HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Timing is everything, and according to Doc Holliday, the timing of Marshall’s bye week could not have been better.
The Herd was noticeably banged up following the loss to Virginia Tech. Holliday said he expects everyone, except for defensive end Jeremiah Taylor, to be ready Saturday against the University Texas-San Antonio in the first Conference USA game of the season.
The extra time also gave the coaches ample opportunity to prepare for a unique offensive scheme employed by the Roadrunners.
“I haven’t seen a team throw the ball as well as they do and also get blocks on the perimeter like they do,” said Holliday.
He compared the UTSA scheme to the old wishbone, in the way the Roadrunners will chop block on the edges and attack the perimeter of the defense.
“They’re chopping everybody on the perimeter,” warned Holliday.
“It’s unusual to have a team who can execute the perimeter, almost wishbone kind of blocking, then come back and throw the ball as well as they do,” said defensive coordinator Chuck Heater.
UTSA quarterback Eric Soza is averaging 268.4 yards passing per game while UTSA is also running for 140 yards a contest. Holliday has used the extra time to make certain his defense is ready to defend the chop block. Chopping guys on your own team is certainly not something Holliday was particularly thrilled about but he had to prepare his defenders for what’s coming.
“It’s a fine line because you don’t want to work to much in practice on defending the chop block because you lose kids that way,” said Holliday. “But you have to do it. If you don’t do it in practice then you can’t expect it to be done on gameday. We’ve had to go out and execute that in practice.”
CAPTAINS
Darryl Roberts, Monterius Lovett, Chris Jasperse and Essray Taliaferro were selected to serve as Marshall’s captains this week.
LOVELL LEAVES PROGRAM
Holliday confirmed offensive lineman Josh Lovell has left the program for personal reasons and plans to focus on finishing his degree at Marshall.