Marshall University Athletics
Football Announces the 2008 Recruiting Class
2/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 6, 2008
Huntington, W.Va. - Marshall University head football coach Mark Snyder announced the signing of 16 student-athletes to National Letters of Intent on Wednesday. The Thundering Herd signed four junior college student-athletes in the early period and Wednesday's signings give the Thundering Herd a total of 20 student-athletes in its 2008 football recruiting class.
The class of 20 student-athletes makeup Mark Snyder's third recruiting class at Marshall. The players hail from 13 different states and the breakdown by position is as follows: four receivers, three corner backs, three tight ends, three linebackers, three running backs, one safety, one punter, one defensive end, and one offensive tackle.
Biographical capsules on each signee follow:
Devin Arrington
Linebacker
Deep Creek HS
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 205
Hometown: Chesapeake, Va.
Attended 2007 summer camp at Joan C. Edwards Stadium and will be the seventh player from Deep Creek High to join the Thundering Herd program...played defensive back and receiver at the prep level, but projects as a linebacker at the collegiate level...4x100-meter district champion on the track and has been timed with a 4.59 forty time....was first-team All-Tidewater, second-team All-State and first-team All Southeastern District in 2007...During the 2007 season he recorded 75 tackles, five sacks and two interceptions...offensively, he posted 15 catches for 275 yards and five scores...he selected Marshall over Northern Illinois, Kent State and Akron among others.
Brandon Burns
Safety
Shelby County HS (Ala.)/Pearl River CC (Miss.)
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 215
Hometown: Columbiana, Ala.
Rated as a three-star prospect and one of the top-100 Junior College players in America by Scout.com...Tallied 70 tackles and three interceptions last season at Pearl River...Will have two years of eligibility remaining and will enroll in the summer of 2008...was a standout prep player at Shelby County High in Alabama...was recruited by Southern Miss and Mississippi State, among others.
Tyson Gale
Linebacker
Alva HS
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 230
Hometown: Alva, Okla.
Played both linebacker and tight end in high school... was named first-team all-state in 2007 and was the District 2A1 Linebacker of the Year in 2007...was named to the 2007 District 2A All-State Team, as well as First-Team All-District at both Tight End and Linebacker...was named as an Honorable Mention Candidate for the All State Team in 2006...finished the 2007 season with 157 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, and five interceptions...also had 33 receptions for 430 yards, and six touchdowns as a tight end...selected to play in the Oil Bowl which is played between the Oklahoma All-Star Team and the Texas All-Star Team...a three sport standout who led his baseball team in home runs, runs batted in, and batting average in 2006, and currently leads his basketball team in scoring and rebounding...maintains a 3.97 GPA and scored a 27 on the ACT...Tyson is the nephew of Marshall Assistant Director of Athletics/Director of Football Operations Mark Gale...chose Marshall over New Mexico.
Jamie Hatten
Tight End
Hendersonville HS
Height: 6'5"
Weight 233
Hometown: Hendersonville, N.C.
Ranked as the no. 61-ranked tight end in America and No. 39 overall player in North Carolina according to Scout.com...No. 50 tight end according to ESPN.com ...was named to the 2007 first-team all-state roster in 2007 and was selected to participate in the 2007 North Carolina All Star Shrine Bowl...also received the Carolina Panthers Community Captain Award, which recognizes outstanding high school student-athletes who excel in the classroom, on the field, and in the community...during the 2007 season, he had 32 receptions for 395 yards and four touchdowns...on defense he boasted 128 tackles, eight sacks, five pass break ups, two fumble recoveries, and seven forced fumbles...chose Marshall over Wake Forest and East Carolina.
Leshawn Henderson
Cornerback
Okeechobee HS
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 180
Hometown: Okeechobee, Fla.
