Marshall University Athletics
BOGACZYK: Birdsong Brings Can-Do Attitude to Herd
5/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST
            HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- When asked what Michael Birdsong brings to Marshall football as the newly anointed No. 1 quarterback, Coach Doc Holliday quickly mentions "the intangibles."
            There is plenty that's tangible about Birdsong, too ... the arm, the physical stature, the strength.
            Then, there are traits like football savvy, toughness and resilience, ingredients that carried the rugged, red-haired junior transfer through his youth and to his arrival with the Herd.
            For example, as a sophomore starter in 2013 at James Madison, Birdsong suffered a torn left labrum in a tough Week 2 loss at Akron ... and the right-hander went on to start the final 10 games in his final year with the Dukes before having surgery shortly after the season.
            Now, to follow under center, where Herd names like Fodor, Payton, Donnan, Pennington, Leftwich and Cato have stood?
            "It's pretty challenging," the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Birdsong said of his elevation to the Herd QB starter following spring practice. "I don't think I've soaked it all in yet. It's only written in pencil right now, not written in pen yet.
            "It all won't sink in until that Saturday night before we go up against Purdue (in a Sept. 6 season opener). It's pretty sweet to be among those guys right now. I just want to do my best to follow those footsteps and lead these guys here now."
            Birdsong, 21, sat down with me a couple of days ago and talked about the who, what, when, where, why and how of the new Marshall starting quarterback. A frustration helped bring the Hampton, Va.-born quarterback to the Herd, but it's obvious he hasn't let any roadblocks define his life.
            He and an older brother and sister were raised by the quarterback's father, Frank, a machinist who played football (wide receiver), basketball and ran track at Newport News Apprentice School. After a divorce, Birdsong said his mother "was out of the picture ... I was about 2; I really don't remember her.
            "It was just us four. It was rough sometimes. You have some adversity when you're little, wondering where your mom is ... is she still around? My dad did a great job, really great. It didn't affect me so much because I was so young when she left. I think it had more of an effect on my brother and sister. I had no clue who she was.
            "It was tough sometimes, dealing with just my dad," Birdsong said, smiling. "There was a lot of testosterone going around in there, and no motherly love maybe when you needed it sometimes, but I talked to my grandma a lot. But the way it was made me who I am today.
            "I had to deal with a lot, because my dad put a lot on us. We learned early on we had to carry our own weight, starting pretty young because he was working his tail off trying to support three kids and he's at work, not around a lot, so you had to do things on your own and get things done. And I think that really helped in that way."
            He started playing football at age 5, through peewee and grade school always as a running back or linebacker. In the seventh and eighth grades, Birdsong said, "I only played quarterback when we wanted to throw the ball."
            As a 6-2, 200-pound sophomore at Matoaca High school in Chesterfield County, Va. (suburban Richmond-Petersburg), Birdsong started two games at quarterback. He missed the start of his junior season, however, recovering from fractured bones in his left knee, an injury suffered in basketball camp.
            As a Matoaca senior -- then 6-4, 220 -- he was ranked among the top 50 high school players in Virginia. But recruiting was a game he really didn't play although he passed for more than 3,000 career yards to go with 31 touchdowns, and was the 2011 Central District Player of the Year as a senior with 1,758 passing yards with 19 scores, and another 400 yards on the ground.
            "I committed to JMU second week into the season, and I didn't get any other offers," Birdsong said. "JMU was on me early, and I stuck with them. A couple schools were looking at me in my sophomore year and I already was a big kid, but JMU was the one that stuck with me through even when I messed up my knee.
            "They always stayed in touch. I knew they really wanted me, and I wanted to go to some place where I was wanted. I didn't want some coach second-guessing on why we took this guy."
            Birdsong's main contact on the James Madison staff is a familiar name here. His recruiter was former Virginia Tech All-America nose tackle J.C. Price, who was on Coach Mickey Matthews' JMU staff from 2004-11, before Price joined Holliday's Herd staff.
            That mattered later for Birdsong, too.
