HUNTINGTON — Emanuel Byrd is listed at 6-foot-3, 236 pounds. A little smallish for the tight end position, you say?
Not at some places. Marshall, for instance, doesn’t require a hulking 6-foot-5, 260-pound beast at the position.
What’s ideal? “Six-3, 235,” said position coach Todd Goebbel. “Be very physical at the point of attack, be able to run routes on linebackers and safeties and win one-on-one matchups.”
That’s one of the most distinctive features of the Marshall offense. Tight ends aren’t always attached to the line as they are in ground-and-pound schemes — in some Thundering Herd games, they’re detached more often than not.