HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Thundering Herd players enjoyed their weekend off but were chomping to get back to work and begin conference play this week at Old Dominion.
“We treated that bye week like we always do, no different than we did a year ago. We had a couple guys with some nagging injuries that when we started on Sunday were back,” said Marshall coach Doc Holliday. “Rock [Devin Johnson] had taken a beating the last several games and was banged up, but was able to come back 100 percent. A couple of our offensive linemen feel better than they have felt since the season started. I think that’s huge.”
After four weeks of camp and four straight games, the bye week gave players a chance to rest and relax.
“It was nice to get a bye week and get our bodies healed up,” said tackle Clint Van Horn.
Players also got a chance to mentally check out for a few days—no game-planning, film study or team meetings.
“Just to be able to lie down and not worry to coming to meetings or anything, it was nice,” said defensive tackle Joe Massaquoi. “It was a mental break from watching film and preparation and physically just not having to be on the field as much.”
Marshall’s two bye weeks could not have been more perfectly timed with the first coming at the conclusion of the non-conference portion of the schedule and the second four weeks later. The season has been divided into thirds giving the Herd the chance to evaluate its own performance and make adjustments to personnel and techniques.
“It gives us a chance to reflect on us instead of preparing solely on the opponent for the next week,” pointed out Van Horn. “We were able to concentrate on us and work on technique and clean up some things we thought we needed to clean up that we saw over the last four games. So, it was good for everybody.”
Standard practice weeks usually leave little time for individual instruction. Most of the time is consumed with learning the opponent’s tendencies and applying the lessons learned in the meeting rooms. With no opponent to prepare for last week, linemen had the opportunity to practice footwork and hand placement. Receivers could sharpen their routes and defensive backs could work on forcing receivers to the inside or outside.
But while players enjoyed the rest, Marshall (4-0) didn’t want to slow its momentum too long.
“It was good to get back into it,” Massaquoi.