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MARSHALL SPORTS
Marshall football turns to 2009
Marshall running back Terrell Edwards finds running room during the second half of the C-USA matchup against Tulsa on Nov. 29 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Edwards sums up his approach to the offseason in one word: Work. "I'll just keep reading the play book, staying on top of my game. That's what I'm going to start doing tomorrow. And I'll probably end up running sprints or hitting the treadmill so I can keep myself in shape. But the thing for all of us is work."
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON — With Mark Snyder's standing as Marshall University head football coach settled, it's time to diagram the 2009 Thundering Herd.
That process kicked off Monday with player workouts and recruiting. Repeating Snyder’s postgame speech from Saturday, juniors now are seniors, providing offseason leadership. Coaches, meanwhile, departed campus Monday, continuing the pursuit of junior college and high school prospects.
Within the program, despite a 4-8 season finish, Snyder noted progress, headed by an outgoing senior class.
“I thought for the first time, those guys came together and believed what was being told to them and bought into it with everything they had,” Snyder said. “And you guys that are at practice see them coaching the young guys, keeping them off the street at nights, out of the bars, keeping them out of jail, talking about getting an education and the importance of getting a degree and giving back to this great community.
“And they just regurgitated what we were saying to them. It means a heck of a lot more coming from (teammates) than it does from a coach.”
Snyder raved of senior leadership following Saturday’s 38-35 season-ending loss to Conference USA West Division champion Tulsa. The undersized class of 14 now hands off to next season’s group of approximately 23 seniors (medical redshirts could alter the total).
“If you have upperclassmen regurgitating what you’re saying as a head coach, you’ve got a chance. Now if you’ve got 18 or 22 of those guys, having career-best senior years regurgitating what you’re saying, that’s good stuff.
“Unfortunately, for those guys as I said to them, they were 12, 13 strong and the guys that played, I thought they had career-best senior years. It was good to see (senior tailback) Chubb (Small) break that long one on senior night (a career-long, 69-yard touchdown run). I was very, very happy for him.”
As for an alternate perspective, Tulsa head coach Todd Graham spoke Saturday evening of a progressing cross-division team.
“I’m glad we won’t have to play them (next season),” Graham said of the two-season cycle of East-West matchups. “We alternate off. (Marshall tight end) Cody Slate, he reminds me of Garrett Mills (a former Tulsa tight end now with the Minnesota Vikings).
“He’s just a tremendous player and he beat our best cover guy. You’ve got a tight end out there beating your best cover corner out there on a corner route.
“I think they’ve got a lot of promise. Their running game, up front I thought their offensive line was a lot better in person than what I’d seen on film.
“We thought we’d be able to hold up and they busted some runs and no one has done that on us. We have the No. 1 rush defense in the conference and they ran for 260 yards on us.
“Arkansas didn’t do that. No one we’ve played has done that. I have to give them a lot of props. They physically got after us.
“I think they’ve got a lot of promise up front. Defensively, they probably defended us better than anybody we’ve played — very, very well coached schematically defensively. You can tell they’ve got a wealth of experience and knowledge of what they’re doing.”
Still, 4-8 is 4-8, meaning improvements are necessary. That process began Monday with workouts and recruiting.
Redshirt freshman tailback Terrell Edwards, who ripped off a career-long 53-yard scoring run against Tulsa, was frank concerning the offseason approach.
“Work,” Edwards said without hesitation. “Work. Basically getting in the weight room, the film room, doing as much studying on myself from this year as much as I possibly can, seeing what I need to correct; getting with the quarterbacks so I can catch some balls.
“I’ll just keep reading the play book, staying on top of my game. That’s what I’m going to start doing tomorrow. And I’ll probably end up running sprints or hitting the treadmill so I can keep myself in shape.
“But the thing for all of us is work.”
