Scouting Report | Marshall
There isn’t too much that can be learned from Marshall playing Norfolk State to open the season. They won big, but they weren’t exactly playing an FCS juggernaut (100th in Bill Connelly’s SP+ for FCS).
Marshall’s season starts this week when they travel to play Notre Dame.
Projected 63rd in FEI and 67th in SP+, they are a program that went 7-6 last season under first year head coach Charles Huff. A name that Notre Dame fans may recognize as a potential running backs coach candidate at one point in time, Huff earned a reputation as a great coach and recruiter at Penn State, Mississippi State, and Alabama.
They signed 23 3-star high school prospects and are adding 11 transfers, eight from Power 5 programs. They get the Power 5 guys who were disappointments at their previous schools like former FSU RB Khalan Laborn, though. They aren’t getting guys who were highly productive.
34 new players and a new offensive coordinator means they are going to need to find themselves when they travel to South Bend. That’s not exactly comforting for a team with a lot to replace. They are 105th in returning production (54%).
Injuries/Absences
RB Rasheen Ali is indefinitely away from the team and not expected to play against Notre Dame. That’s a huge loss. He had 1,401 yards rushing and 46 catches last season.
Offense
Projected 74th in FEI and 61st in SP+, The Thundering Herd put up 55 on Norfolk State in their opener under new offensive coordinator Clint Trickett (previously the passing game coordinator).
Things will be much more difficult for them against Notre Dame’s defense, but they do have some intriguing athletes who could present some challenging matchups.
Expected Strengths
Former Utah State and Texas Tech quarterback Henry Colombi is the starter for them and he’s an accurate passer who can escape the rush and move the chains with legs. They’ll have to work to contain him in the pocket. He was a pretty good player at TT and proved he could play at the Power 5 level.
They were a good running team last season with Ali and they’ll likely be again this year. RB Ethan Payne and Laborn, a former 5-star recruit who hadn’t played since 2019, both rushed for over 100 yards last week. They are both shifty runners who can make people miss in space and are threats as receivers too.
Laborn had a couple of runs that were reminiscent of the player he was supposed to be when he originally signed with FSU and if there’s one guy on Marshall who is capable of creating a big play out of nothing, it’s him.
WR Corey Gammage didn’t see the ball much in the opener, but that was more because they didn’t need to target him. He was their #1 target last season. He won't win with speed or twitch, but he’s a big body (6’4” 220) who can box out smaller defensive backs.
Potential Weaknesses
They lack explosive playmakers at receiver. There isn’t someone who has the kind of speed that scares you so they’ll have to rely on the backfield more for that. WR Shadeed Ahmed got loose for what would have been a long touchdown against Norfolk State, but it was more of a bust in coverage than him running away from the defender. (He dropped it)
They have two starters back on O-line and while the rushing numbers in game one would suggest they will be just fine up front, the defensive line they were facing was small and not very good. Notre Dame’s scout team front would be a tougher test.
LT Ethan Driskell (6’9”) plays high with his pad level and shows some promise as a run blocker, but he looked overwhelmed against speed to power. There’s a good chance he’ll be on skates for many snaps in pass protection in this game.
It isn’t nothing that Notre Dame recently took a transfer from Marshall on the offensive line from there who was their best player up front and he was a below average starter for the Irish. Their offensive line versus Notre Dame’s defensive line should be a huge advantage in favor of the Irish.
Scheme
They play in mostly 11 personnel (one back, one tight end) with a lot of 2x2 and occasionally will bring the tight end in as an H-back. They are a true spread team, but they did take a transfer from Arizona at tight end to give them the option to play 12 more and they went 13 near the goal line.
Trickett is a Lane Kiffen disciple and with Huff’s background working with Joe Moorhead at Penn State and Mississippi State, I’d expect them to be a heavy RPO team and they did that some against Norfolk State.
Everything was short minus one deep attempt last week and while I think that will change, I still believe we’ll see a lot of bubble screen and short passing game from them to make Notre Dame’s defensive backs tackle their bigger receivers.
The average depth of target for Colombi was only 4.4 yards (he is capable of throwing the deep ball).
It’s a team that will want to play at a fast tempo if they get first downs.
Key Players
QB Henry Colombi - Completed 92.3% of his passes in week one, but it looked more like a 7 on 7 game than a regular college football game.
RB Khalan Laborn - Four runs of 15-yards or more last week. Talent was never the issue with him.
