HUNTINGTON, W.Va.—The training room will be a crowded place as Marshall gets a week off from game action before lining up for its first conference game of the season on Oct. 5.
Injuries, some major, most minor have accumulated through the first four weeks of the season and left a few players with aches and pains that a little rest and relaxation should help.
“It’s the fourth week of the season and we have some guys who are banged up and need some rest. We need to get all those guys back healthy,” said coach Doc Holliday. “We have some guys with some nagging issues that we need to get taken care of.”
It’s going to take more than a week’s worth of rest to get defensive end Jeremiah Taylor back in the line up. Taylor injured his back during the third week of the season at Ohio and sat out of last week’s game at Virginia Tech. Holliday said Taylor is definitely out for next week’s conference game against UTSA and it could be even longer before Taylor is back in the line up.
Tailback Kevin Grooms continues to deal with a high ankle sprain that has plagued him all season. Grooms has been limited to just 86 yards on 19 carries this season.
“We want to make sure when we bring him back that he is good to go. He may not get any work until Sunday, but at that point he should be good to go,” said Holliday.
Grooms dressed out last week but was wearing a protective boot on his left foot. Essray Taliaferro handled the lion’s share of work in the backfield against the Hokies getting 26 of Marshall’s 28 rushes in the game.
“Last Tuesday we felt like we had to get him in actual contact drills to see if he could play or not. He wasn’t there during that inside period so we just shut him down. Doctors and trainers felt the best thing to do was have him in the boot to insure his availability for the game against UTSA.”
Holliday gave players their usual Monday off and let them have Tuesday off as well. As Holliday put it, he thought the team could use the time away from the coaching staff.