CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Not long after Marshall's football players report for preseason practice, the quarterback selection process will begin in earnest.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Not long after Marshall's football players report for preseason practice, the quarterback selection process will begin in earnest.
Players are expected to arrive Aug. 3, practice opens two days later and by mid-August the Herd should have a No. 1 QB.
Four candidates will compete for the job as the Herd begins its NCAA-allotted 29 preseason practices, and fourth-year coach Mark Snyder wants the issue settled as quickly as possible, giving the newly anointed starter as much practice time as possible in preparation for the Aug. 30 opener against Illinois State.
"We've got to choose a quarterback,'' Snyder said Tuesday. "Once we start narrowing down the reps, we'll have to pick somebody at some point in time and start getting them reps.''
The candidates:
Brian Anderson, a 6-foot-3, 217-pound sophomore from Louisville, appeared in five games and is the only candidate who has started a game for the Herd. When Bernard Morris was injured last year, Anderson started the New Hampshire game and completed 7-of-14 passes for 58 yards with an interception in a 48-35 loss. As Morris's backup for the season, he was 12-of-28 for 94 yards and three interceptions.
Wesley Beardain, a 6-1, 208-pound junior from Winona, Miss., played briefly against Central Florida last year. He was red-shirted in 2006.
Mark Cann, a 6-4, 238-pound freshman from Landrum, S.C., was red-shirted last year. In the Herd's Green and White Game last spring, he completed 16-of-21 passes for 181 yards.
Jonathan Garner, a 6-4, 219-pound junior from Daytona Beach, Fla., sat out last year after transferring from Georgia Tech. As the No. 3 QB for the Yellow Jackets in 2006, he saw limited action.CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Not long after Marshall's football players report for preseason practice, the quarterback selection process will begin in earnest.
Players are expected to arrive Aug. 3, practice opens two days later and by mid-August the Herd should have a No. 1 QB.
Four candidates will compete for the job as the Herd begins its NCAA-allotted 29 preseason practices, and fourth-year coach Mark Snyder wants the issue settled as quickly as possible, giving the newly anointed starter as much practice time as possible in preparation for the Aug. 30 opener against Illinois State.
"We've got to choose a quarterback,'' Snyder said Tuesday. "Once we start narrowing down the reps, we'll have to pick somebody at some point in time and start getting them reps.''
The candidates:
Brian Anderson, a 6-foot-3, 217-pound sophomore from Louisville, appeared in five games and is the only candidate who has started a game for the Herd. When Bernard Morris was injured last year, Anderson started the New Hampshire game and completed 7-of-14 passes for 58 yards with an interception in a 48-35 loss. As Morris's backup for the season, he was 12-of-28 for 94 yards and three interceptions.
Wesley Beardain, a 6-1, 208-pound junior from Winona, Miss., played briefly against Central Florida last year. He was red-shirted in 2006.
Mark Cann, a 6-4, 238-pound freshman from Landrum, S.C., was red-shirted last year. In the Herd's Green and White Game last spring, he completed 16-of-21 passes for 181 yards.
Jonathan Garner, a 6-4, 219-pound junior from Daytona Beach, Fla., sat out last year after transferring from Georgia Tech. As the No. 3 QB for the Yellow Jackets in 2006, he saw limited action.
Whoever wins the job will oversee an offense that likely will make greater use of the run after a season in which the Herd passed for 3,253 yards and ran for just 1,701. Morris passed for 3,149 yards and ran for 488.
"We'll be a little bit more balanced as far as the pass-run ratio,'' said Snyder.
Otherwise, the coach says the team's speed and depth are the best in his four seasons at the school and that competition for starting jobs will be especially intense. A player who started last year, he said, is not assured of doing so again.
"We have depth. We finally have some depth,'' he said. "There's going to be some competition at all those positions, and we're going to have about a week-and-a-half or two weeks to decide on the pecking order and go with it. We have to settle on starting linebackers. We'll have to settle on the starting corners. We'll have to settle on the starting offensive tackles.''
The Herd in 2007 opened the season with seven straight losses but won three of its final five games, picking up experience along the way.
"We have a lot of kids returning that have played. A bunch of them have playing time under their belts,'' said Snyder. "And I think we're a little bit faster. Those things would be our strengths.''
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BRIEFLY: Snyder on Tuesday inspected the renovations that are underway at the Shewey Athletic Building that adjoins Joan C. Edwards Stadium. "It's comparable to what they have at an [Atlantic Coast Conference] school,'' he said. "The whole downstairs has been renovated. We've got a whole new locker room with state-of-the-art lockers. They're as good as any in the country. We have a big team-meeting room that's theater-style seating. Each of the position coaches has their own meeting room with theater-style seating off of the team-meeting room.'' ... It's almost inevitable, said Snyder, that a few true freshmen will prove themselves good enough to contribute immediately. "Even when we've had depth in places I've been,'' said the former Ohio State assistant, "there's always been a [true] freshman or two or three or four who came in and got some playing time. There will be a couple who will play. They may not start, but they will help you somehow. But you won't know who they are until you get them on campus.''
Reach Mike Whiteford at 348-7948 or mikewhitef...@wvgazette.com.
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I agree with jbh. I am not high on MS right now. He has made way to many error's on the field and there was a serious lack of adjustment at half time but he does seem to be getting better. As for Coach Kueck...did you even watch his play calling? He was the "goat". We had the most predictable play calling in football.