— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall’s final week of work in spring practice has the Thundering Herd practicing Wednesday and Friday before conducting the spring game at 4 p.m. Saturday inside Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Head coach Charles Huff says a mix of veterans and newcomers are making solid progress heading into the final stages of spring work,
“The team has really embraced the entire offseason and spring,” Huff said. “The things that we went through in years one and two are now coming along more readily. We see big plays in practice on both sides of the ball and there’s a lot of maturity developing on this group, even with the new guys.”
Positional battles for playing time are always a talking point throughout spring, and while the Herd has several ongoing, that hasn’t quite been the case as it pertains to the top quarterback for MU. That’s largely due to the experience sophomore Cam Fancher gained last fall as he led the Herd to a five-game win streak to end the season, including a Myrtle Beach Bowl win over Connecticut.
Even with talented backups like freshmen Cole Pennington and Chase Harrison, Huff says Fancher is clearly Marshall’s offensive leader.
“If we had to play today, Cam would be the starter,” Huff said. “Cole is making progress, but I’m not sure if his last name wasn’t Pennington, I’m not sure people would think we have a competition.”
Cole Pennington is the son of one of Marshall’s all-time greats, Chad Pennington, who played quarterback in the NFL for the Jets and Dolphins.
Offensive coordinator Clint Trickett and staff are slowly bringing along the younger quarterbacks and those lessons could pay off if they’re called on to play.
“Being the number two quarterback creates patience and then those guys can compete for the top spot,” Huff said. “Their work this summer will be important as well in their overall development.”
Besides positional battles, Huff says the final week of work will involve preparing the Herd for different situations that arise in games.
“This last week of practice, we’re working on all of the odd-ball adjustments we’ll face through the season — letting the guys know how to adjust to what the other teams may show on both sides of the ball,” Huff said. “We’re going to play a full spring game with regular rules in the first half and running clock after halftime. Everyone who is healthy is going to play and we’ll try to balance it out.”
Marshall has turned the spring game weekend into a two-day event, with Friday night tailgating in the Edwards Stadium West Lot, along with two fundraisers for the football program — a cornhole tournament on the football field featuring several Marshall football greats such as Pennington, Mike Bartrum, Doug Chapman, Chris Parker, Darius Watts, Max Yates, Mike Barber, Chris Crocker, Dani Derricott, Melvin Cunningham, Aaron Ferguson, Chris Massey, Giradie Mercer and Steve Sciullo.
The group will also take part in a private meet-and-greet at Edwards Stadium starting Friday at 5 p.m.
Saturday tailgating before the spring game starts at 10 a.m.