HUNTINGTON - It's a small, small fraternity at Marshall that has struggled through all the football practices, celebrated and agonized through all the games, lifted all those weights and watched all those hours of video.
HUNTINGTON - It's a small, small fraternity at Marshall that has struggled through all the football practices, celebrated and agonized through all the games, lifted all those weights and watched all those hours of video.
The smallest subgroup, the number of fifth-year seniors able to suit up in full gear, numbers but five - long-snapper Sean McClellan, defensive tackle James Burkes, offensive tackle Daniel Baldridge and defensive ends Albert McClellan and John Jacobs.
Add injured safety John Saunders, and you have the last six recruits from the Bob Pruett administration.
Then you add the most accomplished recruits from coach Mark Snyder's first class, safety Ashton Hall and tight end Cody Slate, and those are the eight, the survivors who will take their final applause today as the Thundering Herd plays Southern Methodist. Kickoff at Joan C. Edwards Stadium is at 4:30 p.m.
There are other seniors, 15 who will receive their tribute. That does not include receiver Courtney Edmonson, who was injured early in the opener and will apply for a medical hardship waiver with the NCAA.
Most of the rest of the Herd's seniors are junior-college transfers, including one who came to Marshall as a soccer goalkeeper. All of them are worthy of applause, but their path at MU simply isn't 47 or 57 games long.
As happens every year, the veterans are somewhat amazed this day has come.
"No matter how many times everyone tells you, it doesn't matter. You never realize it until it's coming," Jacobs said.
"I was praying it would [get here]," Baldridge said. "Coming here in '05, it seemed so long away, and now I blink my eyes and look where I'm at now. It's pretty incredible. There's a small handful of us left."
"You're going to get injuries, get banged up, little bumps and bruises on the way," Albert McClellan said. "Class schedule, time management, it's really tough to get to this point. You've got to stay focused, and be humble with yourself, to make it to this point."
Their record is not what they wanted, what their fans dreamed of, what their coaches hoped for - 21-36 over the five years, 17-29 over the last four. The 2005 recruits, in particular, saw a lot of their classmates fade away and leave the program for any number of reasons.
Those that remain have drawn consistent high praise for their leadership.
"They have given everything they need to give," Snyder said. "They have done a great job. They have endured a lot through this rebuilding cycle. They have committed themselves to getting us somewhere we haven't been in a while and that was their goal, to get us back on track.
"It was well documented at our team meeting on Sunday, and I think our younger guys will rise to the occasion. This is a really good group of seniors. There are some guys in there that are going to move on and continue to play football. I think they have shown the way for the younger kids on into the next few seasons.
"The good thing is, we sit there and plan on doing some recruiting, but we don't have many spots available to give out. I just think they have done a tremendous job."
Some of what the eight veterans have accomplished:
Saunders - The Cabell Midland graduate had his senior year cut short in the third game, against Bowling Green, by a neck injury. That was a shame, because he fought off a depth-chart burial and earned a move from strong safety to starting free safety, to succeed C.J. Spillman. He finished with 90 career tackles and an interception.
Sean McClellan - As with any long-snapper, he did the most by being heard of the least. He may not have been perfect as NFL snappers Mike Bartrum or Chris Massey, but he wasn't far from it. As a bonus, he is tied for the team lead in forced fumbles (two).
Jacobs - Marshall kept recruiting defensive ends, and Jacobs just kept staying in the rotation. He has 110 career tackles, 201/2 for loss and seven sacks. His best achievement? Probably surviving the 2007 season despite a broken hand and a lean defense all around him.
Doing his student teaching in secondary social studies this semester, Jacobs envisioned himself as a linebacker or running back at MU, but his high school coach at Broadway, Va., had clearer foresight.
HUNTINGTON - It's a small, small fraternity at Marshall that has struggled through all the football practices, celebrated and agonized through all the games, lifted all those weights and watched all those hours of video.
The smallest subgroup, the number of fifth-year seniors able to suit up in full gear, numbers but five - long-snapper Sean McClellan, defensive tackle James Burkes, offensive tackle Daniel Baldridge and defensive ends Albert McClellan and John Jacobs.
Add injured safety John Saunders, and you have the last six recruits from the Bob Pruett administration.
Then you add the most accomplished recruits from coach Mark Snyder's first class, safety Ashton Hall and tight end Cody Slate, and those are the eight, the survivors who will take their final applause today as the Thundering Herd plays Southern Methodist. Kickoff at Joan C. Edwards Stadium is at 4:30 p.m.
There are other seniors, 15 who will receive their tribute. That does not include receiver Courtney Edmonson, who was injured early in the opener and will apply for a medical hardship waiver with the NCAA.
Most of the rest of the Herd's seniors are junior-college transfers, including one who came to Marshall as a soccer goalkeeper. All of them are worthy of applause, but their path at MU simply isn't 47 or 57 games long.
As happens every year, the veterans are somewhat amazed this day has come.
"No matter how many times everyone tells you, it doesn't matter. You never realize it until it's coming," Jacobs said.
"I was praying it would [get here]," Baldridge said. "Coming here in '05, it seemed so long away, and now I blink my eyes and look where I'm at now. It's pretty incredible. There's a small handful of us left."
