Herd incumbent QB Fancher is favorite heading into fall camp

HUNTINGTON — Cam Fancher took on the mindset that his on-field play and off-field preparation would speak for themselves, and in many ways, they did.
After taking over as Marshall’s starting quarterback halfway through last year and going 6-1 down the stretch, there’s plenty of reason to believe he’ll be under center again for the Thundering Herd.
Charles Huff made that much clear in his season-opening press conference on Tuesday.
“I’ll go ahead and get this out of the way: if we played today, Cam Fancher would be our starting quarterback,” Marshall’s coach said, getting out in front of potential questions from media members present.
Fancher saw action in each of the Herd’s 13 games last year and eventually took over for Henry Colombi as the leader of the offense. He completed 57.7% of his passes (10 touchdowns, six interceptions) and was Marshall’s second-leading rusher, accounting for more than 2,000 yards of total offense (1,558 passing, 466 rushing) in 2022.
“I always envisioned it, but once you get to that position and realize that you are there, it’s different,” Fancher said of moving from backup to starter. “I’m just trying to be the best version of myself each and every day, taking it one day at a time, one period at a time, and just trying to grow from each day, learn from my mistakes and the good things, too.”
Huff said the success Fancher had down the stretch last season boosted the quarterback’s confidence in himself and also helped earn the respect of his teammates.
“Cam has earned the right, through his consistency on the field last season, through his summer work, he’s earned the right to have the feeling that he’s the starter,” Huff said at Sun Belt media days in New Orleans. “The guys believe in him, the players want him out there, but he knows if he doesn’t perform, he won’t play. If someone outperforms him, someone else will play. It’s his job to go win.”
That “someone else” could be Rice transfer TJ McMahon, Chase Harrison, Colin Parachek or Cole Pennington. August practices will go a long way in determining that.
After two quarterbacks transferred out of the program, Marshall brought in two transfers in Parachek and McMahon and signed another out of high school — Jack Schierholz — to get back to six signal-callers — what it had a year ago.
McMahon is the most experienced of the group fighting for the position behind Fancher.
“If something happens and we have to play one of them, if they are not ready, it’s not fair to the team for us as coaches not to have an answer or at least another option,” Huff said. “TJ gives you that. He’s played in games, he’s won games, he’s played this level of ball before. I do think it creates competition, but it also creates options for coaches.”
Last year, Huff didn’t name a starter until the final week of fall camp. The same could be true this August, but there’s a clear front-runner for Marshall’s starting quarterback at this point.
“I think the success Cam was able to have, the failures he was able to learn from, has helped him come into the summer with a lot more confidence,” Huff said. “Not that he was lacking it before, but it takes confidence to say ‘I am QB1; I am the leader of this team.’”