Rakeem Cato threw for 4,201 yards and 37 touchdowns last season on his way to being named the Conference USA Most Valuable Player. He spread the ball around to his group of talented receivers with 11 different players catching touchdown passes. Coming into 2013 Marshall’s offense has lost a couple of its top targets but this year’s group is plenty capable of making up for the losses.
“We have a really good receiving corps,” assesses new receivers coach Mike Furrey. “A lot of veterans and a lot of guys that have a lot of playing time, it’s pretty neat. “
Two of Cato’s top three targets, Aaron Dobson and Antavious Wilson, along with Andre Snipes-Booker have graduated and moved on. Dobson is now hoping to hear his named called on the first day of the NFL draft. Furrey concedes it would have been fun to coach such talents as Dobson, Wilson and Snipes-Booker but asserts their impact is still being felt.
“It’d been neat to have a year with those guys but our guys have learned a lot from those guys,” said Furrey. “Those guys have kind of set the bar for our guys who are in that room right now about how to play at a high level. You take those guys and they see what their friend is about to do, it opens the eyes for the guys that are playing about what they want to become. “
This year names such as Devonte Allen, Shawney Kersey, Devon Smith and Cato’s favorite target in 2012, Tommy Shuler will be expected to not only maintain 2012’s the offense’s production, Doc Holliday wants it to improve.
“Offensively we have to improve,” insists Holliday. “The quarterback has to continue to grow, the wideouts have to make plays. We can’t get complacent at all on offense. We’ve got to take that next step on offense and get better everyday we go out there. We’ve got to come out of this spring a better offensive football team than a year ago. “
Part of that growth is on the shoulders of Mike Furrey to harness the raw talent Marshall has. For Furrey, the challenge is teaching the mental aspect of the game to give the receivers a much-needed edge over the secondary.
“You’ve got to understand how to play the game. Ability only takes you so far and we do have a very talented room,” explains Furrey. “If you understand the game and are a great football player from the standpoint of knowing the game and the knowledge of the game, understanding how to get open and catch the football you can do a lot of great things.”
The Herd has speed on the outside that can sprint by just about anybody in C-USA but Furrey wants the receivers to understand why they are running the routes they are, the intricacies of the game and how they individual role fits into the larger scheme of the entire offense.
“You don’t have to be the star, you don’t have to go out and catch 800 balls, let’s just go out and get open and catch the football when it is thrown to you,” emphasizes Furrey.
Whether or not Rakeem Cato can best his 4,201 yards and 37 touchdowns in 2013 will greatly depend on how his receiving corps develops throughout spring drills and preseason camp.