WR Corey Gammage - Despite his size, he caught only 5 of 13 contested catches last season.
RB Ethan Payne - Slippery runner with good lateral agility.
Key for Notre Dame
Make them one dimensional
They’re going to want to run the ball and control the game that way, but Notre Dame has to control the line of scrimmage and force them into 3rd and long as much as possible. They will struggle if forced into obvious passing situations and they don’t have Paris Johnson or Dawand Jones at tackle to protect the quarterback.
Defense
Projected 47th FEI and 70th SP+, Marshall has had some talent on defense and they’ve had some pretty good coaches running things as well in recent years. Brad Lambert was the coordinator in 2020 and is now running the defense at Wake Forest and Lance Guidry is in his second season as DC. Previously he had been very successful at the FCS level.
They dominated Norfolk State last week (2.53 yards per play) and a lot of credit goes to them while some goes to dysfunction they had to face.
Expected Strengths
There are two NFL prospects in the secondary in CB Steven Gilmore and CB Micah Abraham (a pick vs Norfolk State). They combined for 26 passes defended last season and could start for a lot of Power 5 programs.
LB Abraham Beauplan was highly productive (110 tackles, 10 tackles for loss) and was voted first team All-Conference USA last season. He’ll be very active on Saturday.
Edge Koby Cumberlander had 2.5 TFLs in the opener. He has a very good motor. Him, DE Owen Porter, and DE Elijah Alston were all over a 14% pressure rate so they can get after it. Throw those three in with DT Anthony Watts, a Purdue transfer who started 20 games in the Big Ten, and they have some players with disruptive potential up front.
They didn’t have one dominant pass rusher last season, but they did finish 23rd in sack rate and had 40 total sacks.
Potential Weaknesses
This team is undersized like a lot of Group of 5 defenses and they weren’t good against the run last season (75th in EPA per run). They gave up 200 yards or more on the ground in seven games last season.
Their edge defenders are smaller (under 240) and that is something to keep in mind with how frequently Notre Dame uses 12 personnel.
They have several players who were Power 5 transfers on their defense, but many of those guys aren’t starters. Marshall hasn’t played a Power 5 opponent since the 2018 season and though they have some good players, they don’t have the depth and quality of athletes at all three levels.
So what do the numbers mean? Not as much when they haven’t been playing the competition that is closer to Notre Dame. On film, they look like they don’t have the athletes with the size and speed to match up with the Irish.
Scheme
They play a lot of four down with two stand up edge defenders and will mix in some Bear front as well. It’s a traditional 4-2-5 with either a nickel backer or a slot corner in that fifth defensive back slot.
Last season they played way more zone than man coverage (25%). They want to do as much as possible on the back end to present different looks to the quarterback.
Guidry only blitzed quarterbacks on 28.1% of drop backs last season, which isn’t a super high rate. Obviously it is matchup specific, but he doesn’t have an all-out attack type of philosophy at all times. My guess is that based on what we saw in week one from Notre Dame, he’ll be bringing plenty of pressure to see if they can disrupt the offense.
Key Players
Edge Koby Cumberlander - A bit hold and cold as a pass rusher, but had a dominant game against FAU last season.
LB Abraham Beauplan - Had multiple Power 5 offers out of high school, went to junior college and then Marshall. Fast and a good blitzer.
CB Steven Gilmore - 1st team All-Conference USA with great speed.
CB Micah Abraham - The son of former NFL DB Donnie Abraham, he finished 8th in the country in passes defended last season.
Key for Notre Dame
Establish the run
On the boxes that need to be checked for the Notre Dame offense this week, all of the above would fit, bu after what happened last week, they need to start with the foundation of the offense and that is establishing a successful run game.
Get Chris Tyree, get Audric Estime, get Logan Diggs rolling. That’s number one on the goal sheet.
Special Teams
They are breaking in a brand new punter and kicker.
P John McConnel punted only once last week for 44 yards. K Rece Verhoff made both of his field goals and all of his extra points.
We don’t know a lot about them in the return game, but it is worth mentioning that they blocked three kicks last season.
Overview
Marshall has players who could start for a lot of teams on Notre Dame’s schedule. They also have plenty of players who wouldn’t and that’s where the gap is very big between the two programs.
Last week was barely a scrimmage for Marshall with most starters playing less than 30 snaps. This week their season really begins and the Irish should be plenty motivated to welcome them to Notre Dame Stadium.
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