MCGILL: Wells adds to historic freshman season

Grant Wells' impressive first full season added a touch more of history on Monday.

The three-time Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week – who was also added to the Maxwell Award and Davey O'Brien Watch list this season – earned C-USA all-freshman and first team all-conference honors, the league announced. The spot on the freshman team was hardly a surprise. After all, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound native of Charleston started all nine games for the Thundering Herd, leading the team into the Top 15 for the first time since 1999 and into the College Football Playoff rankings for multiple weeks for the first time in school history.

Here's another first, too: Wells is the only freshman quarterback in Conference USA history to make the first team. Ever.

As one can see in the list below, this conference has a strong pedigree when it comes to quarterbacks.

That tidbit will hopefully help Wells through the past two games. Wells threw five interceptions as the offense was shut out in the regular season finally against Rice, and then he produced an 0-for-10 passing first half in the Conference USA championship game. He bounced back, though, to complete 8 of 13 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers in the second half, leading Marshall to a 2-point conversion away from tying the game in the fourth quarter.

The body of work is impressive for a freshman. Wells tossed four touchdowns in his collegiate debut, and his 307 passing yards were the most ever by a Marshall QB in his first start. He had eight touchdowns and zero interceptions in two November starts, leading the nation in touchdown passes for the month among QBs who did not throw an interception.

"Anytime you're playing with a freshman quarterback you're going to go through some growing pains," Marshall head coach Doc Holliday said Monday afternoon. "He had smooth sailing for seven weeks. He had no growing pains, basically, for seven straight weeks and he's had a couple for the last couple of weeks. That's part of growing up and being a quarterback."

Conference USA will announce its individual awards Tuesday, so it is not known if Wells will claim any additional honors, but the C-USA Freshman of the Year is one award to watch closely. Wells was the only freshman to make the C-USA all-conference first team on offense, defense or special teams.

Wells will likely surpass Rakeem Cato's freshman passing total in this Friday's bowl game. The Herd will take on Buffalo at 2:30 p.m. (EPSN) on Christmas Day in the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. Wells needs 82 yards to catch Cato and sits six touchdown passes behind Chase Litton for the school's all-time mark for freshman quarterbacks.

The impressive part, as a person who sees the game from the press box and the postgame operations up close, is how Wells handles his role as a leader. He was the first player to emerge from the locker room following the five interceptions against Rice, and then sat down in front of a laptop computer in the Shewey Building and fielded questions in a virtual press conference. He did the same after the C-USA title game, shouldering the blame and looking nowhere else in an effort to deflect.

This is a season in which statistics make it challenging for comparisons because of the different amount of games played, but Wells is among the top performers nationally among freshman quarterbacks. He is fifth among FBS QBs in passing yards, trailing Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler, Missouri's Connor Bazelak, Coastal Carolina's Grayson McCall and Georgia State's Cornelious Brown IV. Rattler, Bazelak and McCall all played more games than Wells.

Wells' first team recognition is deserved. He led Conference USA in passing yards (1,977) and passing touchdowns (18). He averaged 7.9 yards per pass attempt, better than the freshman output for Isaiah Green in 2018 (7.5), Litton in 2015 (6.8) or Cato in 2011 (6.8). Wells became especially adept at the deep ball, leading C-USA in completions of 40-plus yards with 12. Green had 11 of completions of 40-plus yards as a freshman, while Litton had four and Cato had six. In fact, Wells had the most completions of 40-plus yards by a C-USA freshman quarterback since Middle Tennessee's Brent Stockstill in 2015 (18), and Stockstill played in 13 games to Wells' nine.

"There's nobody," Holliday said of Wells, "who wants to go be a great player than he does or who prepares more than he does."

2020 – Grant Wells, Fr., Marshall

2019 – Chris Robison, So., FAU

2018 – Brent Stockstill, Gr., Middle Tennessee

2017 – Mason Fine, So., North Texas

2016 – Ryan Higgins, Sr., Louisiana Tech

2015 – Brandon Doughty, Sr., WKU

2014 – Rakeem Cato, Sr., Marshall

2013 – Shane Carden, Jr., East Carolina

2012 – Rakeem Cato, So., Marshall

2011 – Case Keenum, Sr., Houston

2010 – G.J. Kinne, Jr., Tulsa

2009 – Case Keenum, Jr., Houston

2008 – Chase Clement, Sr., Rice

2007 – Paul Smith, Sr., Tulsa

2006 – Kevin Kolb, Sr., Houston

2005 – Darrell Hackney, Sr., UAB

2004 – Stefan LeFors, Sr., Louisville

2003 – Stefan LeFors, Jr., Louisville

2002 – Dave Ragone, Sr., Louisville

2001 – Dave Ragone, Jr., Louisville

2000 – Dave Ragone, So., Louisville

1999 – Chris Redman, Sr., Louisville

1998 – Shaun King, Sr., Tulane

1997 – Shaun King, Jr., Tulane

1996 – Chuck Clements, Sr., Houston

Marshall University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Isaiah Green

Grant Wells

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