Competing against Division I-A talent on a near-weekly basis, the Okeechobee High School (Fla.) standout ranked among the region's top defensive backs...timed with 4.4 speed in the Forty yard dash...named second team 4A All-State, as well as the Palm Beach Post Super 11 and the Palm Beach Post First-Team All-Area Team in 2007...selected to play in the 2007 Outback All-Star Game...recorded four interceptions in 2007 and an impressive 19 interceptions in his career...chose Marshall over Florida Atlantic and North Carolina.
Cory McCutchen
Wide Receiver
Stephenson HS
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 178
Hometown: Stone Mountain, Ga.
Joins his high school teammate, Ahmed Shakoor as the only two players in Marshall's 2008 class coming from the same school...is rated two stars by Rivals.com and was selected to play in the DeKalb County All-Star Game...also named as an honorable mention candidate for all-state honors...timed with a 4.5 40-yard dash...completed the 2007 season with 20 receptions for 600 yards and seven touchdowns.
O.J. Murdock
Wide Receiver
Middleton HS (Fla.)/Pearl River CC (Miss.)
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 185
Hometown: Tampa, Fla.
A four star prospect according to Scout.com...Originally signed with South Carolina out of high school...rated the No. 10 wide receiver in the country by Rivals.com for the class of 2005...ranked among the top-100 Junior College players by Rivals.com for 2008...timed with a 4.35-second time in the 40-yard dash...racked up over 1,700 yards and 18 touchdowns receiving in his final two seasons in high school...named first-team all-county and all-state...selected for the Florida-California Bowl and was selected to play in the US Army National All-Star game, but was unable to participate...rated as the 7th-best wide receiver in the country by Prep Star and the 26th-best player in the Southeast by Tom Lemming...also ran track and was fourth in the state in the 100 and 200 meters as a sophomore and won the state 100 meter dash as a senior... was a national champion sprinter at the age of 14...he will have two years of playing eligibility left and will enroll in May 2008...committed to play for Marshall over Louisville.
Ahmed Shakoor
Cornerback
Stephenson HS
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 189
Hometown: Stone Mountain, Ga.
The no. 27 cornerback in the nation according to ESPN.com...Ranked as the No. 46 cornerback in the nation by Rivals.com... earned first team all-county honors as a junior...timed with a 4.44 second 40-yard dash...was selected to participate in the 2007 DeKalb County All Star Game, where he was named a team captain and posted two interceptions and five tackles...was also named first-team all-county and second-team all-state in 2007... had 50 tackles, 12 pass break ups, and he returned a kickoff for a touchdown as a senior...will join his high school teammate Cory McCutchen as the only two signees in MU's 2008 class coming from the same high school...chose Marshall over East Carolina, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, and Virginia Tech.
Jordan Taylor
Running Back
St. Joseph's HS
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 205
Hometown: South Bend, Ind.
Carried his team to a 12-2 record and a berth in the Indiana class 3-A state title game... rated as a two star prospect on Rivals.com and was coached at St. Joseph by former Notre Dame and Washington Redskins' and Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Running Back Reggie Brooks...In 2007 Jordan was named to the All-Northern Indiana Conference First Team, and all-area by the South Bend Tribune...he was also named the MVP of the Northern Indiana Conference and the South Bend Tribune Dream Team...finished his senior season at St. Joseph with 2,500 yards and 27 touchdowns and was the leading rusher in the state of Indiana in 2007.
Zach Tenuta
Tight End
Walton HS
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 230
Hometown: Marietta, Ga.
The son of Jon Tenuta, the current defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, who was the defensive coordinator at Marshall when Coach Snyder starred at Marshall as a defensive back in 1987... completed his senior season with 25 receptions for 300 yards and was named to the Cobb County All Star Game...Zach is also a standout lacrosse player at Walton where he has scored 60 career goals and was named to the all-county team in 2006.
Demetrius Thomas
Running Back
Theodore HS
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 200
Hometown: Theodore, Ala.
Rushed for over 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons at Throdore H.S. in Alabama, including 2,000 total yards in 2007...rushed for 1,793 yards as a senior, with 18 touchdowns, and had 265 receiving yards and five more scores...he totaled 860 yards and four touchdowns on returns...timed with 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash...chose Marshall over Southern Miss, Colorado and Iowa State.
