Marshall Fantasy Buzz
The Marshall program over the years has been produced a long line of great quarterbacks such as Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich and great skill position players like Ahmad Bradshaw at running back who led the Giants to a Super Bowl win over the Patriots. This year poses some interesting challenges for the Thundering Herd with the loss of two year starter Brian Anderson at quarterback and four of the top five wide receivers but the recruiting of Doc Holliday brings plenty of skill players with potential coming into 2011.
Quarterback Battle: A.J. Graham vs. Eddie Sullivan
This battle should be a knock down drag out contest all the way to the opener against West Virginia. Graham is a little bit taller and has a bit more of a commanding presence that gives him the lead coming into fall drills. The size advantage of Graham should help him in the four and five wide receivers sets of the Thundering Herd spread offense. Sullivan struggled with accuracy in limited action going 6 for 24 while Graham redshirted in 2010.
Aaron Dobson, Junior, Wide Receiver
Dobson put up some solid numbers in 2010. He caught 44 passes for 689 yards and five touchdowns and should be relied upon heavily as the primary passing target for Marshall this season. The resounding question will simply be the ability for Dobson to get the ball thrown to him consistently from whomever wins the quarterback position battle. In a league where touchdowns are valued Dobson would be a good late round selection for depth on your fantasy squad.
Antavious Wilson, Junior, Wide Receiver
Wilson made the most of limited opportunities during the 2010 season. He caught five touchdown passes on just 29 receptions. Thus, he becomes an intriguing sleeper option in the Marshall offense as he is back fully healthy coming into fall camp. Wilson projects to be right there with Aaron Dobson as a top receiver with his impressive ratio of touchdowns to catches. It is very conceivable for him to jump forward to eight or ten touchdowns and possibly 50 receptions depending on the amount the Thundering Herd throw the football early on in the season.
Marshall Defense
This group returns plenty of talent and finished the 2010 season on a strong note holding three of their last five opponents under 18 points which was a key catalyst to the Thundering Herd winning four of their last five football games. Senior defensive end, Vinny Curry, is the anchor that led the Thundering Herd with 12 sacks in 2010 and looks poised to match or surpass that sack total this season. There are also the three starters in the secondary which should help fantasy football owners looking for points from interceptions as safeties Omar and Donald Brown return and each guy picked off three passes during the 2010 season.
Read the in-depth football preview for this team
