HUNTINGTON - There are three scholarship running backs in the Marshall camp this spring after the early departure of the man named Marshall.
HUNTINGTON - There are three scholarship running backs in the Marshall camp this spring after the early departure of the man named Marshall.
With Darius Marshall declaring for the NFL draft, the Thundering Herd is going to need contributions of all three this fall, even if an incoming recruit or two stands out immediately.
Running backs coach JuJuan Seider, in his first season as a full-time college assistant, isn't terribly worried. Much to the contrary - he sees a gold mine.
Martin Ward and Andre Booker are running well in the Herd's spring drills, which reached the one-third mark Wednesday. And Terrell Edwards-Maye, the taller elder statesman of the group, is fighting for his role. Literally, at times.
"We've got some thunder - Martin's both thunder and lightning," Seider said. "Booker's just lightning and Terrell is thunder. We've got what we need, in pieces."
Ward is the leading returning rusher, with 393 yards on 82 carries, with three touchdowns. He started sluggishly in the season opener with Marshall under suspension, grinding out 54 yards on 14 carries against Southern Illinois, and didn't get many carries for the next nine games.
But with Marshall out against Southern Methodist, Ward erupted for 136 yards, with Edwards-Maye adding 113. Ward finished the season in style, with 72 yards on just nine carries, enough to win MVP honors in the 21-17 bowl victory over Ohio. He scored twice and reeled off a season-high 44-yard run.
Since then, the 5-foot-9, 201-pound Ward has caught the eye of first-year Herd coach Doc Holliday - and not just for his ability as the lead running back. He has shown consistency, whether running or pass blocking, or other unsung chores.
"Martin Ward's a good player," Holliday said. "I watch him play, and everything he does ... He's our best guy on the punt team right now."
If you're thinking about running backs on special teams, the 5-10 Booker comes immediately to mind. Still fresh is the memory of his 58-yard punt return in the bowl game, when Ohio's cover personnel badly misjudged his speed and took errant angles in pursuit.
The play made one wonder how Booker had just eight of the Herd's 25 punt returns heading into the bowl game. Then again, eyebrows were raised when his redshirt was pulled in the second game of the season, when Marshall was falling hard at Virginia Tech.
"That was a surprise," Booker said. "I was like, 'Did they make the right decision?' I wanted to play, but I felt I wasn't ready to be out there on the field. I felt like they should have redshirted me, because I had some catching up to do. [But] I got a punt return in the bowl game, so the hard work paid off."
As the season wore on, the Herd featured him more as a slot receiver, and he averaged 5 yards a carry and caught four passes, with a long of 22 yards.
With his speed, he has been shifted back to running back full-time, where he will push Ward for carries. And Ward can almost feel that speed behind him.
"He's too fast," Ward joked. "Normally, you tell someone to speed up, but you tell him to slow down, read the cut a little bit slower. He's a lightning bolt, a home-run hitter."
Seider, who played at West Virginia and was a graduate assistant at WVU, has seen a few fast backs, and would put Booker among them.
HUNTINGTON - There are three scholarship running backs in the Marshall camp this spring after the early departure of the man named Marshall.
With Darius Marshall declaring for the NFL draft, the Thundering Herd is going to need contributions of all three this fall, even if an incoming recruit or two stands out immediately.
Running backs coach JuJuan Seider, in his first season as a full-time college assistant, isn't terribly worried. Much to the contrary - he sees a gold mine.
Martin Ward and Andre Booker are running well in the Herd's spring drills, which reached the one-third mark Wednesday. And Terrell Edwards-Maye, the taller elder statesman of the group, is fighting for his role. Literally, at times.
"We've got some thunder - Martin's both thunder and lightning," Seider said. "Booker's just lightning and Terrell is thunder. We've got what we need, in pieces."
Ward is the leading returning rusher, with 393 yards on 82 carries, with three touchdowns. He started sluggishly in the season opener with Marshall under suspension, grinding out 54 yards on 14 carries against Southern Illinois, and didn't get many carries for the next nine games.
