— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — It’s football time in Huntington.
Preseason practice ahead of head coach Charles Huff’s fourth season gets underway today at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Marshall is coming off a 6-7 season in 2023, one that ended with a 35-17 loss to UTSA in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl in Texas.
Huff’s colleagues aren’t expecting much improvement from the Herd this fall as the Sun Belt Conference coaches picked Marshall to finish fifth in the league’s seven-team East Division.
Change is key as Marshall enters fall camp, with an Air Raid offense being implemented, four new position coaches and an abundance of new faces as Huff added 45 new players to the roster, including 31 transfers and 14 high school signees.
“Our goal with this recruiting class is to more consistently compete with the best teams in the country and in our conference,” Huff said. “We were more intentional about the players we took and made sure they fit what we are trying to do.
“I also feel like this is our best team because we have the most guys in the program ever that embody our culture and community and they’re good players, too.”
There will be plenty of opportunities for those new players to impact the 2024 team with the loss of past standouts, such as running back Rasheen Ali, defensive end Owen Porter and linebacker Eli Neal.
“I tell our guys all the time that we are more than capable,” Huff said. “We have the ability and the players and the talent gap isn’t so wide anymore position-by-position on our roster. That makes us deeper and more competitive. The talent we have now must be channeled into execution on Saturdays.”
Huff, who is in the final year of his contract, knows that much of the attention from Marshall fans is geared toward how a new-look offense will look when the team welcomes Stony Brook for its August 31 season opener.
No starting quarterback was named after the end of spring practice and Huff says that was intentional as quarterbacks have been working through the summer to refine operating the new attack.
The quarterback battle is between returnees Cole Pennington and Colin Parachek and Tulsa transfer Braylon Braxton.
“We wanted to let the quarterbacks battle going into fall camp,” Huff said. There was a lot of instruction on the new system in the spring and we’ve made corrections during the summer. Now, we’re letting them duel it out in fall camp. We should have a clear picture about a starter by mid-August.”
Marshall fans get a chance to meet players and coaches Saturday, August 3 during a Fans First event that runs from 5:30-7 p.m. at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.