Marshall University Athletics
Herd Ready To Face Chippewas
10/22/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Herd Ready To Face Chippewas
10/22/2002
After posting consecutive home victories over Buffalo and Troy State, the Mid-American Conference East Division leading Thundering Herd will take to the road for the next two league games, beginning this week against Central Michigan from the West Division.
While the Herd enjoyed the two-game homestand, the games were costly, particularly to the Marshall receiving corps. Sophomore Brad Bates went down late in the Buffalo game with a season-ending injury and senior Curtis Jones was lost for the year on the first play of the Troy State game when he suffered a horrible-looking leg injury.
With the loss of two experienced receivers, Marshall now has only starters Darius Watts, Josh Davis and Denero Marriott with any significant experience at wideout. Going to four receiver sets will mean either Demetrius Doss (just back from a broken collar bone) or junior college transfer Jason Schroeder will be called into action. Redshirt freshman Nate Manns and sophomore Robby Issacs may also be called on more often to contribute.
To make up for the loss of Bates and Jones, Herd quarterback Byron Leftwich turned more often to tight end Jason Rader last week against Troy State. The junior had a team-high six receptions against the Trojans, with four catches producing first downs and a fifth going for Rader?s first collegiate touchdown.
With his performance against Troy State, Leftwich moved past the 10,000 yard mark for career total offense, and needs just 51 more passing yards to become the 20th player in Division I-A history to reach 10,000 passing yards. Other marks Leftwich is closing in on include 800 career completions (24 away) which would place him 10th in the NCAA career list; in addition to reaching 10,000 passing yards, Leftwich needs 332 yards to move up four spots, to 16th, on the all-time Division I-A yardage list; three TD passes would move him into a tie with Chris Weinke for 13th on the I-A list.
Other Marshall players doing some chart climbing include Watts, who needs four receptions to move into the top 10 on the MAC list and two TD receptions moves him into second on the league list.
While members of the Herd offense continue to climb charts, it was the defensive unit that turned in its best performance of the season against Troy State. The Trojans were held to less the 100 yards of total offense until a late fourth quarter drive with the game already decided pushed them up to a final total of 164 yards.
Senior linebacker Duran Smith turned in a monster performance, having been credited with 27 total tackles, including 16 solo stops. In addition, safety Chris Crocker was credited with 17 tackles while defensive linemen Paul Sinclair and Toriano Brown had 11 each.
The trip to Central Michigan will be the only flight of the regular season for the Herd this year. The team will charter into Lansing, Mich., Friday afternoon and then take a 70 minute drive to Mt. Pleasant. The team will return to Huntington via charter immediately after the game.