Tag: Marshall

Dolphins to bring in Marshall RB Rasheen Ali for visit, per report

Rasheen Ali led the FBS with 25 touchdowns during a breakout season in 2021.

Former Marshall Thundering Herd running back Rasheen Ali is set to visit the Miami Dolphins before the 2024 NFL draft, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

Ali, 23, broke out during the 2021 season when, as a redshirt freshman, he racked up a nation-leading 25 touchdowns. His 23 rushing touchdowns were tied with current Atlanta Falcons running back Tyler Allgeier for the FBS lead, but Ali also added a receiving touchdown and a 97-yard kickoff return touchdown.

While Ali missed most of the 2022 season due to injury, he returned to earn All-Sun Belt honors in 2023 with 1,348 all-purpose yards and 16 touchdowns.

Earlier this year, Ali participated in the 2024 Senior Bowl but suffered a torn biceps tendon during a practice and was unable to participate at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine and Marshall pro day.

While the Dolphins have a dynamic duo at running back in Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane, Ali isn’t the first back they’ve wanted to take a closer look at this offseason. Miami also reportedly plans to host Louisville’s Isaac Guerendo on a visit.

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Notre Dame Football: Irish Get Special Teams Jolt Through Transfer Portal

Notre Dame special teams got better today.

The transfer portal has been good to Notre Dame so far this winter and they came up with another catch from it Tuesday.  Former Marshall wide receiver and kick returner [autotag]Jayden Harrison[/autotag] is on his way to play for the Fighting Irish.

Harrison is coming off a year where he hauled in 28 receptions for 410 yards and a touchdown which came against North Carolina State, but on kickoff return is where he has done most of his damage.  Returning 23 kickoffs for 705 yards (over 30 yards per return), Harrison returned two for scores and was named a First Walter Camp All-American as a Kick Returner as a result.

This is a major boost for the Notre Dame special teams unit and a win for the Irish over Deion Sanders and Colorado as the Buffaloes were Harrison’s other finalist.

And before you ask, yes, Harrison was on the Marshall team that beat Notre Dame in 2022.  He led the Thundering Herd with 38 receiving yards that day but did not return any kicks.

Harrison originally enrolled at Vanderbilt and played the 2020 season there before spending the last three seasons at Marshall.  He’ll have one year of eligibility remaining with Notre Dame.

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Former Michigan State football WR Christian Fitzpatrick commits to Marshall

Former Michigan State football WR Christian Fitzpatrick commits to Marshall

Another former Michigan State football wide receiver has found a new home. On Friday night, Christian Fitzpatrick announced on social media that he will be transferring to Marshall.

Fitzpatrick had transferred to Michigan State as a redshirt freshman for the 2021 season. He only had two catches in 2021 and 2022 each, but had 18 receptions in 2023 for 252 yards and a touchdown.

READ: MICHIGAN STATE FOOTBALL TRANSFER TRACKER

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NC State statistical leaders through one game

Does anyone on this list concern you?

NC State is having a very peculiar season with its schedule. It opened the 2023 season with a win over independent UConn and now will face a second straight independent in Notre Dame. It then will face VMI before playing its ACC schedule except for one game against Marshall. Talk about one quirk after another.

Like the Irish, the Wolfpack have a quarterback finishing out his eligibility with them after spending the remainder of his career at a different school. In this case, the Wolfpack’s quarterback spent the previous five seasons at Virginia and even has experience facing the Irish (including on this writer’s wedding day). Of course, that’s only one player. There are many others who could give the Irish fits in what many are saying is their first real test of the season.

The Wolfpack have played only one game, but here’s who you might want to look out for when they face the Irish:

Chiefs UDFA Spotlight: Marshall S Isaiah Norman

Our annual #Chiefs UDFA Spotlight Series begins with an athletic safety who started his college career at the FCS level.

A letter winner at Cordova High School in Cordova, Tennessee, Norman was a two-star recruit coming into college. He committed to Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tennessee in January of 2017, agreeing to a redshirt season as a Freshman.

