Year 1 of the Doc Holliday era at Marshall didn't go as planned. Not even close. By the looks of his recruiting haul on Feb. 2, Holliday plans to make Year 2 much better.

During Marshall's 5-7 season, Holliday showed a willingness to play the best players, no matter what their age or class. With the talent he was able to secure on National Signing Day, he'll have plenty more youngsters to choose from.

Holliday built a reputation while an assistant coach at Florida and West Virginia as a master recruiter, especially in the Sunshine State. That has continued, with Holliday bringing in 12 players from Florida among his class of 29, including five sets of classmates, and four newcomers previously enrolled at Marshall. He bought in 11 from Florida last year.

Several recruiting services rated Marshall's class as the best in Conference USA, and Rivals.com ranked it 48th in the nation, including the best of any non-BCS school.

Some were not surprised, including former Florida head coach Urban Meyer, whose Gators were the beneficiary of many of Holliday's recruits.

"He is a guy who knows how to recruit and had coached for nearly 27 years," said Meyer, during ESPN's signing day coverage on Wednesday. "He recruited and coached a lot of the parents of the up and coming recruits. ... He had his hands in our national championships in 2006 and 2008."

Now comes time to put that talent to work, and turn around what was a disappointing first season for Holliday as a college head coach. Marshall started out 1-6, and finished 4-5 against the weakest part of its schedule.

Marshall will open spring practice on March 31 looking to fill several positions, while leaving open the option of newcomers earning spots before the Herd opens the 2011 season at West Virginia on Sept. 3.

Other non-conference games for Marshall next season are against Virginia Tech, Louisville and Ohio.

TOP OF THE CLASS

LB Armonze Daniel (Avon High School, Avon, Ind) -- The 6-foot-4, 225 pound Daniel was rated as a four-star talent by ESPNU, and was listed as the 21st overall linebacker prospect in the nation by Rivals.com. Holliday likes playing the best players, and Daniel will be one of them, freshman or not.

RB Stewart Butler (Lakeland High School, Lakeland, Fla.) -- After Marshall averaged just 97.2 yards per game on the ground and had no running back with more than 345 yards last season, Butler will have a chance to play early. As a prep senior, Butler ran for 2,934 yards -- the third most in Florida prep history -- and 30 touchdowns. He broke school records held by Florida standout Chris Rainey.

OL Jamar Lewter (Ballou High School, Washington, D.C.) -- The massive 6-foot-8, 280-pound Lewter recorded 60 pancake blocks and didn't allow a sack as a prep senior. Lewter, who was rated as the No. 35 overall offensive lineman in the country, had offers from numerous schools, including Auburn, USC, Miami and Pittsburgh. He could play early for the Herd.

Copyright (C) 2011 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.