*UPDATE* Marshall Football: Herd Recruiting Class in Good Shape for 2013

An error has been detected in regards to Marshall's average star ranking on Rivals.com. Just focusing on players that are listed as committed by Rivals.com, the Herd has 14 commitments. If you add up the stars of those 14 players you get 34. Anyway, to get the average star ranking you divided the number of stars (34), by the total number of prospects (14) and you get 2.42, not the 2.6 reported earlier. To be fair, Rivals.com also list Marshall’s average star ranking as 2.6 on their website.

Either way, it changes our rankings. Instead of having the best class in C-USA the Herd falls just a bit to fourth. Here is an update.

Rank-School-Average Stars
1) Southern Miss - 2.5
2) Tulsa - 2.5
3) FIU - 2.44

4) Marshall – 2.42
5) Rice - 2.31
6) Tulane - 2.29
7) ECU - 2.28
8) La.Tech - 2.27
9) UTEP - 2.2
10) UAB - 2.1
11) North Texas - 2.09
12) UTSA - N/A

*Original Post*
Yesterday Huntington Herald Dispatch columnist Chuck Landon penned an article on Marshall's 2013 football recruiting class, calling it short on talent. While Landon does a good job listing the Thundering Herds verbal commitments, I don't believe he gives head coach Doc Holliday and company enough credit for bringing together a solid group of prospects.

First and foremost, you have to take Marshall's recruiting class into context. When considering this group keep in mind who will encompass Conference USA going forward. Based on the average star ranking provided by Rivals.com (which reflects a classes depth and standout players rather than sheer volume), the Herds recruiting class ranks first among teams that will belong to C-USA next season.

Rank-School-Average Stars
1) Marshall - 2.6
2) Southern Miss - 2.5
3) Tulsa - 2.5
4) FIU - 2.44
5) Rice - 2.31
6) Tulane - 2.29
7) ECU - 2.28
8) La.Tech - 2.27
9) UTEP - 2.2
10) UAB - 2.1
11) North Texas - 2.09
12) UTSA - N/A

Further more, Marshall is the only C-USA school that has multiple four star commitments, linebacker Stefan Houston, wide receiver Angleo Jean-Louis, and wide receiver Deontay McManus. Admittedly, none of those players could be eligible next season but last years three star plus non-qualifiers, linebacker Kent Turene, Clemson transfer Josh Brown, and former Louisville signee Larry Jefferson will have qualified by this August.

Also, like Landon mentioned Marshall has three weeks of recruiting left. The Herd has official visits scheduled with the following three star prospects, junior college offensive tackle Matt Finnin, athlete Mykal Moody, defensive back D'Andre "Chocolate" Wilson, and defensive back Da'Wan Hunte.

Rest assured Herd fans, if Marshall can hold onto its current verbal commitments and add a few more prospects it will represent another huge recruiting win in Huntington.