But with Marshall out against Southern Methodist, Ward erupted for 136 yards, with Edwards-Maye adding 113. Ward finished the season in style, with 72 yards on just nine carries, enough to win MVP honors in the 21-17 bowl victory over Ohio. He scored twice and reeled off a season-high 44-yard run.
Since then, the 5-foot-9, 201-pound Ward has caught the eye of first-year Herd coach Doc Holliday - and not just for his ability as the lead running back. He has shown consistency, whether running or pass blocking, or other unsung chores.
"Martin Ward's a good player," Holliday said. "I watch him play, and everything he does ... He's our best guy on the punt team right now."
If you're thinking about running backs on special teams, the 5-10 Booker comes immediately to mind. Still fresh is the memory of his 58-yard punt return in the bowl game, when Ohio's cover personnel badly misjudged his speed and took errant angles in pursuit.
The play made one wonder how Booker had just eight of the Herd's 25 punt returns heading into the bowl game. Then again, eyebrows were raised when his redshirt was pulled in the second game of the season, when Marshall was falling hard at Virginia Tech.
"That was a surprise," Booker said. "I was like, 'Did they make the right decision?' I wanted to play, but I felt I wasn't ready to be out there on the field. I felt like they should have redshirted me, because I had some catching up to do. [But] I got a punt return in the bowl game, so the hard work paid off."
As the season wore on, the Herd featured him more as a slot receiver, and he averaged 5 yards a carry and caught four passes, with a long of 22 yards.
With his speed, he has been shifted back to running back full-time, where he will push Ward for carries. And Ward can almost feel that speed behind him.
"He's too fast," Ward joked. "Normally, you tell someone to speed up, but you tell him to slow down, read the cut a little bit slower. He's a lightning bolt, a home-run hitter."
Seider, who played at West Virginia and was a graduate assistant at WVU, has seen a few fast backs, and would put Booker among them.
"I guarantee you West Virginia would love to have a Booker in their offense," Seider said. "I won't say he's Noel [Devine], but he can be in that mold of Noel. He gives you a lot of stuff of Noel, and probably just as fast, if not faster. I think, in the long run, he may be faster than Noel. He's special - he's going to win a lot of games for us, whether it's special teams, catching the ball, running the ball.
"You know the thing I admire about him, not being a big guy, about 185? He don't do a lot of east-west, he goes north and south. He sticks that foot in the ground, he goes. Most guys like him, they like to dance a lot."
Booker will be seen wearing No. 19 this season, exactly one-half the No. 38 bestowed upon him his freshman year. There's a little self-psychology involved.
After all, isn't 38 a good number for a fullback, that archaic position of lumbering bruisers?
"I felt like 38 was a little too big for me," Booker said. "I was hoping for No. 8 [his high school number] but we have quarterbacks coming in, so I stuck with No. 19. I really like this number."
Edwards-Maye rushed for 217 yards on 58 carries in 2009, more than half of those yards coming in the SMU game. At 6-2, 215, he will be featured on several special teams, but will have to fight hard for carries against the speedier Ward and Booker.
But he'll do that, even if he gets involved in a few practice melees, as he did Wednesday.
"Terrell's a good kid, and he's got to continue to work hard to get playing time," Holliday said.
Briefly
The runners were tackled to the ground for the first time as the Herd went fully live for the last half-hour of Wednesday's practice. Booker was shaken up after one lengthy run but returned to action.The backs helped the offense gain an upper hand of sorts.
"I thought it was OK," Holliday said. "If you're going to win championship, you've got to play great defense, and the offense made some plays. I've got mixed emotions - I like to see the offense make plays, but at this point, if you're going to have a great team, the defense ought to be dominating the offense."
Receivers Aaron Dobson and Chuck Walker joined the ranks of injured stair climbers and Gator cart pushers. In the quarterback ranks, Mark Cann missed with a class.Marshall returns to practice at 3 p.m. Friday, though it could be a lighter workout, with a mid-spring scrimmage expected Saturday morning.Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.
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