Marshall’s mascot Marco
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall University was a unanimous pick Wednesday by Conference USA football head coaches to finish first in the East Division.
Marshall led the East Division poll voting with 91 points, followed by Middle Tennessee (73), Florida Atlantic (60), WKU (57), Old Dominion (33), UAB (31) and FIU (19). The voting was tight atop the West Division with North Texas (66) edging Rice (65) and UTSA (62), followed by Louisiana Tech (38), Southern Miss (24) and UTEP (18).
The C-USA championship game, pitting the champions of the East and West divisions, will be played Saturday, Dec. 6.
Coaches also selected Marshall quarterback Rakeem Cato as the C-USA preseason Offensive Player of the Year and Thundering Herd defensive lineman James Rouse as the preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Cato was named Wednesday to the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award preseason watch list.
Marshall players named to the preseason all-conference first team offense were Cato; offensive linemen Chris Jasperse and Clint Van Horn; and receiver Tommy Shuler. Preseason all-conference first team defensive players from Marshall were linemen Ra’Shawde Myers and Rouse; and linebacker Evan McKelvey.
The Herd led all teams with seven all-conference selections…
