Marshall football coach Charles Huff leaned on a different sport to explain his strategy against Appalachian State last Saturday to produce a stunning 52-37 Sun Belt Conference win in the conference opener for both teams.
The third-year Marshall coach sent out little used Braylon Braxton as his starting quarterback and the Mountaineers never recovered.
“I didn’t know if they knew he could run so I decided to throw a curve ball and started him,” Huff said. “I told you guys (media) at the beginning of the year I thought we had three capable quarterbacks. I threw the curve ball…we really didn’t have a plan for Braxton, now we’ve got options.”
When the dust had settled Braxton, who had played in two games, had produced five touchdowns and 269 yards of total offense. He had touchdown passes of 75, 26 and 5 yards completing 8 of 14 and touchdown runs of 36 and 3 yards as he ran for a game high140 yards.
For his effort Braxton was named the conference Offensive Player of the Week. Whether or not he will be the starter when the Thundering Herd takes on Georgia Southern at 8 p.m. Saturday at Paulson Stadium is another question. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
Marshall (3-2, 1-0) had started Stone Earle in its first four games. The losses were at Virginia Tech and Ohio State. It did have the distinction of leading the Buckeyes, 7-0, at the outset before falling, 49-14.
Earle is a transfer from North Texas while Braxton transferred from Tulsa. Both are former Texas high school standouts; Earle having played at Keller and Braxton in Frisco.
This week the Herd travel to Statesboro and Huff is obviously good at poker too and would not give up his plan for Saturday.
Coach Helton and I have known each other for a while through coaching, but have gotten even closer being in the Sun Belt and seeing each other at media days,” Huff said. “I have had a lot of respect for what he’s done in his career and most recently at Georgia Southern. He has an incredible football family and has an incredible football mind.”
“Without tipping my hand we have always planned on playing both quarterbacks,” Huff said. “Every game we go in planning to play both of them but it doesn’t always go as plan. Sometimes you get into a game and one guy will be in a groove and you just stay with him. You would look like a bad coach if you pull a quarterback who is doing so well. We have a plan each week based on a number of things, but coach Doege (offensive coordinator) says to the offense all the time we are going to go with what is working.”
While the Marshall quarterback situation may be a secret there’s no surprise as who will be leading the Eagles as quarterback J.C. French has done a solid job having thrown for 1,122 yards and seven touchdowns with only one interception which has impressed Huff greatly.
“I think he has a really good feel for the system,” Huff said. “You can tell he knows what they are trying to accomplish. He doesn’t hold the ball long and he doesn’t force the ball. Last year they had a lot of interceptions and this year they are way down. They are up in efficiency and he does a good job of getting rid of the ball quickly. He gets off the first read quickly and moves through his progression, and I think he’s tough. He isn’t afraid to pull the ball down and run and is faster than you may think. I think he is what makes their offense go.”
Huff has also been impressed by what he has seen from the Eagle running game as they put up 260 yards rushing in their 38-21 win at Georgia State.
“They have three running backs in my opinion that do everything well,” Huff said. “It’s not like they have one guy in who is the pass catcher and this guy is the short yardage guy, all of them are diverse. They all run well behind their pads and they break tackles and they all have size, they aren’t the little scat backs you see at some places. White is 6-1 and 225-pounds and you have to gang tackle him. When you are defensively scheming them, they are very unpredictable.”
Marshall has been in some pretty impressive college football atmospheres having already played at Ohio State and Virginia Tech. This week the Eagles are holding a ‘White Out’ in their 8:00 kickoff against the Herd and Huff hopes his team is prepared for an electric atmosphere.
“The Sun Belt Conference is a competitive league with some passionate fan bases,” Huff said. “I think our schedule has helped us as we have played in some really good environments. I expect their fans to be out and loud and I expect our fans to travel with us down there because of the history and tradition with this region. Hopefully our guys will be focused more on what is going on, on the field than the white shirts in the stands. I think it says a lot about our league as not a lot of Group of Five schools or conferences that have the fan backing, we have in the Sun Belt.”