            At the Harrisonburg, Va., school, Birdsong became the only true freshman to play for the Dukes in 2012. He made two starts, and then started all 12 games the following season, playing through the aforementioned labrum tear.
            It was then that Birdsong really began to hurt, as JMU fired Matthews -- the Herd defensive coordinator from 1990-95 for Coach Jim Donnan -- after 15 seasons. The Dukes hired Ohio State defensive coordinator Everett Withers, who was the head coach at North Carolina in 2011.
            "With the coaching change ... I loved Coach Matthews," Birdsong said. "I can't say enough about the guy; he was a great coach, a great mentor to me, took me under his wing, made sure I was good to go, and he did that with everybody.
            "I was really upset when they fired him, because we had just gotten a new offensive system, a new coordinator (former Clemson quarterback and NC State head Coach Mike O'Cain). We were in our first year (with O'Cain) and we were pretty young, went 6-6 and lost the last three games.
            "There were a lot of things we couldn't do because of depth at certain positions, and we just needed some time, but that rubbed me the wrong way when Coach Matthews was let go.
            "Coach Withers came in, got us fired up, but I was still upset about Coach Matthews, and once I heard about the offense they were installing and the quarterback (Georgia Tech graduate transfer Vad Lee) they were bringing in, that was it.
            Birdsong went through 2014 spring practice with the Dukes, although he was limited due to his rehab from the labrum surgery. Two days after the JMU spring game, Birdsong asked for his release so he could transfer after throwing for 3,206 career yards with 26 touchdowns.
            "I went to (Withers') office on Monday after the spring game," Birdsong said. "I stuck it out through spring, and I was pretty optimistic, splitting reps some, but it got to the point where I could see where the whole thing was going. The system wasn't what I wanted, so I knew I needed to make a change. I stuck it out pretty much just so I could practice after surgery."
            Birdsong realized what the Herd looked like with the ball under coordinator Bill Legg, and what four-year starting QB Rakeem Cato was producing in an attack that was among the nation's best in total offense. He knew Cato was entering his senior season, as was Taylor Heinicke of Old Dominion, which was new to the FBS ranks.
            The Herd, it seemed, had to aces to play -- Matthews' past and present connections with the Herd, and Birdsong's former James Madison recruiter, Price.
            "Picking where to go, it was a little bit of everything, and Coach Matthews helped me out a lot when I needed to get things done or needed to find things out," Birdsong said. "Coach Price -- who's here now -- recruited me at JMU, so I knew I had a trustworthy source when I asked around.
            "After I was released, he communicated back to our people that there was a place to go here. I knew then I could make a decision. Once the release was sent through and cleared, I think Coach Price may have been the first person I talked to.
            "It was between ODU and Marshall, and the reason it was is because both offenses throw the ball left and right, and that's what I want to do. That's my strength. Everybody's goal is to go to the (National Football) League, and you're not going to the NFL if you're running the ball.
            "So, that played a huge part in my decision. And eventually picking Marshall over ODU was a lot about because this program was even more successful at (the major college) level for years. Ultimately, that was the factor."
            Birdsong arrived in Huntington last summer. Sitting out last season, he quickly bonded with new teammates, and as the Herd won its first Conference USA title, going 13-1 with a Boca Raton Bowl victory and finishing nationally ranked (Nos. 22 and 23) in the final polls, the big Virginian made an impression.
            He was picked by coaches as the Scout Team Defensive Player of the Year for the opponents' presentation he gave under center in practice. And when the calendar turned to 2015, Birdsong was primed for what he came to do at Marshall.
            Birdsong gambled that if he took an aggressive, motivational tone in winter conditioning, his teammates would accept him. He surmised that if he were going to be a leader at more than in the Herd's pending quarterback derby, he had to make an impact.
            "I just knew this was it," Birdsong said. "I knew I had good competition there with Gunnar (Holcombe), Cole (Garvin) and Chase (Litton), and I knew I only had one shot at this -- and this was it. I transferred for a reason, and that was to start.
