HUNTINGTON, W.Va.— The accolades and milestones continue to pile up for Herd quarterback Rakeem Cato. With a 26-yard touchdown in the second quarter against Middle Tennessee, Cato tied Russell Wilson’s record of 38 consecutive games with a touchdown pass.
“I think it is a blessing for me just to tie Russell Wilson’s record. He’s a great quarterback,” said Cato. “I want to thank my coaches and my teammates for putting me in a great position to succeed. Without those guys the streak doesn’t exist.”
Cato now has the chance to break the record in his home state of Florida when Marshall travels to FIU next Saturday.
“I’ve said many times, how proud I am of what this kid has accomplished. He took some criticism early on, but the people who criticized him didn’t know him,” said coach Doc Holliday. “He is a tremendous kid. Where he has come from and overcome it is unbelievable for him and he deserves everything he gets because he is great for Marshall University.”
That wasn’t the only career milestones Cato reached on Saturday. With 342 yards of total offense he has 12,434 yards of total offense in his career, moving him to No. 3 in Conference USA history.
“Look what has come from Marshall. You talk about Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich and now you can put Cato in those same words and terms. It is just unbelievable. I’m glad he is on out team,” said Holliday.
Even as good as Cato’s numbers have been, they could be better doesn’t necessarily mean that better numbers for Cato would be better for the team.
“He very unselfish and could throw the ball a lot more and he checks into a run because its best for the team,” said center Chris Jasperse.