Marshall Spring Practice Journal, Day One

Spring practice officially started for the Marshall Thundering Herd on March 31, with the first of 15 NCAA allowed practices.

The Thundering Herd face questions this spring, though with the majority of their starters returning, the questions are few.

The major questions facing the Herd this spring will be at quarterback, wide receiver and linebacker.

Freshman Mark Cann will be returning at quarterback as will Brian Anderson, who saw brief playing time over the 2008 season. The duo will be joined by junior college transfers, Press Taylor and Jacob Laudenslayer.

The quarterbacks are also joined by Shay Dunnigan during the spring, though it does not appear he is in the hunt for the position.The Herd will also bolster their group of quarterbacks in the fall with the arrival of Floriday's Mr. Football, A.J. Graham.

Cann was the starter for the Herd for all but one game last season, and his time taking snaps was shaky at best, and Cann regressed over the course of the season. The freshman only managed 1,767 yards and 14 touchdowns in his inaugural season.

In any league those numbers just will not cut it, and in Conference USA, they were dwarfed by teams like Tulsa, Houston, and Rice.

Coach Mark Snyder chose to bring in Laudenslayer and Taylor to help the competition and get a pair of new skill sets, which is just what he got.

Laudenslayer has some issue threading passes into tight areas, but his ability to send the ball downfield is crisp. Taylor, meanwhile, has shown the best footwork of any Marshall QB, but gets a case of happy feet in the pocket.

Taylor is perhaps one of the most accurate QBs the Herd has had since Chad Pennington on passes shorter than 20 yards. However, his passes have a considerable wobble when throwing the deep ball.

The differences between the two JUCO QBs was evident to everyone, and most evident to the guys catching their passes.

“Jake has a little bit of a stronger arm,” said Cody Slate, Marshall's stand-out tight end. “Press has better...Well, his timing might be one of his strengths as to knowing when to throw it.”

Senior wide receiver Courtney Edmonson also noticed Taylor's ability to get the pass where it needed to be on time.

“When you have a quarterback doing that, you get a lot more yards after the catch,” Edmonson noted. “That's pretty good.”

Edmonson also talked about the help that characteristic lends to the receivers themselves.

“Getting passes on time,” he said, “makes it easier for us to separate and get away from defensive backs.”

Speaking of Edmonson, that raises the second question for Marshall this spring at the receiver position.

Edmonson is joined by Tavaris Thompson, JUCO transfer Wayne Bonner, Chuck Walker and Demetrius Thomas. Experience is a rare commodity at the position, however, Snyder is pleased with their efforts so far.

Each of the players will have to work hard this spring as the Herd gets set for it's second season with Coach John Shannon's offensive schemes.

The key battle going into this spring is between Bonner and Thompson as they compete for the "X" receiver position that was vacated by senior Darius Passmore.

Passmore was the primary target for the Herd's passing attack last season, catching for 945 yards and seven touchdowns.

The position has proved to be high-traffic in the Herd offense, and whoever wins the battle could potentially become the star of the Marshall air attack this season.

Finally, there are the questions at linebacker, perhaps the thinnest group on the entire team. Left a little lighter after last season with the departure of star linebacker Maurice Kitchens, the Herd defense and unit coordinator Rick Minter will need younger players to step up.

Marshall returns Corey Hart and Mario Harvey who saw action last season alongside the departed Kitchens.

Luckily for the Herd, Harvey led the team in tackles last season and should serve as the anchor for the linebackers this season. Brandon Burns, the safety turned linebacker, also returns, though it is yet to be seen if he will fulfill the same role this year.

It is going to be important for players like Kellen Harris and Tyson Gale to step up in the spring and be viable options in the fall for the Herd to succeed.

Coach Minter will have to otherwise provide help to the linebackers to maintain his turn around of the Marshall defense.

One more position to keep an eye on this spring for Marshall is at running back.

Darius Marshall was the "go to" guy last fall as he surpassed the 1,000 yard mark on the ground. However, Marshall sports one of the deepest, if not the best group of tailbacks in the league, so the competition is there.

Terrell Edwards and Martin Ward have also proved to be worthy of the job and should give Darius some pressure.

The Thundering Herd have 14 allowed practices remaining this season and Thursday's practice at 3:45 p.m. will be open to the public.

Marshall will also have a second open practice on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. for the 'Hoot-N-Holler' Drill.

The Herd will wrap up spring practice on April 25 after the Green-White Game at 3 p.m.