Norman would spend the next four years of his career with the Governors before transferring to Marshall for his final year of eligibility in 2022. After proving he could play at the FCS level at a high level, he wanted to do the same at an FBS school before taking the opportunity to go pro in the NFL.

Notre Dame-Marshall named third-worst Group of Five loss in CFP era

Like you needed a reminder of how bad that loss was.

We all knew that when Notre Dame lost to Marshall in Week 2 of the 2022 season, any College Football Playoff hopes for the year were cooked. But just how bad was it in the big picture? Well, Twitter user Big Game Boomer has offered one opinion. The college football list aficionado lists the Irish’s 26-21 loss to the Thundering Herd as the third-worst loss by any Power Five program to a Group of Five program since the College Football Playoff began:

The good news for the Irish is that they appear only once on this list. But the fact that they appear in such a prominent spot on the list shows how much they should not have lost to the Herd. They probably weren’t going to the playoff anyway in 2022, but it was an awful feeling to have those hopes dashed so early into the season. It was both a reminder and a hard lesson not to take any opponent for granted.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Catching up with the Boston Celtics’ 2023 NBA draft workouts part II

A new round of prospective Celtics have worked out for Boston ahead of the 2023 NBA draft.

The Boston Celtics are working very hard to work out as many prospects seen as likely to go somewhere in the second round of the 2023 NBA draft ahead of the big event, with the ball club bringing in quite a few prospective targets seen as likely to end up somewhere outside of the first round of the annual affair.

With a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) giving contending teams like the Celtics a new two way player slot on rosters to raise the total to three per team at the same time it puts up new barriers to teambuilding for teams over the so-called “second apron,” it is more important than ever to make the most of the draft to onboard talent around the roster’s margins.

Adding to our previous reporting of the team’s known workouts comes a new wave courtesy of our sister sites Rookie Wire and HoopsHype — let’s take a look at who Boston has been scoping out.

CBS Sports grades Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman after his first season

What grade do you give Freeman after year 1?

We know how [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] finished the first season with [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] as the head coach: a thrilling, 45-38, [autotag]TaxSlayer Gator Bowl[/autotag] win over [autotag]South Carolina[/autotag]. The victory gave Freeman a 9-4 record in his first full season.

That was enough to impress CBS Sports [autotag]Shehan Jeyarajah[/autotag], who graded each first-year coach’s performance.

Jeyarajah noted Freeman “got off to an inauspicious start” as we all know, but after “winning six of the last seven games” he turned things around. That was good enough for Freeman to earn a B grade, which I believe is completely fair.

Obviously there were games the Irish should really have won, [autotag]Marshall[/autotag] and [autotag]Stanford[/autotag]. But the team didn’t throw in the towel and kept battling. By finishing on a high note, the grade most likely was given a bit of a boost. What letter grade do you think Freeman earned during his first year?

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Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Notre Dame defensive lineman Justin Ademilola declares for NFL draft

Good luck, Justin (and Jayson).

One of the unsung heroes of Notre Dame’s defense the past few years has been lineman [autotag]Justin Ademilola[/autotag]. More attention has gone to twin brother [autotag]Jayson Ademilola[/autotag]. Still, he is just as fierce a defender, and he’s ready to test his abilities at the next level. Just as Jayson did Wednesday, Justin is declaring for the NFL draft, an announcement he made on social media:

In five seasons with the Irish, Justin recorded 108 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks. He also recovered three fumbles, forced another one and deflected one pass. He reached his career high of six tackles twice this past season, ironically in the Irish’s two home losses to Marshall and Stanford. His lone 1.5-sack game was in 2021 at Virginia.

