Marshall University Athletics
BOGACZYK: Holliday, Staff Make Another `Top 25'
2/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Doc Holliday had cellphone in one hand, cup of coffee in another … and he was pacing.
But he also was smiling.
That was good news for the coach’s Marshall football program.
On National Signing Day, the sun was shining in Huntington and in the football office halls of the Shewey Building. The Thundering Herd had rounded up another recruiting class, and Holliday was more than satisfied with its potential and depth.
By 9:30 a.m., the fax machine was busy and the always hurry-up Herd already had 24 signed names, including six newcomers who enrolled last month. As usual, Marshall’s fertile personnel ground was Florida, where Holliday has mined talent for more than three decades in the college game
Iowa junior college linebacker Devontre’a Tyler, a native Floridian, made it 25 signees about 90 minutes later.
Of the 25 names, 12 hailed from the Sunshine State. Another six are Georgia natives.
“I think we’re where we want to be,” Holliday said of the recruiting effort by the MU staff. “We’re excited, and we’ve gotten some really good players. It’s all good.
“We’re heading into our sixth year here, and it’s a class where we kind of went out and targeted what we had to have and we met those needs and I like this class. I think we’ve had about five straight classes that have been excellent.”
Although the Herd staff doesn’t use website recruiting rankings as a significant evaluation tool, the Herd does have 17 of 25 signees ranked as three-star prospects by Rivals, 247Sports or Scout – or some combination of the three. Rivals ranks it as the top class in Conference USA and, as usual, among the best in the Group of Five.
It helps when you’re 23-5 in two seasons and coming off a 13-1 year and ranked in the national polls, with a Conference USA title and third bowl victory in four years.
“No. 1, I’m excited about our class,” Holliday said at his late Wednesday afternoon press conference. “And I’d like to thank all that goes into a recruiting class, from the coaches to the secretaries to the sports staff, and especially our players.
“One thing about it … the biggest recruiters we have when the kids come on campus, they get the opportunity to spend time with our players, and they’re the ones who really sell Marshall University in order for us to get the kind of (signing) class we’ve had.
“We met our needs. Any time you go into a recruiting class you make sure you meet your needs in all areas. I felt like we did that, and I’m really excited about it. And I like the way we finished.”
So, is this signing class the veteran coach’s best as the Herd boss?
“Could be,” Holliday said. “You really never know until you get them on campus, but you look at what’s here on paper and there are some really good players and like I said, I like it a lot. We’ve had some really good classes before, but I think this one ranks right up there with all of them.”
He agreed it helps when you’re 23-5 in two seasons and coming off a 13-1 year and ranked in the national polls, with a Conference USA title and third bowl victory in four years.
“We went head-to-head with some so-called Power 5 schools and beat ‘em,” Holliday said. “No. 1, the facilities on campus – we have the nicest indoor facility in the country. The Hall of Fame, we can actually take those kids into the Hall of Fame and they see all the great players who have come through here. The academic center doesn’t quite have everything in there (scheduled to open this summer), but we can get in and see it, and the sports medicine center is going to be unbelievable.
“We talk all the time about kids buying with their eyes. Well, when they see great facilities, they also say they want to play for championships and want to win championships. Well, now we’ve not only got facilities, but we’ve proven that we’re going to play for championships and we can compete every year.
“And we’ve won bowl games, three bowls in the last four years and won all three of them. All of those things combined, the exposure we got this year – the All-Access (coverage) with ESPN, and everything that went along with it -- it all plays a part.”
Holliday said he didn’t want to single out names, but he did make an exception for cornerback Antonio Howard of Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School, a former West Virginia commit who changed his mind late in the process and joined his stepbrother, wide receiver Simino Walden, as a Herd “get.”
“That one was all Doc,” Herd offensive line coach Alex Mirabal, who recruits his native south Florida. “I was just driving the car.”
It was a special Holliday connection that pulled it off.
“We signed a lot of really good ones, but Antonio Howard, that’s special for me,” the Herd coach said. “His dad, Antonio Brown, was one of my recruits way back and played for me (as a position coach at WVU). He’s like a son to me.
“You know you’re getting old when you recruit the sons of the kids you recruited years ago, but that’s special because of the relationship there – Antonio and his brother Simino.”
Antonio Howard has run a reported 4.32 in the 40, and his nickname is “Speedy.” His stepbrother is reportedly a step faster.
Aaron Hill, the Herd’s director of high school relations who coordinated recruiting with Holliday after the resignation last month of assistant coach Todd Hartley, said, “It’s all about credibility. The people down there in Florida know Doc. He gets a second-generation kid because the parents know him.”
Mirabal said Holliday “gets kids like that because of what he’s done before with other people’s lives. He’s helped them, done what he said he was going to do, and people remember that.”
The newcomers who signed Wednesday are expected to arrive June 8 for summer conditioning.
The Marshall list included eight players listed as wide receivers. Asked about that number, Holliday explained how things add up.
“Some of those named as wide receivers might be moved to other positions,” the Herd coach said. “What we do is go in with a certain number we want at every position, be it tight end, wide receiver, offensive line, whatever.
“We have a number we have to meet, and we don’t go beyond that number (in the program). And with all the numbers we have to meet, we feel like we’ve met those numbers this time.
“For example, we needed offensive linemen to get to 16. We had a good group, but we felt like going in we had to get some depth. We just don’t recruit kids; we recruit based on our depth chart and the numbers we have on the board.”
The Herd’s 2014 seniors up front were center Chris Jasperse, tackle Trevor Mendelson and guard Blake Brooks, so Marshall wanted three signees for the offensive front – and got them.
One was the lone Mountain State signee for the Herd – Spring Valley High’s Alex Locklear, who is rehabbing from a torn ACL suffered early in his senior season.
“He had surgery the first week of October,” Mirabal said. “We feel like Alex can play outside, at tackle, or maybe even inside some. Is it a benefit he’s local? Yes, he’s at Spring Valley, but that’s not why we took him. He has what we were looking for. He’s talented, a guy who loves Marshall and wants to be here.”
Holliday said the early arrival of linebacker Marquis Couch, tight end Emanuel Byrd, defensive end Damien Dozier, receiver Raylen Elzy and quarterback Chase Litton was another plus to the signing class.
“There’s no doubt when you get kids in here midterm and they can go through winter conditioning and spring ball, that puts them a little bit ahead of everybody else,” Holliday said. “Add those players to what we’ve signed today and it’s a very good group … a really good group.”
