Marshall University Athletics
BOGACZYK: Binot Puts Best Feet Forward on Herd Line
8/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The first thing most Marshall football fans notice about Fedrice Binot is his different first name.
The first thing Herd offensive line coach Alex Mirabal noticed about Binot was his size 13 1/2 feet. Whatever is getting noticed about Binot, it figures to draw more attention as Marshall moves toward the 2015 season opener on Sept. 6 at Edwards Stadium against Purdue.
That’s because the 6-foot-2, 290-pound Binot has moved into the Herd’s two-deep at left tackle, backing up redshirt sophomore Sandley Jean-Felix. Binot, a redshirt freshman and business management major from Lakeland, Fla., also saw bits of August camp time at No. 2 on the right side behind all-conference senior Clint Van Horn.
“He was second at left guard (behind Sebastian Johansson), and I’m not moving him back,” Mirabal said.
Binot has gotten bigger among the Herd’s “Beefaloes.”
After redshirting and playing on the scout team in 2014, Binot is happy to be getting reps with the twos. When second-unit tackles AJ Addison and Tom Collins missed work due to injury, Binot – most of his teammates call him “Fred” or “FreddieB” -- took advantage.
“I think it’s a great opportunity they’re giving me, that I can show I can step up to play with that second string,” Binot said Saturday, after the camp portion of the Herd’s preseason ended with an intrasquad scrimmage. “And it gives me a chance to show the team that I deserve to be there, behind Sandley or Clint. I can play both positions and I think that’s helped me.”
Fedrice Alexandre Binot – pronounced buh-NO, and of French origin -- came to the United States from his native Haiti with his family when he was age 9. Binot was born in teeming Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, and as a youth he played basketball and soccer.
The latter foot-first sport may have fueled what Mirabal calls Binot’s strength.
“Quite frankly, I tell Van Horn and Sandley that Binot has the best feet of all of them,” the Herd offensive line coach said. “He really does, from a pass protection standpoint … tremendous feet. He’s very, very natural with how he moves, and then add real tough and physical. If we want to become more physical and a nastier offensive line, we need that from the backups as well as the starters.
“He’s extremely athletic and he’s tough as hell. He’s one of those guys … you want him in a foxhole with you, really do. Tough, athletic and then also has done a great job of putting the stuff we teach into action. He’s just growing as a player every day.
“Fred’s starting to see the big picture, conceptually, schematically. It’s starting to become not, ‘OK, on this play I block this guy.’ It’s now, ‘How am I going to block him? What footwork am I going to use? What hands am I going to use?’ All that stuff, he’s getting to that level.”
Binot played football at Lake Gibson High, the same school that produced Herd senior running back Remi Watson and Binot’s Lake Gibson classmate and 2014 Marshall signee, sophomore safety Kendall Gant.
“Marshall gave me a great opportunity so I decided to come here,” Binot said. “(Gant) and I came here for a visit and we really liked the coaches, the school, the atmosphere, really liked the team, so we took the opportunity they gave us.”
Gant played as a true freshman. Binot spent game days watching in street clothes and No. 79 jersey.
“Redshirting, it’s a big mental deal,” the tackle said. “We had to go through it as freshmen. You have to learn you have to get better, so you go through it, and now I’m doing a lot better and doing a good job. “The biggest thing I learned last year is to play my role. I don’t have to be first. Sometimes it means being a scout team guy and helping the team out. It’s being together, being a team.”
He grew into a prospect at Lake Gibson, and as a senior Binot was named as one of the top 20 interior prep linemen in Florida by the Miami Herald. But unlike so many of those Coach Doc Holliday-pursued prospects in the Sunshine State, the sport once was foreign to Binot, who also wrestled for Lake Gibson.
“I started to play football right when I came to the United States,” Binot said. “We didn’t have football in Haiti but when I lived there, I knew about football. I knew some of the things to do in the game, but the sport was mostly soccer. I played basketball, too. But when I came up here, I picked up football pretty quick.”
However, Binot ran into another issue. He was too big for midget league ball, so he had to play what he called “jayvee” on the local sandlots. “Age 9, I guess I was already 5-8, 160-170 pounds, pretty big for my age,” he said. “I played defensive end until I was a freshman in high school, then offensive guard.” Binot gives plenty of credit to Mirabal for his advancement in technique, too.
“Coach Mirabal is a really good coach and a tough coach. And that’s really good for me because I need somebody like that, somebody to show me tough love like that,” Binot said. “He’s just outstanding. I love him.
The learning curve isn’t so steep for Binot now on a Herd offensive line two-deep that features plenty of youth.
“When Tom Collins and Addison were out, Binot had to go in there for 3-4 days and did exceptionally well,” Mirabal said. “I’ve got defensive coaches talking to me about him and Coach Holliday is talking to me about him.
“So, he was second at left guard and I’m not moving him back. He’s a tackle now. He plays behind Sandley, plays some behind Clint. He took advantage of an opportunity and now it’s to the point, when those other guys start coming back they’re going to have to try to beat them out.
“But the one thing he’s got over all of those guys is his tremendous feet, no question.”
