Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: QB growth has helped tight ends flourish
12/16/2018 1:54:00 AM | Football, Word on the Herd
Marshall faces USF in Thursday's Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
TAMPA, Fla. – On Marshall's second drive against Virginia Tech, freshman quarterback Isaiah Green showed something that helps explain why the team's tight ends have emerged late in the season.
And the play did not even include a completion to a tight end.
Green, a 6-foot-2, 202-pound QB from Fairburn, Georgia, snapped the ball with 10:08 left of the first quarter against the Hokies. Green looked right, reset his feet, looked over the middle, reset his feet, and then rifled a pass to senior Tyre Brady, who gained 12 yards and gave the Herd a first down. The ESPN broadcaster then said Brady was Green's "favorite target," which is hard to deny, but overlooks what transpired on the play. The freshman quarterback, in his eighth career start, flashed maturity that showcases his growth from the season opener to now.
"In the Virginia Tech game, (Green) got to his fifth read," Marshall offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey said. "That doesn't happen in football. He was able to go one, two, three, four all the way across the field, got to his fifth read and completed a pass to Tyre on the left hash. To me, that's taking steps and making his reads. As a true young, young quarterback when he first came out, I, too, would have thrown the ball to Tyre and thrown the ball to Obi (Obialo). Now it's going through one, two, three; one, two, three."
So while it is hard to refute the broadcaster's claim that Brady is Green's favorite target, Brady finished fifth on the team in receiving yards in a 41-20 loss at Virginia Tech on Dec. 1. The top two receivers, by yardage, were junior Armani Levias (69 yards) and sophomore Xavier Gaines (54 yards).
Both play tight end.
"Me being young to start off and not going all the way through the progressions; maybe looking at the first two guys and getting out of there," Green said. "Over time I get more comfortable. It's more me going through my progressions and trying to find everybody.
"(Xavier Gaines) really has the potential to be a dynamic threat with his speed and big physique. If we can get him going, it's hard for safeties and corners to guard him, so I couldn't imagine linebackers guarding him. If you get him going and Armani going, it's going to be big for us."
The emergence of the tight end will be key in Thursday's Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl, a Marshall (8-4) matchup with USF (7-5) set for an 8 p.m. kick at Raymond James Stadium, the home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Levias set career highs for receptions (five) and yards against the Hokies two weeks ago, and Gaines caught his first career touchdown pass. They combined for seven receptions for 123 yards, while the rest of the team had 12 catches for 97 yards.
For the season, Levias has 25 receptions for 327 yards and three touchdowns. Gaines has 10 catches for 162 yards, but his 16.2-yard average on receptions leads the team. Combined, Levias and Gaines have 489 receiving yards this season, 1 yard behind Ryan Yurachek's production from that position a year ago. With 52 combined yards out of the tight ends against USF, Marshall will have its best single-season production from the position since 2015, when Yurachek and Emanuel Byrd combined for 631 yards.
The uptick in tight end production down the stretch is not only a credit to the players, Levias said, but also to Cramsey and tight ends coach Todd Goebbel.
"We started as an afterthought," Levias said. "Each game we have progressed, and we started connecting betters with the quarterbacks."
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The Marshall football team is scheduled to depart for Tampa around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday. Players from both teams will participate in the bowl game's "Beach Invasion" on Sunday afternoon at Treasure Island, an event that will match up the two programs in various games under the sun and in the sand. The Thundering Herd's first practice will be Monday morning at Tampa Catholic High School.Â
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a six-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
