HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A youth movement took hold of the Thundering Herd Saturday in its 45-7 win over Norfolk State. The Herd played as many as 11, true and redshirt freshmen and sophomores on the offense. At times four of the five offensive linemen were redshirt sophomores and younger.
“That’s what has to happen, you have to have guys step up. I think Tom Collins went in and played well for [Clint] Van Horn and [A.J.] Addison on Saturday for us,” said coach Doc Holliday. “Dowery, as a freshman, is playing really well there at right guard. So, when somebody goes down somebody has to go in there and play.”
Senior tackle Clint Van Horn was held out of Saturday’s game. Marshall rotated the entire right side of the offensive line throughout the contest using a combination of redshirt freshman Jordan Dowery and redshirt senior Tom Collins at guard and tackle as well as redshirt sophomore Cody Collins and sophomore A.J. Addison.
“Like we always say, it’s next guy up. We’ve played in practice with many combinations. Guys just have to slide in there and play and we executed that Saturday,” said center Michael Selby.
The combination of young linemen kept the pocket clean for quarterback Chase Litton’s first start and plowed the road for Herd running backs to gain 216 yards on the ground.
This week, the task becomes significantly more difficult as it that line will have to move a Kent State defense that is ranked third in the country in total defense and eight in the nation in both passing and scoring defense. The Golden Flashes have allowed just one offensive touchdown in their last two games.
“Anytime you’re going up a great defense like they are, it’s a huge challenge for the offensive line and we look forward to those challenges,” said Selby. “We just want ot run the ball and keep our quarterback off the ground and whatever we’ve got to do to get that done we’ve got to do it.”
Kent State’s defense will use a combination of alignments based on the offensive personnel. Most likely the Golden Flashes will employ an odd front, similar to how it defended Bowling Green in 2014. Holliday admitted in preparation, game film from the game against the Falcons was more helpful than last week’s footage versus Minnesota because of the vastly different offensive schemes.
“You’re going back trying to find games that are similar to what you do offensively,” Holliday explained.
Holliday was quick to point out, while there is a young rotation along the offensive line, players such as Dowery and Addison, have been with the program for a couple of years and have had time to learn the offensive schemes and mature physically. That’s a luxury Holliday didn’t have when he first arrived six years ago.