Marshall Thundering Herd College Football Pregame Quote, 09/10/2019

Captains this week are Brenden Knox and Levi Brown on offense and Marquis Couch and Omari Cobb on defense. We’re looking forward to those guys providing leadership this week. I have great respect for what Coach (Frank) Solich has done there. They were picked to win the Mid-American Conference by their peers, and if you watch them on tape, they have really good players. It will be a great challenge for us. When you talk about them, you start with the quarterback (Nathan) Rourke. He’s an excellent player who can beat you with his feet. He can also beat you through the air because he can throw the ball extremely well. They look like a typical Ohio team: tough, physical, extremely well-coached. We have to make sure we’re the same.

On similarities between Rourke and former Ohio quarterback Tyler Tettleton:

We talked about that as a staff. Unfortunately, there are. Tettleton gave us fits and this guy is very, very similar. He’s the same kind of guy. Tettleton reminds of me of Brent Stockstill at Middle and this guy is the same way. He makes every throw as well and that’s what makes him a real problem.

On how Marshall fared against Boise State quarterback Hank Bachmeier:

Especially with Chris (Jackson) being out, and I think we’ll have him back this week, I thought our guys did pretty well as far as their throwing game was concerned. This guy (Rourke) is very similar, just a competitor that stands in there and takes some shots. The difference between this guy and (Bachmeier) is that he (Rourke) runs better. There are a lot of designed quarterback runs for him. That will be another part of the offense that we have to deal with.

On defending Rourke’s mobility:

If you’re going to pressure him, you better have a guy assigned to him, because if he gets out of (the pocket), he’s a problem. I thought Pittsburgh did a good job of stopping the run. They got pressure on him at times. I guess he was sick in that game so they didn’t run him probably as much as they would’ve. I’m sure he’ll be healthy against us and ready to go.

On Ohio:

They’re a typical Ohio team. They’re like clones. They’re all just really, really good football players that know how to play the game. They’re tough, physical and don’t give up the big play. They’re just so well-coached and play so hard. They’re a challenge for everyone because they just don’t make mistakes. They get lined up and they play well.

On Marshall’s linebackers:

I thought Omari (Cobb) made the transition to playing inside really well. (Tavante) started to get his feet wet a little bit. Those two guys played really well last Friday night. They’re going to have to play that well again and Tyler Brown went in there and did some really good things. We have some young linebackers who have to step up. There is no other choice. Eli Neal and J’Coryan Anderson are going to have to play for us at some point. Those guys have to have a great week of preparation and practice because they’re going to have to play.

On Tyler Brown:

He’s tough. He’s a tough kid who is pretty athletic. He understands the game. He was a good player for us a year ago on special teams and played some linebacker as well. Football is really important to him and he takes the time to work at his game. He’s going to have to play well and he has. He has given us a lot.

On Ohio’s offensive line/team:

They’ll have size and they’re all back. The center is a really good player. They never change. They’re all 300 (pounds) or 310 and are tough and physical. They get after you and they’re just like their coach (Solich). Every time we play them, they are the same type of team that is extremely disciplined, well-coached with good players and this year is no different.

On the Boise game/third down:

Offensively, we have to do a much better job. There are two things that happened (on Friday). Number one, we didn’t convert on third down to continue drives. We didn’t get off the field, defensively, on third down either. Boise was able to sustain drives. We had three or four situations where they had third and long and we have to get them stopped defensively to put the offense back out there. Did we play well on offense? Not at all. That being said, we have to get off the field on defense as well and give our offense a chance to get back out there and make some plays. It’s a combination of both of those things. Now, we kept them out of the end zone defensively, but they sustained drives. When you look at the time of possession in the second half, it was awful (in Boise’s favor). There was more to it than us just not being very good on offense.

On Brandon Drayton:

It was an unbelievable performance for a guy who only practiced two or three times and didn’t take a live rep and went in there Friday and played 70-plus plays and had 13 tackles. It was an unbelievable performance by a kid who just willed his way to get back, number one, and, number two, to play the way he did. That kid deserves an awful lot of credit to fight through what he had to fight through to be able to play football again. He loves football. He loves the game, he loves to play and prepare and you can imagine (what it felt like) to have it taken from him. And now, all of a sudden, he’s able to be back out there. He appreciates every minute of it, that’s for sure. He’s well-liked by all of his teammates and they respect him. He’s a good player and, to go through what he went through ‚Ķ our entire family is just happy that he has the opportunity be out there playing again because, as I said, three weeks ago, it was thought that he’d never play football again and have struggles in life. I’m proud of what he has done and couldn’t be happier for anyone more than I am for Brandon Drayton right now, in more ways than one.

On Marshall’s rushing attack:

We’re fine. I love (Brenden) Knox. He has been a three-time captain for us and like what he brings to the table. Sheldon Evans, these guys (Lawrence Papillon, Knowledge McDaniel), now it’s their turn to step up and go make plays. I feel good about the running back position and have no worries there at all. Knox didn’t play a game (at running back) until the ninth game last year. He went in there then and is still our number one tailback. Kids react in different ways when they get their chance. I’m eager to see how Sheldon Evans reacts. He’ll go in there and play his tail off, I know he will, and those young kids will step up and go play. We’ll see what happens.

On Marshall’s receiving corps:

(Corey) Gammage played (Friday), just not the number of snaps that we wanted. He has to play better. All of the receivers have to play better. We just didn’t have very many snaps and that’s on us. Corey Gammage is a talented guy that we have to get in the game he has to prepare better and play better, along with the rest of them as well. We’re looking forward to getting him back out there this week and getting him into the game because he’s a young talented player who is going to be fine.