— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Fresh off a Sun Belt Conference Championship last season followed by the immediate departure of former head coach Charles Huff, Marshall football wraps up spring football under new head coach Tony Gibson on Saturday.
The Thundering Herd’s annual Spring Game kicks off at 3 p.m. at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Gibson says his team will play “real football” for a half on Saturday, with the remainder of the afternoon devoted to interaction between fans and players.
After 14 practices and varying levels of achievement over four weeks, Gibson is ready to put a wrap on workouts.
“I’m excited to see our kids perform,” Gibson said. “We had a good spring, although our Spring Break affected our timing. Now the offense is starting to gain some momentum and doing some good things for us.
“Defensively, we’re ahead of where I thought we would be and I give credit to our coaching staff for that. Our kids are playing really hard and I’m excited to see them in a game atmosphere on Saturday.”
When asked about players or positions for fans to focus on, Gibson identified a quarterback battle between Syracuse transfer Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and Jacksonville State transfer Zion Turner. Former Hurricane High School signal-caller JacQai Long and former Parkersburg South/Cabell Midland quarterback Robert Shockey could also see playing time.
The head coach says all position groups have come a long way since the start of offseason workouts in January.
“We had to start from scratch when we came in,” Gibson said. “We have 62 new guys on the roster and just seeing those guys start to come together. Guys are starting to step up and show leadership, especially in the quarterback room.”
The work for Gibson and his staff doesn’t end Saturday as the focus then immediately moves to retaining current Marshall players and likely adding others to the roster when the transfer portal reopens April 16.
“It’s all about retention right now,” Gibson said. “We’ve done a great job of getting the roster built. We had 108 guys when spring ball started and now, we have to retain some of these kids and how I think you do that is through the culture that we’re building here.
“We know that at our level, we don’t have money to keep kids here, so we depend on culture, on what Marshall has to offer as well as Huntington and the state of West Virginia.”