HUNTINGTON, W.Va.—Doc Holliday has long had the reputation of plucking athletes from Florida and building around them, see Rakeem Cato, Tommy Shuler and about two dozen other players on Marshall’s roster. He better understands how deep the talent pool in Florida is than most and that’s the reason he expecting a very athletic FAU football team in Huntington on Saturday.
“They have athletes everywhere,” said Holliday. “They won six games a year ago and were bowl-eligible and most of those guys are back. I have said many times, anytime you’re located in Boca or Miami and all the players around them, they are going to have really good players. They are athletic and can run. We are going to have our hands full.”
Marshall pulled out a 24-23 win over the Owls last year in Boca Raton. Justin Haig booted a 41-yard field goal as time expired to keep Marshall in contention for the C-USA East Division title.
“I was on the sideline with my head backward and not looking,” recalled center Chris Jasperse.
Marshall produced a season-low 355 yards of total offense and Rakeem Cato was limited to 216 yards passing, 70 of which came on the final game winning drive. FAU held on to the ball for 35:11and outgained Marshall 395-355.
“That was a great game and something that we weren’t expecting to go down to the wire like that,” admitted tight end Eric Frohnapfel. “We made the plays when we needed to. It was a rollercoaster of emotions type game.”
And while the FAU program has gone through numerous changes, including a new head coach, since last year’s game, many of the same players are back with a year of development under their belt. That includes quarterback Jaquez Johnson who is the first FAU quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000. Johnson rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown against the Herd last year.
“Their quarterback, Jaquez Johnson, he is a pain in the neck. He can run it, he can throw it,” said Holliday. “Not only can he run it but he does a good job at keeping his eyes down the field on the open receivers. We have to make sure our guys do a great job of, number one, containing him and, number two, when you tackle him you better wrap him up. He is bigger now than he was a year ago, to be honest. He ran through us a year ago when we were trying to get him on the ground. I’ve seen him running through people this year. He hasn’t changed.”
Johnson accounted for 420 yards of total offense in a comeback win last week against Western Kentucky. Johnson threw for 325 yards and ran for 95 more.
Johnson’s top target is senior receiver Lucky Whitehead. He leads Conference USA in receptions per game and all-purpose yards. He’s also No. 1 in the country in combined return yards.
“They make an effort to get the ball in his hands and, after seeing him play, I can see why,” said Holliday. “They just try to find ways to make sure that he gets touches throughout the game. They do a good job of giving him the ball. We have to make sure we do a great job of getting him on the ground when he gets the ball in his hands.”
Much like FIU last week, FAU has speed and talented athletes but matching up play for play with Marshall is another story.