HUNTINGTON, W.Va.– For the first time since Doc Holliday took over as the Thundering Herd’s head coach, he’s starting to warm up to the offensive linemen.
“The first year I didn’t like anything about them,” Holliday recalls. “They weren’t very tough and didn’t like football.”
Now, entering his fourth season in charge, Holliday has changed his mind about what he now calls the strength of The Herd’s offense.
“This is the first year since I’ve been that I’ve liked that offensive line,” says Holliday. “A year ago I started liking them a little bit.”
What he likes is the attitude and toughness this group now plays with. Playing along the offensive line is not easy and certainly is not glorious. Holliday has always says he wants a group of guys who want to play football, have a mean streak and are able to control the game.
He thinks he has that.
Offensive line coach Alex Mirabal is in his first seasons working with the line and spent much of spring practice concentrating on communication and making certain all five guys were on the same page. Mirabal’s goal is the offensive line functions as a single, cohesive unit rather than five individuals. Center Chris Jasperse put it best saying if they go the wrong way at least the entire line will go in the same direction.
Japserse, is among the talented and now physically mature players returning up front for The Herd. Jordan Jefferies, Gage Niemeyer, Cameron Dees, Garrett Scott and Josh Lovell are a few of the other players returning with experience up front.
“We’ve got some depth there that we can play with,” knows Holliday. “There’s no doubt in my mind the offensive line will be the strength of the offense.”
Holliday wants to be able to control the tempo of the game, blowing by opponents in “turbo” mode while at at other times putting together long, grinding drives that wear down defenses chew up the clock.
The latter was a challenge for Marshall a season ago. When the offense tried to slow down, it looked sluggish and often struggled to gain yards and eat the clock. That falls squarely on the shoulders of the big guys up front. They must control the line of scrimmage provide seams for running backs Kevin Grooms and Steward Butler and provide Rakeem Cato the time to look downfield.
So, while Rakeem Cato, Kevin Grooms, Tommy Shuler,Gator Hoskins and others have received attention from award watch lists and will be expected to put up big numbers this year, their success will depend on the success of a group that Doc Holliday is finally starting to like.