Charles "Chuck" Walker
Wide Receiver
Laney College (Oakland, California)
Height: 5'10
Weight: 185
Hometown: Hayward, Calif.
Walker had 56 receptions for over 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns last season at Laney...has been timed with 4.4 speed in the 40-yard dash...rated three stars by Scout.com...he will have three years to use his remaining two years of playing eligibility...chose Marshall over California, Hawaii, San Jose State and New Mexico State among others.
Martin Ward
Running Back
Mount Zion HS
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 188
Hometown: Jonesboro, Ga.
The no. 17 running back in the country according to ESPN.com...rated as the nation's No. 24 running back prospect and Georgia's No. 36 overall prospect by Rivals.com.... Scout.com ranked him as a three-star recruit and the No. 54 running back in the nation... After rushing for 970 yards and seven touchdowns on 129 carries (7.5-yard average) as a sophomore, he followed up with 1,379 yards (9.2-yard average) and 15 touchdowns and caught 11 passes for 181 yards and another touchdown... Martin was named as one of the players in the Street and Smith Magazine Top 300 prospects in the 2008 class and was a Clayton County Super 11 Selection in both the 2006 and 2007 season...was a finalist for the ESPN All-American Game and was named First-Team All-Crescent Conference...chose Marshall over Louisville, Purdue, and Georgia.
Kase Whitehead
Punter
William Blount HS
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 180
Hometown: Maryville, Tenn.
Averaged 41.7 yards a punt as a junior and placed 15 kicks inside the 20-yard line...the first player in Blount history to earn a Division I scholarship...was a finalist for Tennessee's Mr. Football Award and invited to the East - West All Star Game...was the 2007 Punter-of-the-Year and named to the 2007 all-county team.
Jamal Wilson
Wide Receiver
Oscar Smith HS
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 176
Hometown: Chesapeake, Va.
Recorded 620 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior...recorded 30 receptions for 690 yards and 13 total touchdowns in 2006 on his way to all-district and second team All-Tidewater honors.
John Youboty
Defensive End
Klein High
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 246
Hometown: Klein, Texas
The younger brother of Buffalo Bills corner Ashton Youboty who played for Coach Snyder at Ohio State...rated as a three star prospect by both Rivals.com and Scout.com...ranked as the number 51 strong side defensive end in the country on Rivals.com...completed the 2007 season with 77 tackles and nine sacks...has been timed with 4.7 second speed in the 40-yard dash...will play in the City of Houston All-Star Game...chose Marshall over Louisville, Michigan State, and Nebraska.
EARLY PERIOD SIGNEES
Maurice Graham
Tight End
Washington Union HS/College of the Sequoias (Visalia, Calif.)
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 270
Hometown: Fresno, Calif.
Rated the No. 1 JUCO tight end in the nation by JCGridiron.com...stands 6-foot-5, 270-pounds and runs the 40-yard dash at 4.7 seconds...Three star tight end and No. 88 overall junior college player in America by Rivals.com...Had 13 receptions for 193 yards and two touchdowns in 2007...originally chose Fresno State out of high school as an offensive tackle...chose Marshall over offers from Arizona State, Michigan State and California, among others...signed in the early period and is already enrolled.
Josh Miller
Cornerback
College of the Sequoias (Visalia, California)
Height: 5'9
Weight 185
Hometown: Fresno, Calif.
Recorded 35 tackles, two interceptions and 18 pass break-ups last season...has been timed with 4.37 speed in the 40-yard dash...will have three years to use his remaining two years of playing eligibility, signed in the early period and enrolled at Marshall in Jan. 2008...ranked as a three star recruit by Scout.com...He chose Marshall over San Diego State.
