HUNTINGTON - Marshall punter Kase Whitehead takes on a new role this fall, but it won't be that new to him.

Seeing Whitehead hold on place-kicks will be plenty new to Thundering Herd fans, who have been accustomed to watching Emmanuel Spann in that role for what seems to be the last decade. But Whitehead has been taking snaps from Sean McClellan for a solid year in practice.

"I did it all through high school," said the sophomore-to-be from Maryville, Tenn. "It kind of helps me because it takes my mind off my actual job of punting a little bit, so it makes me relax a little bit, knowing I've got to the ball down for Craig [Ratanamorn] or Tyler [Warner], or whomever it might be. So it's comfortable for me."

Whitehead and McClellan get their biggest workout of the spring today in the special-teams scrimmage, beginning at 1:40 p.m. at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. McClellan, a senior-to-be who will be a third-year starter at long snapper, knows what a long day this can be - he snapped for both sides in one such scrimmage.

That should not be the case today, as the Herd is working Tyson Gale and perhaps Lee Smith into a backup role. Today will be important for them, too.

But it won't be a routine day for McClellan or Whitehead, in his punting role. Whitehead is trying to refine his technique, with an eye to raising his 38.7-yard average of his freshman year.

"I looked at some tapes of my senior year in high school, and I did really well then and I was taking two steps instead of three," he said. "Last year here, I was taking a third step, like a jab step, and it kind of hurt me a little bit. Sean has been working with me, getting me down to two steps, take some time off and, hopefully, give me some more power."

At the other end of those punts, coach Mark Snyder will be immensely interested in who returns them and how well. Last year, Spann returned 12 punts and fellow senior Chubb Small one - and that's it. But Snyder feels his team can become more dangerous in that area.

"We're going to be a little bit more of a return team, because we feel like we've got some guys back there," he said. "We're still going to apply some pressure, but we're going to look at some new things kickoff return-wise, and we're going to work on our returns a little bit more, because we have some returners that can take it all the way."

There will be an array of candidates taking turns, and probably not including Bryant Milligan, who walked around Tuesday with one of those large, black orthopedic boots. Darius Marshall, who has proved himself as a kickoff returner, is a candidate, but it's more likely Jamal Wilson, Chuck Walker and DeQuan Bembry will be auditioned at punt return.

Bembry, the sophomore-to-be from Hawkinsville, Ga., is probably the one who has put in the most time and is the odds-on favorite - if he catches the ball every time.

"We need him to step up. And he is probably the best punt returner we have," Snyder said. "I think he's got some special qualities but, again, we're not going to put him back there if we're going to have any kind of mistake, ball drops and things of that nature. We had some of those last year in the kicking game with a veteran guy.

HUNTINGTON - Marshall punter Kase Whitehead takes on a new role this fall, but it won't be that new to him.

Seeing Whitehead hold on place-kicks will be plenty new to Thundering Herd fans, who have been accustomed to watching Emmanuel Spann in that role for what seems to be the last decade. But Whitehead has been taking snaps from Sean McClellan for a solid year in practice.

"I did it all through high school," said the sophomore-to-be from Maryville, Tenn. "It kind of helps me because it takes my mind off my actual job of punting a little bit, so it makes me relax a little bit, knowing I've got to the ball down for Craig [Ratanamorn] or Tyler [Warner], or whomever it might be. So it's comfortable for me."

Whitehead and McClellan get their biggest workout of the spring today in the special-teams scrimmage, beginning at 1:40 p.m. at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. McClellan, a senior-to-be who will be a third-year starter at long snapper, knows what a long day this can be - he snapped for both sides in one such scrimmage.

That should not be the case today, as the Herd is working Tyson Gale and perhaps Lee Smith into a backup role. Today will be important for them, too.

But it won't be a routine day for McClellan or Whitehead, in his punting role. Whitehead is trying to refine his technique, with an eye to raising his 38.7-yard average of his freshman year.

"I looked at some tapes of my senior year in high school, and I did really well then and I was taking two steps instead of three," he said. "Last year here, I was taking a third step, like a jab step, and it kind of hurt me a little bit. Sean has been working with me, getting me down to two steps, take some time off and, hopefully, give me some more power."

At the other end of those punts, coach Mark Snyder will be immensely interested in who returns them and how well. Last year, Spann returned 12 punts and fellow senior Chubb Small one - and that's it. But Snyder feels his team can become more dangerous in that area.

"We're going to be a little bit more of a return team, because we feel like we've got some guys back there," he said. "We're still going to apply some pressure, but we're going to look at some new things kickoff return-wise, and we're going to work on our returns a little bit more, because we have some returners that can take it all the way."

There will be an array of candidates taking turns, and probably not including Bryant Milligan, who walked around Tuesday with one of those large, black orthopedic boots. Darius Marshall, who has proved himself as a kickoff returner, is a candidate, but it's more likely Jamal Wilson, Chuck Walker and DeQuan Bembry will be auditioned at punt return.

Bembry, the sophomore-to-be from Hawkinsville, Ga., is probably the one who has put in the most time and is the odds-on favorite - if he catches the ball every time.

"We need him to step up. And he is probably the best punt returner we have," Snyder said. "I think he's got some special qualities but, again, we're not going to put him back there if we're going to have any kind of mistake, ball drops and things of that nature. We had some of those last year in the kicking game with a veteran guy.

"The key for DeQuan is to catch the ball before you run. He wants to look to see where his first cut is before he catches the ball, and that will come as he gets older and gets to do it. I've sat there and studied Joe Burnett [the Central Florida speedster] - he had the ability to know where he was going with the ball before he caught it, because he had been doing it for a while. DeQuan will get to that point, but right now, he's not there."

On Tuesday, the Herd battled the cold, wind and occasional snow flurries to complete the fourth of 15 practices. After splendid conditions Saturday, the team had its problems coping.

"It's a little adversity, and that's what happens in the games, also," Snyder said. "We've got to be able to handle adversity, whether it's 100 degrees or 2 below, every day's not going to be 80 and beautiful. You're going to have to fight the elements at times, and concentrate and work through it.

"I thought we struggled a little bit - not with communication, just some of the adversity."

The battle of the quarterbacks continued. The winner, perhaps, in the short 11-on-11 session was Jake Laudenslayer, who showed good poise against the blitz and nearly hit Cody Slate on a long toss to the corner of the end zone. In a game, with Slate laying out in a full dive, it probably scores.

Mark Cann, the 11-game starter of last season, completed a rousing touchdown pass to Courtney Edmonson, who made a nice leaping catch over Josh Miller.

Press Taylor has had better days this spring. Among his not-so-highlights included a pass over the middle right to Devin Arrington, who intercepted and returned it for a touchdown.

Arrington began camp at free safety but was playing strong-side linebacker in place of Brandon Burns, who had class. "This was a good day for him to get reps, and learn from his mistakes," Snyder said.

After today's kick scrimmage, the Herd returns at 3:30 p.m. Friday, with a scrimmage following at 10 a.m. Saturday. Those are open to the public, as was Tuesday's workout (though only the toughest fans dared to show).

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.