            "So, if I wanted to be the guy -- and I did -- I'd have to put everything out there. I think that's what I did. As soon as January came, from a leadership standpoint, in the weight room, I think that's where I really started my gains, leading those guys, trying to get every ounce of energy I could out of everybody ... trying to push them.
            "The way I thought about it was, `Yeah, I'm a new guy here, but a lot of guys, they know me.' I got my foot in the door pretty quickly with the guys. They all seemed to like me, knew I was serious about it. I knew they wouldn't be upset if I went in there and was vocal, because that's what we needed.
            "Cato was gone; somebody's got to step up and get the job done. There's no time getting wasted in trying to warm up to these guys. You've just got to go in there ... They're either going to accept it or they're not, and fortunately they accepted it, and that really helped me, and us. They supported what I was trying to do and when you have the support, it makes it a whole lot easier."
            With his size, arm and Holliday's "intangibles" in play, Birdsong brings plenty to the position. What does he see as his No. 1 trait?
            "I think my big strength is my leadership, out there on the field being upbeat," Birdsong said. "I'm not really too pessimistic. If I throw an interception, it doesn't really bother me. Dropped passes, doesn't bother me.
            "If it keeps on happening, you're going to say something, but it's not about getting on someone and breaking them down. You have to get on `em and bring them up, remind them how good they are, that's why they're playing.
            "I think I'm pretty good at motivating guys and getting them fired up. The skill set, it's there. I know I've got the arm; I can make all the passes and I'm a big physical guy, 6-4, 235, 240. That physical presence is pretty strong."
            When Holliday named Birdsong the new Herd starter on Monday, Legg said one factor that carried the transfer to the top of the heap was "Mike's capacity to learn, and then his capacity to fix errors. If he'd make a mistake, he'd come back and fix that mistake the next time, and transition it into a positive result. That made a difference."
            Birdsong grinned when told of Legg's remark.
            "I give credit to my dad on that one," Birdsong said. "He only coached me one, two years in rec league basketball, and whenever I did something wrong, he let me know. And if I did it wrong again, he'd jump me a little bit harder.
            "You learn quick that way. It goes back to that. If I'm going to make a mistake, fine. We all make mistakes ... just don't do it a second time."
            Two other things you notice about Birdsong right away -- his red hair, and his high-top football cleats.
            "My red hair comes from my grandpa," he said. "And my dad's hair was red, he told me, until he was about 10, and then it turned black."
            The "Johnny Unitas" footwear?
            "My dad is a huge fan of high tops," Birdsong said. "He said he had terrible roll (ankle) problems. I mean, I've rolled them a time or two. I had a bad one the end of my freshman year at JMU, which knocked me out of the last two games of the season.
            "Other than that, I've never had any ankle problems, and I think it's due to the fact my dad always made me wear high tops. Ever since I've played, I've worn them, except that freshman year at JMU I didn't wear them -- and I got that bad ankle sprain, so ...
            "They're not all that high, three-quarters, I guess. But they are different. You're taping your ankles wearing braces anyway, so wearing high tops is not going to hold you back. You see linemen wearing them and maybe inside linebackers, but no skill position guys. I'm just comfortable with them."
            So, the Marshall starting QB job is Birdsong's job to lose. He's not a guy who thinks that way. It may be "written in pencil" as he said, but he's not worried about anyone bringing an eraser.
            So, what is his message to Herd fans as someone walking in very large footsteps?
            "Whew!" he said." The fans, they're just as much the reason I chose this place as anything. I knew the tradition of the program, the fans coming out, supporting this team. This city is Marshall. I just couldn't find that in the other places I was looking. A big reason I came to Marshall is because of them. Honestly, that had a lot to do with it.
            "So, I just hope I can bring success and continue the legacy this program has established. And I'm going to everything in my power to do that. There's never going to be a moment when I'm not giving it my all.
            "That's one thing that I've always been about. I'm not going to shy away from anything. I'm stepping up to the plate, no matter what. I might not win all the time, but if we do, I'm going down fighting. I've never been a quitter.
            "That's what I want to do for this school, this town. They're a big part of the reason why I'm here."
