Marshall football: Herd could settle QB debate soon

“We wanted to address the first three games in-conference to see where we were at all positions,” Huff said. “During the bye week, we will make a decision on what way we go. It could be, continue to use both, if that’s the best thing to help the team win. It could be, go with one.”

Stone Earle started under center in each of the four non-conference games and one road conference game for Marshall and has made an appearance in all seven of the Herd’s games. Braylon Braxton’s two starts came against Appalachian State and Georgia State, and he’s appeared in five games.

Statistically, the two are close as well.

Earle has completed 54% of his passes (63 of 115) for 634 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. His 57 carries have produced another 207 yards.

Braxton is 36 of 61 for 496 yards through the air with eight touchdowns and one interception to his credit, and he’s the Herd’s second-leading rusher, with 275 yards on 42 carries. He has scored twice with his legs, and his confidence is growing with each snap he takes.

“I would definitely say I’m more comfortable,” Braxton said. “With more starts comes more comfortability, so getting in the game with the guys and just seeing how everybody plays out there under the lights is a little bit different than practice.”

It wouldn’t be unlike Huff to make a shift at quarterback in the middle of the season, which he has done in three of his four years at the helm of the Herd. And he wouldn’t be the first Sun Belt Conference coach to initiate that change this season.

In 2022, Huff awarded Henry Colombi the starting job before he handed the offense over to Cam Fancher, who dealt with some injuries and performance lulls, leading him to be replaced by Cole Pennington for three starts in 2023.

Marshall’s opponent this week, Louisiana-Monroe, changed its signal-caller in Week 4, benching General Booty at halftime for Aidan Armenta. He is now 2-1 as the starter, with wins over James Madison and Southern Miss before the Warhawks fell to South Alabama last week.

Elsewhere in the conference, Coastal Carolina went from Ethan Vasko to Noah Kim. Old Dominion shifted from Grant Wilson to Colton Joseph. Southern Miss quarterback Tate Rodemaker lost his starting job to Ethan Crawford, and Georgia State’s Christian Veilleux was benched for Zach Gibson.

“The kind of two-quarterback option really came from more of the game plan and how we wanted to attack those specific teams, if that makes sense,” Huff said. “We’ll be able to assess now, OK, hey, both of them have played in games, both of them have done some really good things, both of them have things they’d like to clean up. Where are we at from an offensive perspective?”

As Huff put it in his weekly press conference on Tuesday afternoon, “at some point you have to get in bed with one quarterback,” and that’s a decision that’s likely to come this week as Marshall welcomes the Warhawks for senior day at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.