HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Fans who turned out to watch Marshall’s annual Green/White spring football game Saturday at a soggy Joan C. Edwards Stadium were only privy to a glimpse of what they’ll see when the Herd opens the season on Sept. 10 against Morgan State.
With several likely starters being held out of the final scrimmage of spring ball, the Herd’s offense rolled up 452 yards of offense on 101 plays.
“It was crazy how it [injuries] hit the offensive line, which was where it all hit for the most part,” said coach Doc Holliday. “But we’ll get them back and ready for the fall.”
The offense started quickly scoring a touchdown on the first drive of the scrimmage. Chase Litton was 4-for-4 on the drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Michael Clark.
“Offensively we started fast, but we just have to finish. We got to the redzone and made a turnover,” assessed quarterback Chase Litton.
The touchdown pass was the highlight of the day. Litton threw a back shoulder pass to Clark allowing his receiver to make an adjustment on the ball in the air.
“He’s [Clark] a football player. I put it back shoulder and he made a play. You don’t coach that. He saw the ball was low and outside and he adjusted perfectly and made a play.”
Clark ended the day with three catches for 33 yards and a touchdown.
Litton completed 15-of-28 pass attempts for 168 yards and a touchdown and an interception. Linebackers Shawn Petty snagged an interception in the endzone during a redzone situational drive late in the scrimmage.
Meanwhile, senior backup quarterback Michael Birdsong threw for 101 yards on 9-for-16, including a 6-yard scoring toss to Caleb Harris.
On the ground the day belonged to redshirt-freshman Ellis Cain, who carried the ball 24 times for 76 yards and a touchdown. Projected starter Hylek Foster rushed for 32 yards on nine carries and a 2-yard touchdown run.
Overall Holliday was pleased with the effort he saw from his team.
“I thought for the most part we put the ball in the endzone at times and moved the ball well,” said Holliday. “We threw some situations at them and we ran and threw the ball well.”
Defensively, it was a solid effort from Chuck Heater’s unit. Damien Dozier and Melvin Stubbs were credited with sacks (you were not allowed to hit the quarterbacks in their red jerseys). Chris Jackson and Chocolate Wilson had a pass break ups and Petty had an interception.