Marshall Roundup: 10/26/13

Football

1) It looks like Marshall defensive end Jeremiah Taylor could miss a lot more than last week’s Virginia Tech game. During his Tuesday press conference, head coach Doc Holliday said Taylor would be out for a while.

 “Jeremiah Taylor is one guy who is going to be out a while. I won’t go into specifics on the injury, but he won’t play against UTSA. Sad, but he won’t.”

In three games this year Taylor recorded six tackles and a sack. Fellow defensive ends Gary Thompson, Ra’Shawde Myers, and Arnold Blackmon all took turns filling in for Taylor at Virginia Tech.

2) Facing a depleted secondary, the Cincinnati Bengals resigned former Marshall safety Chris Crocker. Crocker has spent parts of six seasons with Cincinnati, most recently last year as he recorded 42 tackles and three interceptions. The ten year NFL veteran was inducted into Marshall’s athletic Hall of Fame earlier this month.  

Men’s Basketball

1) Marshall received a pair of basketball commitments this week, forwards Shane Hall and Henry Uwadiae. Adding a pair of big men was important as 6-foot-9 Elijah Pittman and 7-foot-2 Yous Mbao are graduating after the season ends. With 12 scholarships committed to the 2014-2015 season, head coach Tom Herrion has room to bring in one more signee.

2) Former Marshall basketball player Johnny Thomas has signed with the Harlem Globetrotters. Since graduating 2011, Thomas played in the NBA Developmental League and Germany.

Baseball

1) Marshall’s lone alumni in MLB, Oakland A’s pitcher Dan Straily made his last start of the regular season yesterday. Facing the Los Angeles Angels, Straily tossed 6.2 innings, giving up three runs, only one earned, while striking out five and walking two. Straily picked up the loss in a 3-1 Angels win.

For the season, Straily has started 27 games while accumulating a 10-8 record, 3.96 ERA, 124 strikeouts, and 57 walks over 152.1 innings pitched.

Although he is being mentioned as a possible American League rookie of the year candidate, Straily might be left off the A’s postseason roster as they cut their starting rotation from five to four members.