generic Marshall Thundering Herd Preview 2022: Season Prediction, Breakdown, Key Games, Players
Marshall Thundering Herd Preview 2022: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Marshall season with what you need to know and keys to the season.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
Marshall Thundering Herd Preview
Head Coach: Charles Huff, 2nd year at Marshall, 7-6
2021 Preview: Overall: 7-6, Conference: 5-3
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Marshall Top 10 Players | Marshall Schedule & Analysis
Marshall Thundering Herd Preview 2022
Ummmmm, okay.
Marshall went from being an FCS powerhouse, to a MAC powerhouse, to a major player in Conference USA.
Considering the heavy losses taken by the American Athletic Conference, the goal and push might have been to step up there. Instead, the program joined Old Dominion, James Madison, and Southern Miss to make the move to the Sun Belt.
Now it’s time to go be a powerhouse there.
2021 might have ended with a thud – losing three games in the last four – and four of the six losses were by a touchdown or less in a frustrating run, but second year head coach Charles Huff has a strong base of talent returning, the transfer portal provided a ton of help, and there’s a buzz.
Marshall is a part of the Sun Belt fun. It’s about to make a rising league a whole lot better.
Marshall Thundering Herd Preview 2022: Offense
The offense stumbled late with just 21 points or fewer in three of its last four games, but it still finished second overall in Conference USA averaging 457 yards and 33 points per game. The skill parts will be among the best in the Sun Belt if the new starting quarterback can come through as expected, but …
The offensive line is the big deal going into fall camp. All should be fine with a little bit of time, but the group that led C-USA in fewest tackles for loss allowed and was solid for the ground game has to replace a bulk of the key parts. The starting five will be okay, but the depth will take a while.
Fortunately, the running backs are fantastic.
Rasheen Ali earned All-Conference USA honors with over 1,400 yards and 23 rushing scores with 45 catches, and coming in to help the cause is Khalan Laborn from Florida State.
Can Henry Colombi really get it done? The former Texas Tech quarterback comes in to replace Grant Wells – who bolted for Virginia Tech – but Cam Fancher and a few other options will give it a push for the gig. No matter who’s under center, the receiving corps will be strong.
All-star leading receiver Corey Gammage is back after making 78 grabs, and even with top targets Willie Johnson and TE Xavier Gaines done, there are more than enough veteran returning – and some help from Florida State’s Bryan Robinson signing on – to make the O go.
Marshall Thundering Herd Preview 2022: Defense
The defense should’ve been better. It lived in the backfield and was among the best in the country in pass efficiency defense, but this group got gouged against the run. There was a lot of bending without a lot of breaking, though – the D gave up close to 400 yards per game, but only 24 points per outing.
The fun will continue in the Sun Belt.
The Thundering Herd brought the production from everywhere. LB Eli Neal led the team with just 5.5 sacks – nine defenders had two more more sacks – and the ends and linebackers are in place to keep wreaking havoc.
Koby Cumberlander is a dangerous hybrid on the line, all the linebackers return, and the interior might have just upgraded with Isaiah Gibson coming in from Kentucky and Anthony Watts joining from Purdue.
The secondary loses some stars, but it returns two great pieces to work around. Micah Abraham and Steven Gilmore could be the Sun Belt’s best corner tandem, but the transfer portal has to help the safety situation that loses three of the team’s top five tacklers. Isaiah Norman from Austin Peay and Andre Sam from McNeese State should be ready right away.
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Marshall Top 10 Players | Marshall Schedule & Analysis
Marshall Thundering Herd: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats NEXT
Marshall Thundering Herd: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats
Marshall Thundering Herd: Key To The 2022 Offense
STOP TURNING THE BALL OVER.
Not all of the giveaways were Grant Wells interceptions. The now-Virginia Tech Hokie threw a bunch, but there were fumbling issues, too.
How did Marshall lose to MIddle Tennessee? Six turnovers – four fumbles. How did it lose to East Carolina? Three turnovers and -2 turnover margin.
The Thundering Herd were -9 in turnover margin in the five losses and +2 in the wins. With everything else seemingly in place, all the Herd have to do is not royally screw it all up.
Marshall Thundering Herd: Key To The 2022 Defense
Get nastier against the run.
The worst part about having the 12th-best run defense in Conference USA was that it includes the production from the gajillion sacks and tackles for loss.
It’s one thing to give up 337 rushing yards to Navy and that offense, but everyone managed to get fat on the D that allowed 200 or more rushing yards seven times and was hit for three touchdown runs in five games.
It was more of a trickle than a whole lot of big, splashy runs, but for a D that went from allowing 2.8 yards per carry in 2020 to 4.3 last year, there’s work to do.
Marshall Thundering Herd: Key Player To The 2022 Season
QB Henry Colombi, Sr.
Grant Wells showed a ton of talent and promise – and then he threw an interception. The new Virginia Tech Hokies bombed away over the last two years, and he ran enough to matter, but the 22 picks were a killer.
Enter the well-traveled Henry Colombi who started out his career at Utah State, moved over to Texas Tech, and now comes to Marshall with four years of experience as mostly a good No. 2 option. Now the job is his to make the O go.
Marshall Thundering Herd: Key Transfer
NT Isaiah Gibson, Soph.
A whole bunch of talented transfers are coming in, but the key to the season might just be the guys for the interior. 6-4, 300-pound Anthony Watts comes over from Purdue to take over one defensive tackle gig, and everything is suppose to work around the 6-3, 302-pound Gibson. The former Kentucky Wildcat is expected to live on the nose and be the team’s defensive anchor.
Marshall Key Game To The 2022 Season
Coastal Carolina, Oct. 29
Marshall is in the East, the far tougher of the two divisions with Appalachian State, Georgia State, and Coastal Carolina. On the plus side, all three of those games are at home with the Chanticleers up first. Lose that, and all of a sudden there’s no margin for error the rest of the way if the Thundering Herd have any hope of playing for the Sun Belt title.
Marshall Thundering Herd: 2021 Fun Stats
– Sacks: Marshall 40 for 277 yards – Opponents 19 for 121 yards
– Time of Possession: Opponents 32:34 – Marshall 27:24
– Onside Kicks: Opponents 1-of-1 – Marshall 1-of-1
Keys To The Season | Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Marshall Top 10 Players | Marshall Schedule & Analysis
Marshall Thundering Herd Season Prediction, What Will Happen NEXT
Marshall Thundering Herd Season Prediction, What Will Happen
2021 Marshall was a ten-win team disguised with a 7-6 record.
There was too much talent, too many close losses, and too many frustrating moments in losses that should’ve gone the other way. Oh sure, Marshall cleaned up the mess against the mediocre teams on the slate, but it didn’t exactly extend itself against the big guys.
If Old Dominion is your most impressive win, the season didn’t go as planned.
But the talent is there, the starting 22 can hang with or beat anyone in the Sun Belt, and this should be a much more productive season as long as the turnovers stop, the scoring consistency is there, and if the defense can be just a little bit stronger.
Set The Marshall Thundering Herd Regular Season Win Total At … 8
Norfolk State, Gardner-Webb, at Bowling Green. Those are three almost certain wins.
At Notre Dame. That’s an almost certain loss.
Everything else is a toss-up, but the Sun Belt did Marshall a MASSIVE solid by putting the games against the league’s best teams – Louisiana, Appalachian State, Georgia State, Coastal Carolina – in Huntington.
The Herd should win at least two of those, more likely three, but watch out for funky games at James Madison, Old Dominion, and against a Troy team that’s going to be sneaky-strong.
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Marshall Top 10 Players | Marshall Schedule & Analysis