Andre Portis
Outside Linebacker
College of San Mateo (San Mateo, California)
Height: 6'3
Weight: 240
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Named first-team all Northern California Conference...rated as one of the top five linebackers in Junior College by Rivals.com...rated as a three star recruit by Scout.com...has three years to use his remaining two years of playing eligibility and enrolled in January 2008... San Mateo Head Coach Larry Owens said "Andre is the kind of player where as the game gets more competitive, the more he will make outstanding plays," "In many ways, he's our best defensive player."...chose Marshall over 10 other scholarship offers from schools such as California, Minnesota, Colorado State, and Temple.
Jimmy Rogers
Offensive Tackle
Mississippi Delta CC (Moorhead, MS)
Height: 6'4
Weight: 325
Hometown: Cleveland, Miss.
Listed as a four-star offensive tackle by Scout.com and a three-star recruit by Rivals.com... possesses great footwork and tremendous power...played high school football at Cleveland East Side High...signed with Marshall over programs such as Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Kansas State, and Louisville...enrolled in January, 2008 and is viewed as a player who could make an instant impact.
The following quotes are from Mark Snyder's signing day press conference that announced the 2008 Thundering Herd signing class:
"First I want to start by thanking a lot of people. I have to start with the athletic department, it takes a lot of people to make a recruiting class come together. The people on campus who gave of their time on Saturdays and Sundays."
"I would be remiss if I didn't thank our current players. As recruits come on the campus, they hear the same thing every school they go to, and I ask the recruits when they get to campus to ask the players, because the players don't lie. I have to commend our players, they did a great job of putting together what we feel is a pretty good recruiting class."
"I thought I'd change it up a little bit and have [the assistant coaches] up here because these are the guys that made it happen. These are the guys that went out and I have to give a big hefty thank you to them and their families for the time that was put in. We started with about 2000 names at this time last year, and whittled it down to the 19 kids that we actually signed today."
"Coach Azzinaro had the Northeast and I'm going to have to paraphrase because when we went through this recruiting process, there was a lot of carry-over, because we a little bit of JUCO this year, there's a lot of cross-over recruiting. Todd Goebbel headed the western route - we went into California a little bit and he headed that up with the help of coach Ratliff and coach Smith. Coach Goebbel also has the Atlanta area and Ohio. Phil Ratliff has the Charlotte area, North Carolina and Virginia. Coach Smith was a big part of the junior college recruiting. He went out to the Kansas JC's and really helped coach Goebbel on the West Coast. He has the Jacksonville area and did a lot of cross-recruiting as we went into Mississippi for those junior college guys. Coach Smith was a junior college coach at one time and has a lot of connections and as we went in to the south junior college recruiting, he headed that up. Coach Morrison has southeast Florida, he has Dade County, Brower County, West Palm Beach County, and all of the schools on Lake Okeechobee. Shannon did a lot of cross-recruiting with us down in Mississippi and also out into California."
"Coach Cummings headed up this whole recruiting deal, he was the one that put this whole plan together. We strictly put Mike in his area down in Alabama and Mississippi. Lastly, Paul Nichols had the greater Atlanta area and also did a ton of recruiting in the Mississippi JC's."
"As you look at this class I think we recruited a class with toughness, high character, athleticism and guys that fit our needs. We put a plan together as soon as the season was over and we met that plan so it's very good we met our needs."
"We went looking for defensive backs, wide receivers and linebackers and ended up getting those, a tight-end and a couple of running backs. We wanted to make sure we got the best possible player as we came down to the end here as guys become available, and we ended up taking one."
"We ended up signing 12 high school and seven junior college kids, and as you look at the class of 19 we signed eight on defense, 10 on offense and one on special teams. It is interesting because as you look at this class, we signed a kid out of every state of every team we play in our conference except Louisiana. As you look at where the players were signed from, two from Alabama, two from Florida, four from Georgia, one from Virginia, two from Tennessee, one from North Carolina, four from California, one from Mississippi, one from Texas, one from Indiana, there's a wide variety of states and cultures that are all coming together."
"We feel very good about this class, and we feel like we have met all of our needs as we put our plan together."
