficiency. We’ll need LeFevre to do the same starting with the next few weeks.