"You're going to get injuries, get banged up, little bumps and bruises on the way," Albert McClellan said. "Class schedule, time management, it's really tough to get to this point. You've got to stay focused, and be humble with yourself, to make it to this point."
Their record is not what they wanted, what their fans dreamed of, what their coaches hoped for - 21-36 over the five years, 17-29 over the last four. The 2005 recruits, in particular, saw a lot of their classmates fade away and leave the program for any number of reasons.
Those that remain have drawn consistent high praise for their leadership.
"They have given everything they need to give," Snyder said. "They have done a great job. They have endured a lot through this rebuilding cycle. They have committed themselves to getting us somewhere we haven't been in a while and that was their goal, to get us back on track.
"It was well documented at our team meeting on Sunday, and I think our younger guys will rise to the occasion. This is a really good group of seniors. There are some guys in there that are going to move on and continue to play football. I think they have shown the way for the younger kids on into the next few seasons.
"The good thing is, we sit there and plan on doing some recruiting, but we don't have many spots available to give out. I just think they have done a tremendous job."
Some of what the eight veterans have accomplished:
Saunders - The Cabell Midland graduate had his senior year cut short in the third game, against Bowling Green, by a neck injury. That was a shame, because he fought off a depth-chart burial and earned a move from strong safety to starting free safety, to succeed C.J. Spillman. He finished with 90 career tackles and an interception.
Sean McClellan - As with any long-snapper, he did the most by being heard of the least. He may not have been perfect as NFL snappers Mike Bartrum or Chris Massey, but he wasn't far from it. As a bonus, he is tied for the team lead in forced fumbles (two).
Jacobs - Marshall kept recruiting defensive ends, and Jacobs just kept staying in the rotation. He has 110 career tackles, 201/2 for loss and seven sacks. His best achievement? Probably surviving the 2007 season despite a broken hand and a lean defense all around him.
Doing his student teaching in secondary social studies this semester, Jacobs envisioned himself as a linebacker or running back at MU, but his high school coach at Broadway, Va., had clearer foresight.
"My high school coach tried to tell me I'd end up playing tight end or defensive end," Jacobs said. "I told him he was full of it; I was playing linebacker. [But] I wasn't completely surprised when they came to me my freshman year and said, 'You're putting your hand on the ground.' It took me a long time to adjust, but I think I adjusted and I'm getting better all the time. That's all you can ask for."
Burkes - The Capital High graduate came the longest and fought the hardest to get on the field, and is likely making his 22nd start today. In 2005 and 2006, he was way off the radar. In 2007, he kept the Herd from running out of competent linemen.
Let's put it this way: Initially, his nickname "The Penguin" was not considered a compliment. But he has compiled 67 tackles, 21/2 for loss, as he fights off the biggest offensive linemen - often two at a time. He is best known for his ability to sniff out and destroy screen passes - "You can't screen 'The Penguin,'" is a common slogan at practice.
Baldridge - The hulking 6-foot-9 Louisianan has been playing organized football for only six years. It seems forever ago that he was the rawest of projects brought on by Pruett's staff.
He showed enough resilience to lose his starting spot for the 2008 season and regain it for this campaign, and he has played nearly every offensive snap.
"It's definitely changed my life," said Baldridge, who has his criminal justice degree in hand.
Albert McClellan - He has 41 tackles, three sacks and eight quarterback hurries this fall and remains an NFL prospect. But Herd fans will forever mutter "what if" after his freak knee injury before the 2007 season.
Today's game seems ripe for McClellan to repeat his 15-tackle rampage against Bowling Green, or any the multi-sack romps that made him the media's choice as Conference USA defensive player of the year in 2006.
For his career, McClellan has 216 tackles, 36 for loss, with 21 sacks.
"It was tough getting back," he said. "When I did get back, I was overweight - I was a lot stronger, but I was overweight. I didn't think I was playing to my ability, but this year, it's a lot different."
Hall - With 68 tackles, one interception, eight pass break-ups and a game-turning fumble return for a touchdown, he is having the all-conference-type senior year coaches and teammates envisioned. He could have been the hero at Central Florida with his long return of a missed field goal that appeared to put the Herd in command.
Slate - He'll walk gingerly or on crutches for what is certain to be a long, loud ovation. He merely leaves Marshall as the program's most accomplished tight end, with 199 receptions, 2,619 receiving yards and 23 touchdowns.
He was named a John Mackey Award semifinalist two days after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament against Southern Mississippi.
Other senior starters are linebacker Brandon Burns, guard Jimmy Rogers and kicker Craig Ratanamorn. Rounding out the senior class are defensive tackle Montel Glasco, linebacker Andre Portis, wide receiver Lyndl Jones and defensive back Josh Miller.
This class is trying to go out in style and get the Herd (5-5 overall, 3-3 C-USA) to a bowl game and a winning season. That effort resumes today against resurgent SMU (6-4, 5-1), which is stunningly atop the West Division under second-year coach June Jones.
After two straight hard-to-swallow defeats, the Herd players, especially that group of eight, are all but spitting nails to get the program over that proverbial hump.
"We've got to get six [wins] before we have the chance to get seven, but we can still get six right now," Jacobs said. "We can still get a bowl game, we can still get a winning season, and we can still achieve a good many of our goals that we set out for this year."
Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.
Post a comment