In his second season with the Thundering Herd, Coach Charles Huff is embracing change including a new son, a new conference and new players by way of the NCAA transfer portal.
It was the middle of March, and Coach Charles Huff was taking a well-timed break from poring over depth charts and scanning the NCAA transfer portal. He had to focus on his most important future prospect. This newcomer had measurables that any new parent could appreciate. Beau Barkley Huff was 21 ½ inches long and weighed 7.15 pounds when he was born on March 15, 2022. Huff’s wife, Jessica, and baby Beau were both healthy, and Dad couldn’t have been happier.
“My wife timed it perfectly,” Huff said with a smile. “When we found out she was pregnant she asked me, ‘When’s spring ball, when’s spring break? I’ll handle the rest.’ Man, she’s a rock star!”
With the family expanding, it means a busier schedule for everyone in the Huff household. Beau’s older brother B.J. juggles school and sports. Jessica runs the show at home and coaches girls’ basketball at St. Joseph Central Catholic High School. Dexterity seems to be her strong suit.
“She’s been a coach and she knows how to manage,” Huff said of his wife’s ability to multitask. “She understands the grind of it. We’re able to manage our time and pick our spots. We say all the time our normal is not everybody’s normal. We enjoy it and make the best of it.”
Huff said the youngest member of the Thundering Herd will definitely come to know about the place where he was born.
“It’s something that my family will always cherish — that one of our children was born in Huntington,” Huff said. “Huntington and Marshall exemplify what it means to be part of a family. This is a tight-knit community.”
With Beau safe at home, Huff went back to work getting the Herd ready for spring ball. In the not-too-distant future he and the Herd face road trips to Troy, Alabama; Harrisonburg, Virginia; and Statesboro, Georgia. Welcome, Marshall, to Sun Belt Conference football.
“Those schools are a little bit ahead of us,” Huff explained. “That doesn’t mean we don’t have an opportunity to compete and to win games. It’s just that our margin of error is smaller.”
It’s Coach Huff’s second year at Marshall, and uppermost in his mind is improving on the Herd’s 7-6 record in 2021. He’s done some self-reflection and big-picture analysis on last year, and he readily admits he learned a lot in his rookie year as a Division I head coach.
“It’s not really that a play call on third down was the difference in a game last season,” Huff said. “It’s what didn’t we do well in the games we lost, and what did we do well in the games we won. You go back and look at the Middle Tennessee game, and it was taking care of the football. You go back and look at the ECU game, and it was being able to finish.”
Huff’s coaching journey from schools like Maryland, Mississippi State, Penn State and Alabama taught him that great teams find a way to win. His time at Alabama with Nick Saban — who has seven national championship trophies in his den — made a big impact on him. Saban isn’t given to making excuses, and neither is Huff.
Ultimately, Marshall didn’t finish the year the way it wanted to. The Herd lost its final game 36-21 to new conference-mate Louisiana in the New Orleans Bowl. That was despite a dominant effort by defensive end Owen Porter. The former Spring Valley star had six tackles, including four tackles for loss and half a sack. Dwelling on that result, though, is not part of Porter’s offseason thought process.
“You just want a clean slate,” Porter said after the Green-White game. “You don’t want to harp on the past, because there are plenty of games that we can look back on and say we lost by a touchdown. We need to be focused on what we’re doing right now.”
Coach Huff went right to work to improve the 2022 Herd, jumping headfirst into the transfer portal — a new NCAA rule implemented on Aug. 1, 2021, that allows college athletes to transfer to another school without having to sit out a year.
“Either you adapt, or you die,” Huff said of the new rule. “No fan wants to hear about how young of a team we have, or how five years from now we’ll be really good. Everyone wants success now.”
Marshall’s starting quarterback is still a question mark. Texas Tech transfer Henry Colombi arrives this summer from Lubbock and joins a group that includes Cam Fancher, Peter Zamora and Chase Harrison in a crowded quarterback derby. The assumption is that Colombi will earn the job. But Division I football coaches don’t hand the keys of the offense over to you just because you come from a Power Five conference.
“Obviously, Henry’s got to come in, learn the system and be able to execute,” Huff said of his incoming transfer quarterback. “I think when you add competition to the room everybody’s performance level rises. So, Chase is going to get better, Pete’s going to get better, Cam’s going to get better, which will make us a better team.”
Whoever takes the snaps has the luxury of handing the ball off to No. 22 out of the backfield. Keeping star running back Rasheen Ali at Marshall, and out of the transfer portal, may have been Coach Huff’s best recruiting job in the offseason. Last season Ali ran for 1,401 yards and led the nation in rushing touchdowns with 23. The first team All-Conference USA running back will now be joined in the backfield by talented Florida State transfer Khalan Laborn.
“To be honest the sky’s the limit for us,” Laborn said after the spring game in which he ran for a 32-yard touchdown. “I feel like we can be really good if we put in the work.”
Marshall needs to retool its offensive line after losing Alex Mollette and Will Ulmer. The receiving corps will be led by Corey Gammage (78 catches last season), Shadeed Ahmed, Jayden Harrison and Talik Keaton. It also adds another incoming FSU transfer in Bryan Robinson.
The Herd’s front seven on defense will be the strength on that side of the football. With Porter, Koby Cumberlander and three Power Five conference transfers coming in, the line should be solid. Eli Neal, Abraham Beauplan and Charlie Gray return at linebacker. The trio combined for 262 tackles last year.
The secondary will need to replace some talented safeties, but McNeese State transfer Andre Sam could step right in, and Steven Gilmore comes back as a steady cover corner.
Some pundits are high on the 2022 Thundering Herd. College Football News came out with a bold prediction that Marshall will win the Sun Belt Conference in its first season. That’s some pretty heady stuff. With a new baby at home, and a move to a new conference on the horizon, a good night’s rest may be tough to come by for Coach Huff. But college football coaches keep crazy hours anyway. For Huff and his Herd, sleep might have to wait.
———-
About the Author: Keith Morehouse is a freelance writer and the sports director for WSAZ NewsChannel 3 in Huntington.
Photos (from third from top):
Running back Rasheen Ali led the nation in touchdowns in 2021.
Wide receiver Corey Gammage hauled in 78 catches last season.
Defensive end Owen Porter is focused entering the 2022 season.
Defensive back Steven Gilmore will be a key cover corner in 2022.
Eli Neal is part of a trio of linebackers who had 262 tackles in 2021.