D.J. HUNTER richly deserves his honor as a Freshman All-American, as awarded by Sporting News, and it seemingly bodes well for the near future of Marshall football.

It does not speak well for the present, however.

Let's recap the honor roll for the Thundering Herd: Quarterback Rakeem Cato was named most valuable player in Conference USA, and running back Kevin Grooms is the freshman of the year.

Cato and receiver Tommy Shuler were first-team All-Conference USA picks, while receiver Aaron Dobson and tight end Gator Hoskins were second-team picks. Dominick LeGrande was a second-team pick on defense, while three offensive linemen were among the honorable mention picks.

Hunter was not on the honorable mention list somehow, but he was one of four Herd players on the All-Freshman team.

He started the final 11 games after Herd coaches got smart and shifted him to linebacker, where he immediately became the best at that position despite being undersized. He made 102 tackles, most among freshmen in C-USA, and had an 18-tackle

performance in the season finale against East Carolina.

Don't blame him for the defense's troubles, for he often made tackles a long, long way from his position. I cringe at the thought of Hunter not getting on the field, as well as I cringe at the thought of the season without LeGrande and Okechukwu Okorha. Just how bad would MU's defense have been?

With all these awards, you've got to ask yourself: Exactly how did Marshall finish 5-7 and sit home for bowl season?

http://www.wvgazette.com/Sports/Marshall/201212090134

(12-10-2012 07:12 AM)GreenSteve Wrote:  D.J. HUNTER richly deserves his honor as a Freshman All-American, as awarded by Sporting News, and it seemingly bodes well for the near future of Marshall football.

It does not speak well for the present, however.

Let's recap the honor roll for the Thundering Herd: Quarterback Rakeem Cato was named most valuable player in Conference USA, and running back Kevin Grooms is the freshman of the year.

Cato and receiver Tommy Shuler were first-team All-Conference USA picks, while receiver Aaron Dobson and tight end Gator Hoskins were second-team picks. Dominick LeGrande was a second-team pick on defense, while three offensive linemen were among the honorable mention picks.

Hunter was not on the honorable mention list somehow, but he was one of four Herd players on the All-Freshman team.

He started the final 11 games after Herd coaches got smart and shifted him to linebacker, where he immediately became the best at that position despite being undersized. He made 102 tackles, most among freshmen in C-USA, and had an 18-tackle

performance in the season finale against East Carolina.

Don't blame him for the defense's troubles, for he often made tackles a long, long way from his position. I cringe at the thought of Hunter not getting on the field, as well as I cringe at the thought of the season without LeGrande and Okechukwu Okorha. Just how bad would MU's defense have been?

With all these awards, you've got to ask yourself: Exactly how did Marshall finish 5-7 and sit home for bowl season?

http://www.wvgazette.com/Sports/Marshall/201212090134

When you sit back and look back at our offensive stats as a team and the stats of our offensive stars, it really puts a strong highlight on just how bad our defense was this year.

My fandom with Marshall doesn't go back quite as far as that of other Marshall fans - when was the last time we had a defense this startlingly bad?