Herd hoping for better things in 2017

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Looking to avoid a repeat performance.

The 2016 Marshall football season did not turn out as expected as the Thundering Herd limped to a 3-9 overall record and a 2-6 finish in Conference USA — far cries from the three consecutive double-digit-win seasons and the 2014 CUSA crown that the program had put together leading into last fall.

The Herd — who return only 63 players from last year — enter the 2017 campaign hoping to avoid a similar gridiron outcome, despite having two-fifths of newcomers on their current 105-man roster.

The Green and White, however, do have experience on both sides of the ball — and those fresh faces also provide some much-needed firepower and energy to a squad looking to avoid a similar fate as last season.

As MU coach Doc Holliday enters his eighth season at the helm, he is optimistic that the program won’t have another letdown like it did last fall.

“We did a lot of re-evaluating after last year and we feel we’ve made the adjustments that needed to be made. We started in January in trying to become better as a football team and I think we’ve done that,” Holliday said. “We’ve had a tremendous winter and a good spring practice to carry into the summer, so now it’s up to us to carry it out of fall camp and into the season.

“I like the way that these guys have gone about their work and we are really excited for the season.”

The good news in regards to the returning players is that almost every position on the field has experience coming back to the lineup, with the exception of the wideout position.

In fact, Marshall’s receiving corps returns only 73 of its 264 completions from last fall, so establishing some new outside threats will be one of the biggest areas of needed growth if the Herd hopes to improve on last season’s overall mark.

Still, MU has the luxury of a two-year starting quarterback returning in junior Chase Litton, as well as the team’s top rusher last year in redshirt junior Keion Davis and the team’s top red zone threat in senior Ryan Yurachek.

The Green and White also return three starters up front offensively and have several players back that saw action in the trenches last fall.

After averaging 26.4 points, 242 receiving yards and 108 rushing yards per game last year offensively, Holliday noted that he is optimistic about not only who is returning — but the newcomers to the roster and what they can add.

“I’m confident in the players that we have coming back, but there were some areas that I felt like we needed to get more explosive at,” Holliday said. “We have added some running back depth and we have some versatile players at the wide receiver spots that we feel make us better athletically, plus the offensive line is back and healthy with a whole offseason to get better.

“There is no question that I feel good about where we are with out personnel, now we just have to develop that talent and make sure that we are prepared to play.”

Defensively, there are fewer question marks headed into the 2017 campaign as Marshall returns eight starters and several experienced players to a unit that allowed 35.3 points, 202 rushing yards and 253 receiving yards per contest last fall.

The Herd lost their top tackler and team leader in interceptions in Corey Neely, as well as their top sack leader in Gary Thompson, to graduation.

Nonetheless, the defense returns five of its top six tacklers from a year ago and also has numerous players with quality in-game experience — both up front and in back.

Both place kicker Amoreto Curraj and punter Kaare Vedvik return to their specialized positions, as do the leading punt returner (Hyleck Foster) and kick returner (Davis) from last year.

Marshall’s return to winning football won’t be an easy task in 2017 as the Green and White will face seven teams that qualified for bowl games last fall — the same number as last year’s schedule.

The Herd faces a pair of bowl qualifiers to start the year in Miami of Ohio and N.C. State before hosting Kent State and traveling to Cincinnati to wrap up its non-conference schedule.

MU is also playing the same CUSA schedule as last year, with the exception of traveling to Texas-San Antonio instead of facing North Texas this fall.

None of those dozen games will be easy, so getting off on the right foot will be key for a program looking to get back to its traditional winning ways.

And that starts at home on Sept. 2 against the RedHawks.

“This year will once again be a challenge, starting with Miami of Ohio. They have an excellent team that won six straight at the end of the year and they have 19 starters coming back. We’ll have our work cut out for us right out of the gate,” Holliday said. “We have some tough games this season, so the main thing for us is just staying focused on becoming a better football team a week at a time … starting with Miami.”

Holliday also wants to see the program get itself headed back in the right direction this year … mainly because Marshall has been one of the winningest programs in the country over the last two decades.

He also doesn’t want that to change under his watch.

“The expectations are extremely high here, and that’s okay because I’ve always said that I didn’t want to coach anywhere that didn’t have high expectations,” Holliday said. “We understand what is expected out of us from our fan base, so we really need to get back to playing the kind of football that we did those three years prior to last year.

“We also understand that with those expectations come responsibility. We need to get back to work and give our fans what they deserve. We’re looking forward to it.”

2017 Marshall Football Roster

Head Coach

Doc Holliday (8th season)

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The 2017 version of the Marshall University football program, as pictured at Media Day on Saturday, July 29, at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, W.Va. The Thundering Herd open the season on Saturday, Sept. 2, when they host the Miami of Ohio RedHawks at 6:30 p.m.

http://www.mydailysentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2017/08/web1_8.19-MU-Team.jpgThe 2017 version of the Marshall University football program, as pictured at Media Day on Saturday, July 29, at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, W.Va. The Thundering Herd open the season on Saturday, Sept. 2, when they host the Miami of Ohio RedHawks at 6:30 p.m. Bryan Walters|OVP Sports