HUNTINGTON - Marshall had a full week off and then some, and went through it with a multi-pronged mission.

Several coaches hit the road to contact junior-college recruits. The rest stayed home to work the team out, particularly the second-stringers. For starters, coach Mark Snyder projects more use of those reserves in the season's final six games.

For another, the coaches gave a few a shot at the first string. As Snyder mentioned shortly after the Herd's 33-10 loss to Cincinnati, competition would open up on the offensive line.

Rising to that challenge is Chad Schofield, a sophomore who has been elevated to starting left guard ahead of Fayetteville native Josh Evans.

Schofield, a 6-foot-4, 316-pound native of Strongsville, Ohio, has been listed as center Brian Leggett's backup, but also has worked at the guard positions. He has worked on the field-goal unit and received some snaps on the line at Wisconsin.

He redshirted in 2006 and didn't play in 2007, so he is not likely to take this chance for granted.

"Good work ethic and also, my strength," Schofield said of his strong points. "I'm not going to quit on any play. I'm going to work hard at full speed."

Also, look for Matt Altobello to yield plays at right guard, and the workload could be altered for the right-tackle platoon, dominated by C.J. Wood.

"We will start Chad Schofield, as of right now," Snyder said. "And then again, we've got this week to go. You'll see a little more of Jimmy Rogers at right guard and Daniel Baldridge at right tackle. I thought Daniel seized the moment this week, and he had a couple of really good practices.

"And again, we'll still roll like we've been rolling. Not a whole bunch of shakeup. Schofield and we're trying to get Jimmy more reps again, because we had a week to get him going. Same with [defensive end] Vinny Curry, same with [defensive tackle Brandon] Bullock."

The offensive line struggled in the past two games, against West Virginia and Cincinnati. The Thundering Herd rushed for just 129 yards combined, yielded four sacks and allowed the pass rush to contribute to the struggles of quarterback Mark Cann, who completed less than 50 percent of his passes.

Reach Doug Smock at 348-5130 or .