When Norfolk State meets Marshall
Fred Jeter | 9/1/2022, 6 p.m.
The “Post Juwan Carter Era” of Norfolk State football begins Saturday at Marshall University in the mountain air of Huntington, W.Va.
Out of Highland Springs High, Carter rewrote the Spartans record book in four illustrious seasons at quarterback.
Moving on, second-year NSU Coach Dawson Odums has several QB candidates, including transfers Otto Kuhns (from Eastern Illinois) and Jaylan Adams (The Citadel).
NSU’s J.J. Davis is among one of the top running backs in all of HBCU and FCS football. He is a transfer from the University of Cincinnati.
Earning All-MEAC honors, Davis raced for 911 yards and seven touchdowns a year ago, averaging a whopping 7.7 yards per carry.
Averaging 33.2 points per game, the explosive Spartans finished 6-5 last season in Coach Odums’ first year on the sidelines. NSU was in contention for the MEAC crown and a berth in the Celebration Bowl before running out of gas and dropping its final three games.
This looms as a tough opener. Marshall, of the FBS Sun Belt Conference, was 7-6 a year ago, losing to Louisiana-Monroe in the New Orleans Bowl.
There are tears on the pages in Marshall’s history book.
Returning from a game at East Carolina in 1970, the Thundering Herds’ plane crashed and 75 people (37 players) were killed. The tragedy inspired the 2006 film “We Are Marshall.”