Best of luck to both Justin and Jayson as they prepare themselves for the professional game. Irish fans should be grateful that they both stayed with the program for as long as they could. That’s something that never can be repaid.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

 

Marshall vs UConn Myrtle Beach Bowl Prediction Game Preview

Marshall vs UConn game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Myrtle Beach Bowl on Monday, December 19

Marshall vs UConn prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. Myrtle Beach Bowl, Monday, December 19

Marshall vs UConn Myrtle Beach Bowl Prediction Game Preview

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Marshall vs UConn How To Watch

Date: Monday, December 19
Game Time: 2:30 ET
Venue: Brooks Stadium, Conway, SC
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Marshall (8-4), UConn (6-6)
– Sign up and live stream college football on ESPN+

Marshall vs UConn Myrtle Beach Bowl 5 Things To Know

Myrtle Beach Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

– How did Jim Mora Jr. not make every Coach of the Year list? Before 2022, UConn won exactly ten games since 2015, hadn’t had a winning season since 2010, didn’t play in 2020, and a 2019 victory over UMass was the lone win against an FBS team since the middle of the 2017 season. Mora’s team shocked Fresno State as it went on a 5-1 run to get bowl eligible before dropping the regular season finale. This has been a wildly successful year no matter what happens here.

– It’s been a crazy season for Marshall. It made a massive splash with a shocking win over Notre Dame, and then it promptly followed it up with a loss to Bowling Green as part of a rough 2-4 run with a tough November looming. The switch was flipped, the defense took things up a notch, and the Herd closed out 4-0.

– For years Marshall was a bowl season given. It lost its first two, and then from 1998 to 2018 it went 12-1, with the only loss coming to Cincinnati in the 2004 Fort Worth. Along that ride was a 16-10 win over UConn in the 2015 St. Petersburg. Now it’s on a three-bowl losing streak including a 36-21 rocking from Louisiana in last year’s New Orleans Bowl.

– It’s just the seventh bowl appearance in the history of UConn football. It’s 3-3 with the last win coming over South Carolina in the 2009 PapaJohn.com Bowl. The only bowl between this and the 2010 Fiesta loss to Oklahoma was that loss to Marshall. Yeah, this game means something.

– The Myrtle Beach Bowl is only in its third season, but the first two games at least were interesting. It’s become a landing place for good Group of Five programs, and it’s got the college football day all to itself on a Monday afternoon. Appalachian State ran wild in a 56-28 win over North Texas in the inaugural game, and Tulsa’s 30-17 win over Old Dominion last year was more entertaining than the final score.

CFN Bowl Expert Picks: Dec 16-19 | Dec 20-27

Why Marshall Will Win The Myrtle Beach Bowl

It’s a nice UConn team, but it’s about to run into a brick wall – not literally, but almost.

Marshall might not have a high-powered offense, but the run defense has been tremendous all year long, finishing fifth in the nation allowing just 88 yards per game. No one was able to get to 200 on this bunch – not Notre Dame, not Appalachian State, not Coastal Carolina – and UConn has to run well to win.

The Huskies were able to pull off a few wins when the ground game wasn’t flying, but the O line allows way too many plays behind the line, third downs are almost impossible to convert, and the passing attack does nothing down the field – UConn is dead last in the nation in yards per completion.

On the other side, Marshall is 6-0 when running for 200 yards or more. UConn is 1-6 when allowing more than 155 yards, but ….

Why UConn Will Win The Myrtle Beach Bowl

The running game really could work.

Granted, it cranked up the big yards against some of the worst run defenses in America, but with time to prepare and get everyone healthy again, the offense is about to hit Marshall with a wave of young backs.

Zion Turner is a dangerous young quarterback who can get on the move, the running backs should push for close to five yards per carry, and it should be able to slow the game down a bit.

The UConn defense doesn’t do too much to get behind the line, but it doesn’t take much to disrupt the Marshall attack. The passing game isn’t great, the O is miserable at converting drives into points, and the line is way too leaky.

However …

Myrtle Beach Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

NEXT: What’s Going To Happen, Marshall vs UConn Prediction, Myrtle Beach Bowl History

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